Sometime in during the summer of 1995, I became intrigued with the idea of water gardening. The ponds I had seen looked so pretty, but I had a hard time believing they were as easy as people were telling me. I decided to start with a whiskey barrel and liner, since I could always use the barrel for tomatoes or something if the water garden didn't work out. I started out with a Paul Hariot water lily and a Sweet Galingale for vertical interest. Both the lily and the Galingale spent winters in 5 gallon buckets of water in the garage.
The next year I was given another water lily called Attraction. This one is a fast grower and quickly crowded out the smaller Paul Hariot. Both lilies bloomed well in the little whiskey barrel.
I needed some form of mosquito control in the barrels. It just so happened that I had LOTS and LOTS of guppies indoors in aquariums. Some of these went into the barrel where they bred and bred and grew and grew and then bred some more. When fall came and the temperatures started dropping, I brought some of them inside and gave the rest away.
Pond Statistics: