My sister and I have played around with miniature gardens for quite a few years now. We both started out with a miniature trough garden, placed by our ponds with a garden fairy or two. Each year we would purchase more minature trees, plants and fairies. The miniature gardens got larger, adding houses, pathways and of course more fairies. This year we have both taken the Miniature Gardening to a whole new level. We have added water features to our Miniature Gardens!   One is a miniature pond surrounded by fairy benches with a dry creek bed and the other is a waterfall cascading down a slight slope into a  pond with even miniature water lettuce floating on top.  I can’t believe how cute they are! 

Bog bean has a highly fragrant scent and will bloom late May through July but the flowers don’t last long.   It needs full sun to partial shade and is hardy is Zones 2-7.  It can freeze solid in the winter as long as you leave it in the water and will come back early the next spring.  You can divide it after it has flowered by cutting off the rootstock.

Its a nice plant for your shallow water along the edge of the pond.

You can purchase bog bean, buck bean, Menyanthes trifoliata here.

You can purchase Red Flare here.

My Pond 2007

This is a Queen of Siam, tropical water lily taken from my pond in the summer of 2007.  Its one of my favorites!  It is a viviparous, more cold tolerant lily than some of the other tropicals and stays open longer in the day.  It is an excellent bloomer with the darkest pink blossoms and highly mottled foliage.  It will bloom longer in the season due to it being more cold tolerant.

Lizards Tail

This picture of Lizards tail was taken from my water garden last year. Lizards tail is an attractive plant for your water garden.  It would be a great pond plant to use as a background with small plants in front of it.  It grows in sun to part shade in moist soil or water to 6 inches deep.  Growing to 12-36 inches high with a running spread.  Its blooms last for at least a month during the early summer but even while its not blooming its leaves provide a nice plant for your pond.  It also is a very fragrant plant. Lizard tail is considered a hardy bog plant which will return for you year after year.

Buy Lizards Tail, hardy bog plant here.

Dragonfly visiting my pond.

I try to get as many shots as I can when a dragonfly is visiting my pond.  This shot was taken last year while the dragonfly was visiting my Red Bog Lily.