Thailand ~ Garden Inspiration

After Thailand, I'm really excited to install a water garden or two at our house. Before my trip the idea wasn't even on my radar. I remember walking past a small water garden the morning I arrived and I thought "wow, that's unique". Then I passed another, and another, and soon started to realize that water gardens in Thailand are as common as a pot of lilies at Easter or a pot of mums in September are in the US.

This one was in front of a house off of a side street in Sarah's town::
That was the first time I noticed the fish swimming around, and afterwards I realized that almost every garden had fish.

Bumping into them everywhere, I began to think about how easy they would be to make. Almost every garden used large, glazed pots, otherwise they were in large, stationary cement pools. They would have floating plants {duckweed or water lettuce} and/or some type of potted plant, such as water lilies or lotus flowers. If they used a potted plant, their pots were hidden below the water. The fish were koi in the larger pots and goldfish or some other small fish in the smaller pots.

When I came home, I did a bit of research and found a few really helpful sites. Apartment Therapy and A Way to Garden both had helpful posts {links will take you directly to their water garden posts}. From A Way to Garden, I found Catfish Logic which is where I'm going to place my order.

I'm thinking of starting with some water lettuce, duckweed, and a lily. It'll be fun to add some fish too. I've heard that they become easy prey for neighborhood cats and raccoons, but it'll still be fun to give it a go and support the local food chain. As for breeding mosquitoes, the fish will take care of the larva, but they can also be flooded out of your container by adding more water {and letting the mosquito larva float over the edge}. I'll let you know how it goes; I'm sure we'll end up with more than one water garden when all is said and done, because C already told me that the pot I brought home for the project is too small ~ he wants this to be a WATER FEATURE, not a water feature.

The water gardens at Jim Thompson's house::