[Garlicbreath]

Our garden pond is extremely overgrown. The water lilies seem to be all leaves and very few flowers and the oxygenator is doing a reasonable impression of a triffid! My question is A) how much of the oxygenator (I think it's Elodea Crispa) should I remove? and B) would it be OK to lift and divide water lilies now while the water's still warm? I have a taker for any surplus plants. Couple of pictures of the pond attached so you can see the extent of the problem. Pond is approx. 4 x 3 metres.

[barremic]

Hi Garlicbreath

the pond looks great, all the mature planting! I just started a new pond this year, and even though i had a few plants to put in, they still feel small compared to my old pond.

When it comes to the oxygenator, I usually just tug big handfuls out if it gets too roudy. I heard a tip about weighing it down in one corner of the pond, and just keeping it there, so the rest of the water is clear of it.

not sure about the lillies tho, i have split them at various times of the year and they have never really suffered, tho not at winter.

[Garlicbreath]

Hi Barremic, thanks for that. I'm going to tackle it pretty soon then and split the lilies before the winter sets in. I think I'll reduce the oxygenator by about half and see what happens next year.

[Garlicbreath]

Took advantage of the wonderful weather yesterday to do this job. It took me all day and I ended up looking like the creature from the blue lagoon! ( and smelling worse ). The pond certainly looks different, just hope I haven't removed too much. I did disturb two gorgeous frogs one of which was HUGE so I hope they haven't deserted altogether. I sank a load of waterlily buds weighed down with bricks rather than pot them up. Hoping this will a) work and b) make the job easier next time it needs doing? "After" pic attached.