full height view
I spent several days this past week working on the hall pond. We went out to Cholul to get 3 concrete pillars that had to reach to about the surface of the water. That was fun, the lady there didn’t really want to sell me anything. This is fairly common here. When I asked she said “no hay”, then when I found one the right size, she said there were no more. It was only when I asked if I could order them and said I would return the next Monday that she called the back and, Surprise! They had 2 more, anything to get rid of me I think.
Paula put some pictures on her blog from our trip, check them here.
So, the theory is that the water is pumped up to the bottom of the boxes where it filters up through small gravel and the bare roots of the plants and then flows over the top back to the pond. The problems have been fixed and it works now. I can divide the water from the pump so that most of it goes to the opposite end of the pond and creates a strong flow towards the skimmer. This lets the flow through the boxes stay slow and gives it more time to interact with the bacteria on the gravel. It also keeps the splash down some.
It still splashes though and the pillars in the pond in front of the boxes hold concrete pots with ferns that catch most of it. As the ferns grow, the idea is they will eventually catch all the splash and keep the floor dry. It’s working fairly well even now, a little water on the floor but hey, it’s concrete and tile so it doesn’t matter.
bright shade
I’ve planted the boxes with Caladium in several colors and a few dwarf Malanga (Xanthosoma) which is supposed to stay under 3′ tall. Both of these are from the same family, also related to the plant commonly called Elephant Ear. They are native to the rainforests of southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands. They like a lot of water, in nature they go dormant in the dry season, and seem to do well bare root in ponds. I’m hoping I’ve given them a perfect environment and that they flourish. In addition I’m hoping to plant another relative, the giant leaved Monstera Deliciosa, along the base of the columns and hope it will grow up towards the light.
Mostly this area is bright shade, with the light coming from the opening above that goes up through the terrace off our bedroom to the sky. During the summer, when the sun is directly overhead, it does get an hour or so of direct sun filtered through the mosquito net that covers our bedroom terrace. When the sun hits the pond directly, it is a gorgeous light but one that is hard to catch in a picture.
taken about 1pm
As I thought it might, the pond increases the humidity in the hall noticeably. Good for the plants, really good for any orchids I may end up putting there but not so great for humans. Also probably not good for the paint, check the salitre on the column Nancy. It’s the hall though and it is well ventilated so I’m not worrying about it.
I also got some fish! They are cichlids of various types but all native to this area and Central America. There are Convicts, Jack Dempseys, Firemouths, Violetas, Limons, and some I can’t remember. A total of 10 cichlids along with one small Pleco to eat some of the algae. These are territorial fish and omnivores so I needed to get them all at once and all the same size. I went for the cheap 1″ ones of unknown gender for $15 pesos each. If I’d gotten larger ones they said they could tell the gender but, I don’t care. Right now they are almost impossible to see they are so small and they are staying on the bottom a lot. I did take a picture of them before we put them in the pond though. When adult, they should all be around 6″ in length.
baby cichlids
I am enjoying this pond a lot, it will be fun to see how it grows. I want a jungle in my hallway.
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I’m sure the sound of the falling water, the humidity and the lovely blue color just transport you when you walk through. Does the opening up by your bedroom create kind of a chimney effect? I would imagine that it does. Do you leave the water on at night, too? (I would imagine you have to for the plants and fish) It must make a really nice sound upstairs for you to fall asleep to.
Hey, I can deal with salitre, I am just batting it back a little. It does have a tendency to mushroom and every once in a while it needs a bit of discouragement. But salitre on white paint is hardly visible.
The Monstera will be amazing when it gets going. I wonder if the cat will use it to get upstairs???
Thanks for the tour, your home is gorgeous as always.
wow. that hall pond looks awesome. i’m envious! the cichlids are especially cool. i think they’re very engaging, lots of personality.
That hallway water feature really is GORGEOUS!! Was that yours or the contractor’s idea???
But it would probably have to become a “clothing optional” habitat – with a big fan turning overhead – for me to deal with the humidity
….or do bodies eventually acclimatize to humidity in the same way as temperature???
I love the sunlight on the pond….I think the photo captured it pretty well….can’t wait to visit and see it later this year when it gets cooler in Merida.
Stunning. Literally, stunning.
Thanks all. This has been a combined effort. I saw a similar water feature at another of my architects homes and decided I wanted it but as a pond. That caused some confusion but we are past it now and it works as it should.
It has been in the low 90′s here, as a high, this week and the rains have helped to control the humidity. I’m not unhappy with the heat but the combination of heat and mosquitoes is a tough one. It’s always needing the bug repellent, makes you not want to go in the pool as you will have to reapply it.
I don’t know if we acclimate to humidity, probably to some degree. I never acclimate to really dry weather, I hate that I get shocked all the time when I touch things and my lips are always cracked and my nose bleeds. I think there is a perfect in between which is probably about what the weather is where I was born in Santa Barbara. Still, I fled.
Aha — you must have been at Tinacos Rodriguez. The lady in the office is…not service-oriented. But, as you found, a little perseverance gets results.
mcm, we talked about you and realized we should call you but there were 4 of us and too much to get done. Now that I know how close it is, I’ll come back. Yes, it was the tinacos place. No kidding about that woman, indeed, perseverence furthers
It looks great…and yes we have had dealings with the woman too….
Wow, just gorgeous! You’re living the dream mi amiga. Glad to have you blogging again, you’ve been missed!
A beautiful space you are creating. You captured the space very well. thanks Sherry
Love your ponds, this one looks so elegant. One question – how do you control mosquitoes? Is it having fish in the pond to eat the larva? If we leave water in the bathtub that seems to draw mosquitoes. I’ve even seen them in the toilet bowl trying to lay some eggs, nasty devils. I would love a pond if I knew how to control mosquitoes, and seeing your pictures just makes me want one more!
I’m calling House Beautiful and Architectural Digest right now…they have to see this and feature it in next month’s edition.
It’s really the bomb, Jonna
Have gone back so many times to enjoy your indoor pond pictures, I made the one splashed with sunlight my desktop wallpaper temporarily – replacing Tita’s pretty face in her blue net. It’s a joy to look at so it’s gotta be fascinating to live with
Re: Mosquito deterrents, I just read about a tablet you can drop in your ponds to stop mosquitoes from breeding. Have you heard of this????
http://www.peskyskeeters.com/mosquitoprevention/
Actually ponds are a good mosquito magnet and killer, as long as you have hungry fish. The female mosquito is attracted to it to lay her eggs and the fish are waiting to devour them. Just don’t feed your fish too much so they are always on the lookout for food. I hope that the mosquitoes lay their eggs in the pond, it’s the ones who lay in the debris in my neighbor’s yard that are getting me.
Those dunks or donuts are BT and I have a friend bringing me some from the US because I haven’t found it here yet. I’m sure it is here, I just haven’t found it. I need it for some bromeliads that hold water in their leaves and some of the terrace drains that also hold water. It’s a weird way they construct drains here, I don’t know why they do it this way but they do. They hold water around the central drain and that area can quickly become a mosquito breeding ground. We now go around with chlorine powder to all of them but you have to remember to use it at least once every 3 days. The BT lasts longer.
I am enjoying your ponds too! Very beautiful!