Are my plants dead...

[mcampster]

I built a pond last year with my 7 year old son, in the hope that we could attract some frogs and newts, and anything else that fancied it. It wasn't complete until the August last year when we put in some plants and it all looked great. The plants didn't really grow much, in fact, gradually started to look less and less healthy until the winter came and then they disappeared.

The weather here in the UK is starting to warm up and I'm now keen to get the pond looking good again. Can anyone tell me if these plants will regrow, or if I need to start again?

Here is a picture of the overall pond, today:

And here are some close ups of the plants:



Any advise appreciated - I know nothing about ponds so learning every day.

Thanks

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

I see green growth on them, give them time they should come back. Mine are just starting to grow, some have more growth others have less.

 

[seandelevan]

You never know. I’ve seen plants looking much worse come back. I’ve had plants that I thought were loooong gone pop up a couple years later. Nature is resilient...if there‘s a will there‘s a way. leave em and add more.

 

[j.w]

@mcampster
Yep I think there is life left and just be patient and they will come back.

 

[mcampster]

Thank you! You've given me hope..
I will leave it another month in the hope it starts to grow again.

 

[pondering_life]

Looks like they are on the way back. If you add more try and go for native plants they should be more resilient to the elements and likely to come back the next year

 

[Shell-Fish]

Nice idea for a wildlife pond. To tell you how resilient pond plants are, I had a lily in a square basket that had been left to dry out whilst pond built. Completely forgot to place it back in when pond setup and running and thought dead as a do-do. Placed back in pond and glad to see, leaves rooting up and growing at a steady pace.

Hopefully we'll get some proper sunshine during lock down and I'll see me pond plants grow.

Hello from the South East by the way

 

[qclabrat]

Welcome, do you have an update?

 

[mcampster]

I had a bit of a rejig, and added a few more plants, but so far only the water lilly looks to have not recovered. As its all new to me, a lot is experimental. I'm trying planting without any soil or baskets, as well as in baskets but only gravel (hydroponics??), and finally in baskets and soil. All seem to be making progress!

And the best news, at least for me and the kids, is we have 3 newts and a toad setup residence!