Topic: Pond plants falling over...

[Insomniak]

Hi there,
We had a few breezy days lately and some of my irises are are now leaning a lot.
The pond is up and running for 2 months now, though all the plants and water are from tubs and tanks that have been going for over 2 years.

I have the irises in containers in the pond on a 14 inch deep shelf and despite weighing them down with stones and despite having a very dense root system, they're still being affected by the wind.

What can I do to stabilise them?  I'd like to avoid actually *tying* them up to keep them in position but maybe that's my only option?
I'd prefer them growing without containers but I think that won't be possible until the pond is a lot more developed.

I'd love some suggestions, please!

[Insomniak]

Ok,  to prevent this iris totally falling over I "potted" it into a deeper pot, weighted down with stones and compacted with gravel.
Now the iris isn't totally vertical now, but it's a lot better.
However, with the pond having very clear water and not totally covered with duckweed, the pot is very visible.
I guess the duckweed will eventually hide it. :)

[macmac]

I'm not the right person to ask having "planted a water lily 4 times :-[

[froglets]

I have 2 x 5"square pavers in the bottom of my iris bag in the pond.  Finally they've stabilised   :)

[Insomniak]

Haha... I guess it just takes time and a few tricks to get them stabilised!
When I had all the plants in tubs and tanks before I dug the real pond, they had no trouble staying upright, but that was just because they didn't have *room* to fall over!

The pavers are a good idea, nice and flat and heavy. 
Yep, I may just steal your good idea. :)

Water lilies ... so far... mine are staying put where I put them.  Fingers crossed!

[Torreya]

Have they finished flowering?  If so, you could cut the foliage down by about a third, same as you can with garden Irises. I've just split a load of new varieties, cut them down by 2 thirds, trimmed the roots, and 3 weeks on they're all putting up new shoots and roots!!

[Insomniak]

Have they finished flowering?  If so, you could cut the foliage down by about a third, same as you can with garden Irises. I've just split a load of new varieties, cut them down by 2 thirds, trimmed the roots, and 3 weeks on they're all putting up new shoots and roots!!

They're flowering at the moment, so I might try that when they're finished.  It would certainly be easy to split this one in two.