Floating gardens, simple hydroponics with living soil for difficult plants

[partisangardener]

Some ideas to cover the plastic containers.

For free standing ones.

[partisangardener]

One for partly submerged ones.
I have more variations, but until spring the will have to wait.

[violar]

It’s not much but here is my little container pond
I used to have a large stock tank pond with fish and I loved it so much! Maintaining my pond was my favorite thing to do. We have since moved to a temporary rental and this is helping with my pond itch

[partisangardener]

Cute
I have a fitting solution in my pipeline. Construction in my head not yet finished. There is still some thinking to be done to have as little as possible waist pieces.
Just a belt around the rim. Maybe someone else will have a solution. If mine comes into reality I will post it.

[partisangardener]

The Cypripedium reginae, has to be divided, because it grew too good. So I started another mortar bucket. There will be another big one like this and several small divisions untill I star dividing.

[partisangardener]

Now I started to divide my Cypripedium reginae.
A bit more than half of it now beside the mortar bucket. The rest is still at the old place.

[partisangardener]

 The bigger parts are set into square buckets, the same size as the original one.

[partisangardener]

The smaller ones are a bit more inventive. To get more material on a round  island I choose some old military underwear. Cut of the legs and sewed the leg opening and filled it with topsoil  from a root plate.
Moss grows there very quickly. When the Cypripediums are in flower again it will be all green.

[partisangardener]

Some look more advanced. When the underwear rots away, the roots of the plants and the moss will hold it together.

[partisangardener]

Cyprpedium reginae on two Islands start to grow.

[partisangardener]

This Cypripedium was divided Beginning of March. I accidentally broke off the tip of a new shoot. Since then it stayed on one of my special islands in living Sphagnum amongst a lot of twigs and shoots I try to root there.
I had no big hope but anyway I tried. There things like this don't need any further attention.
Today nearly a month later I plugged  it up and it had changed a bit. It is at least a third longer and has grown a waist thinning and looks quite healthy.

I am no longer certain that it will die. What do you think?

[partisangardener]

Make the floats as fat as you can get.
Snow and growth of the plants should not be underestimated.
The habitat of my Cypripedium tibeticum was today 5cm above the float. there was only 10 cm substrate above the waterline.
There was also some old Root on top which soaked over the wintertime.
I had to put another 5cm plate underneath.

Losses are not yet visible. I keep you updated. Apart from the C.tibeticum everything is already good looking. I dug a bit and stopped after the first green.
It was firm and already green.

[partisangardener]

Two sprouts of C. tibeticum already appeared. I hope they stay.

A third one appeared. I took the chance and removed the Sarracenia leucophylla rhizom wich I parked there, last spring before the Cyps appeared.
Too near as always.

[partisangardener]

I had to put nets all over. flying Dinosaur started to devastate fresh and old Islands.
They started and now its over.
Cypripedium acaule is alive.

[partisangardener]

Matthias gave me some Lilium gloriosoides to make another attempt
https://shop.lilium-tc.com/
Since Chen times I had not seen a single bulb. These were poor specimens compared with the quality Matthias offers.

With some application of small amounts of Borax I hope to get a chance for flowers and a long term cultivation.