non-cp bog and pond.............

[rattler]

yeah i know sacreligious on this site but here me out........looking to build a good sized bog and pond without CP's....the reason? 12 inches annual precip........hard to come up with enough water to do a good sized one with rain water as a primary source. so i plan on doing a smaller one for CP's and a larger one with water lillies, horse tails, arrowheads and the like..................anyways what headaches am i likely to run into with my hard tap water.....shouldnt be many so long as i flush it every so often instead of just toping it off right?

 

[herenorthere]

Take advantage of your hard water and build a calcareous fen. It might not be an unusual habitat in Montana, but calcareous fens are the rarest of rare habitats further east.

 

[rattler]

yah but will such plants survive my winters? BTW where would i find more info?

 

[rattler]

BTW water lilies are out of place in eastern Montana, so out of place isnt nessisarily a bad thing :grin:

 

[herenorthere]

Here are a couple links:

One from Manitoba - http://www.nativeorchid.org/dorisWLJ.htm

One from Minnesota http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fwt/back_issues/september97/fens.html