One water feature growing in popularity is the backyard pond. It is not uncommon today the find a well cared for lawn and a small pond to add some landscape design intrigue. Not only are these ponds a great addition to the backyard visually, but also can sooth the senses and be filled year round with plant and animal life.

The biggest obstacle many new comers to water gardening or ponds face is keeping the pond clean and clear. If a pond in not designed correctly or taken care of properly in can quickly become a smelly, ugly eyesore people do not want to get near.

As in most things in life a garden pond needs balance creating an ecosystem as close to natural as possible. When done this way, the pond can be enjoyed much more as the pond cleans itself.

Excessive algae growth is one of the biggest causes of a pond failure. Without enough plants or animals to keep everything in natural balance, algae will begin to growth out of control. This murky, stagnant and usually bad smelling pond makes a great home and breeding ground for mosquitoes and other bugs creating a pond of frustration.

Controlling algae growth is a matter of using specific types of plants in your pond to help keep balance. algae is a plant and needs sun to thrive, one way to help keep algae under control is to place water plants like water lilies in your pond which float on the surface. This helps block sunlight for the algae below in the water. Water lilies are the most popular of the surface floating plants that help block the sunlight from encouraging algae growth. Water lilies also have some very beautiful flowers as well, not floating leaves only!

fish is another item to include in your pond. fish love to nibble away on algae and helps keep its growing from getting out of control. Cleaning debris like dropped leaves and decaying matter from your pond is another way to control algae growth. Planting or placing plants in or around the edge of the pond can help keep debris from blowing in. Anyway to starve the algae stopping it from growing is the purpose.

Plants around the outside edge of the pond will help create a larger ecosystem. In turn this can attract a variety of wildlife like birds, squirrels, frogs and other wildlife will naturally help with pest control and help keep the pond clean and beautiful.

Thomas Fryd over at http://www.plant-care.com offers ideas on pool plants and gives some tips and ideas on pool landscaping to increase and add entertainment value to a home pool or deck area.

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The Iranian shoreline is about to get pounded by the worst Typhoon ever to hit the Arabian Shoreline in all of recorded history. Typhoon Gonu is on its way and will soon send storm surges up to 20 feet high. This is the most beautifully and perfectly formed tropical hurricane ever to hit the gulf of Oman. This is a huge storm and over 350 miles wide in circulation, so large in fact it might completely flood the area and wash the debris out to sea.

This Super Typhoon will slow and even stop all flow of world Oil shipments and could raise oil prices in the US enough we might feel it at the pumps. Much of the World's Oil goes thru that passage way and everything is stopped while the tropical Cyclone Super Typhoon hurricane slams iran.

Poor iran has been the victim of horrific Earthquakes in the past and the wrath of Mother Nature, of course right now they are much more concerned with the united states Navy Battle Group off their coast than the largest, worst and most powerful Super Typhoon in the area in the history of mankind. The Super Typhoon is terrorizing iran and supported by Mother Nature whose wrath has no limits.

It is estimated that a storm surge of water could go over 30 feet in the narrow area at the mouth of the gulf of Oman and take out the facilities along the shoreline there and flood the surrounding areas with 10-35 inches of rain, much more than the area can handle.

L. Winslow is an Economic Advisor to the online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entreprenuer http://www.worldthinktank.net

Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.

¶ 2:56 AM 0 comments