Here's a nearly-full-width view of the pond with the plants from the Wildflower Center and the cedar snag in place. This was about a week after we initially dug the slot and placed the tank.
It all started with a 6'x2'x2' oblong stock tank (galvanized metal), and a dream. A dream of wildlife coming from all around to drink and bathe; of birds, butterflies, and frogs enjoying an all-too-rare watery habitat; a dream of babbling, gurgling water sounds to relax our backyard environment.
Win selected a nice spot on the hill in the back, between two rock ridges. Having a "slot" that actually contained soil made the digging a lot easier than it might have been! Two hours of pick-and-shovel, some smoothing and fitting, rescraping and reshaping (and some ibuprofen that night!), and we had the tank in place. I filled it with hose water to a depth of about 10 inches that evening, and let the water sit for several days to dechlorinate.
I was worried about critters getting after the water, falling into the pond and not being able to get out. To provide a ladder of sorts, I pulled up a large (over 6 feet long!) dead cedar snag with lots of branching, and laid it in the tank longways.
For my first plants, I went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's spring Native Plant Sale. This is a fantastic place to see (and twice a year, to buy!) plants that are native to the Texas Hill Country. When I got the plants home, I got some empty one-gallon pots to use as stands (upside-down), and placed the plants into the tank. Then we added a couple of buckets of rain water to raise the level to a little over a foot deep.
Here's a nearly-full-width view of the pond with the plants from the Wildflower Center and the cedar snag in place. This was about a week after we initially dug the slot and placed the tank.
Here's a picture to complete the view. The right end of the tank is pointing toward the back of the house, and that's more-or-less north.
A nice view from almost directly above (brave Win standing on a stepladder on the uneven hillside!).
I took this picture to document the size of the "cowlilies" (native variety of water lilies, and pretty darn unimpressive!). Hoping to see some growth, and more leaves for water surface coverage, in a few months.
Here's a closer look at the plants in the top end of the tank. They're mostly "wet-feet" plants as opposed to true aquatic ones, so I have them sitting on top of an apple crate submerged in the tank.