We cross posted, Evey. Next time you get to Baytown for a visit, let me know and I'll buy the coffee.
Before I built this pond, I had a small (bathtub sized) pond and had some pretty nice EE's, ferns and Banana trees, so it looked pretty tropical. The liner on the small pond cracked during the super cold spell we had and my fish were just about having to carry canteens around with them, so had to put this one in out of necessity. I had planned to do it this Spring anyway since my one Koi was getting too big for the small pond.
I explained about the tree in my last post and yes, it is a royal pain when the leaves start dropping. After the fact, I bought a net to use this fall.
Here is the old pond:
