Ann,

My first ponds were the small preformed ponds and they were only 18 inches
deep and they were great for water gardens. My first liner pond was dug 18
inches deep, but has subsequently been deepened to 24 inches to be able to
handle the larger koi. I had to raise the lotus buckets when I deepened the
pond. Lilies grew fine in 18 inches.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"ann in houston" wrote in message
om...
I am planning a separate pond for lilies and marginals only, no fish
other than maybe someting native just to eat the mosquitoes. If they
require more filtering than the plants will provide, then I'll just
use dunks. I don't want to bother with filters or pumps on this one.
How deep is just right? I am lazy, and don't want to dig more than
about two feet. Is that deep enough for some of the larger lilies? I
may put plant shelves in, since I won't have fish to protect.
TIA,
Ann