You Very Own Floating Island

Whether you have a fish pond, birdbath, or even a pool for that matter, add life and color with your very own floating island. Easy, unique, and totally different, you can now own your very own island for little cash. The size and variety of plants is up to you. Just remember to use low maintenance plants that require minimum care. If you have a skimmer as part of your water feature, then you may want to anchor your living island to something heavy to prevent it from blocking the skimmer’s opening.

Supplies needed for building your island:

Sheets of Styrofoam - we used several

1/2” thick sheets about 10” x 12” that

we collected from packing materials

Straight edge, pruners, scissors

Twine, greening pins, assorted rocks

Assorted Moss and moss clumps

Step 1

We are going for a rounded rectangular shape for

our island. You can make yours any size and shape

you want... what is important is the layering. On the

underside you want to start with a large piece of foam

and 2 smaller pieces. Center the smaller pieces in the

center and pin with greening pins. This will allow the

larger base piece to float above the water.

Step 2

Now flip your foam over and break off the corners.

Pin the corners to the top. This will create levels for

us to build on.

Step 3

Add a few more small pieces to create additional

levels, pinning as you go.

Step 4

Once you have everything pinned in place,

tie some twine around the center. This will insure

that everything stays in place. Leave an extra long

tail that can be used to weight your island down.

Step 5

Now lay your island, face down in the

middle of a piece burlap. The burlap will

hold everything in place and keep the dirt

from getting into your pond filter. You are going

to wrap the burlap around to the back

leaving the top layers uncovered , and

pinning in place. We curled up our twine

and pinned it down so we don’t accidentally

cut it off.

Cut off the excess burlap as you go. We are

Not worried about neatness folks, no one

is going to see this part!

Step 6

When you are done your island will

look something like this. This is the top.

Notice the crevices which will be perfect

for planting.

Step 7

Choose your plants carefully. Make sure they

can handle the shade or sun and alot of water.

We used mini mondo grass, ferns, begonias,

and mazus.

Step 8

Begin planting your plants, adding dirt

as needed. Use pins to pin plants roots

to Styrofoam so they stay in place.

Continue adding plants, adding dirt.

Step 9

Once you have all your plants in place,

cover the entire island with moss and pin

in place.

Step 10

Add a few assorted mosses, rocks, and

other natural items and you are done!

Now remember that string you tied up

underneath your island? You can unpin

it and tie a chard of pottery or a small

rock to the end. When placing your island

in your pond this weight will help keep

it where you want it.