Water Gardens

an old luggage carrier, took about 3 hours to install. A bucket, some water and a plant...but then again, EVERYONE says goes as big as you can afford and have room for, or you'll just end up puttingin another pond! I think they're right!

Our next pond had the works: two preformed basins, pump, filter, fountain, and the piece de resistance, a double waterfall. This was a slightly more involved process. The basins had to be properly leveled so the upper would flow into the lower.

Garden Ponds & Water Features

Nothing quite calms the spirit like a still pool of water, a few goldfish flitting just below the surface competing for mosquito larvae. There has been a strong surge of interest in water gardens lately, and they're so easy to do!

The pool pictured was installed by a Wesley Chapel couple a few years ago. Its bordered by flat stones, and lush with water lilies, reed, and pickeral. The edges of the pool are thickly planted with fern, grasses, oyster plant, ajuga and other tropical looking plants. A giant white catfish and small goldfish dart around hoping for a handout, having supplanted the koi which uprooted too many plants.

Liners, pumps, plants and other supplies are not hard to find locally at garden centers or Home Depot. The USF Spring & Fall Plant Sales usually have several vendors of water plants. The internet also offers a myriad of plants and products.

Tip: put liner material behind rocks being laid for a waterfall. Any leaks (and there will be leaks) will be directed back into the pool.

The finished pond was planted with lotus, pickerel, water lilies, horse tail, lizard tail and duck potato. Mosquito fish take care of mosquito larva.

A waterfall trickles at one end, a birdfeeder catches your eye at the other.

The pool looks like it's been there forever but it was only three years old when this picture was taken--and installed in one rainy afternoon. With a couple of friends helping, the gardeners lined it with flexible PVC liner. The first planting consisted of a couple of lilies and a handful of aquarium plants from a pet store. These clean the water, using up nutrients, algae, fish waste and leftover fish food. Once "balanced" or established they said the pool was largely maintenance free. Scoop out leaves once a year, trim the plants, and that's it.

You don't have to have a big yard (or lots of money) to have a water feature. An old metal washtub makes a unique and attractive miniature water garden. My old pool pump, sawed in half and plunked down in a bed of mint, holds rocks for birds to splash on and a pot of dwarf papyrus. The pond at left, the derelict half of