I give you … the pond!



Although the pond was officially started and completed on Thursday, it took until Saturday afternoon to get it into a state where I would even want to photograph it. My husband came back from a conference in Paris, and was taken aback, no, shocked, no, horrified by the final size of the thing. From the tip of the waterfall to the end of the stone covering the filter, it is ten feet and now takes up two thirds of the bed it occupies. Also, the waterfall wasn't covered properly, it needed plants, and—maybe a couple fish would be nice.

So we had the obliging Brian back over and he made a few adjustments that, minor as they are, allowed me to get a few more perennials around the edges. We then proceeded to a local nursery specializing in water gardens and bought some interesting water plants (opening up a whole new world of cultivars for me).

After a few hours of planting and rearranging, this is as good as we can get it for now. The sealant between some of the rocks has to mature from yellow to green/brown, the plants need to grow and the ecosystem has to mature, but we're OK with watching this develop (checking every a.m. so see if the fish lived through the night).

Comments

Carol Michel said…
Beautiful. Now I want one!
LostRoses said…
It looks wonderful, but why was your husband surprised at the size? Did it actually turn out longer than planned? I say the bigger the better, then you can fit more plants in! (Watch out for duckweed unless you never want to see your fish again, it will eventually cover the whole surface of the pond). And is that some lighting I see? That'll be wonderful to gaze on the pond at night too. Your crew did a great job!
firefly said…
Pond envy!

That looks really lovely, even in startup phase. I can almost hear the water running over the rocks -- so soothing (just park your husband next to it for a few hours, and he'll forget about how much of the bed it takes up).

In a courtyard garden setting I'll bet it is perfect. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the plants and fish, and if you notice different kinds of birds and insects visiting too.
EAL said…
Yes, my husband already had installed garden lighting, and it has been adjusted to highlight the pond.

We had originally discussed s smaller feature, but I was open to something bigger, so I didn't say anything when they started to make the bigger one. I figured it would work out and it has.

Though--we just removed one of the fish that was biting the others. I am all for Darwin but don't need to have his theories proved in the microcosm of my pond.
Unknown said…
Gorgeous, Elizabeth! The plants already look very nice and settled-in from the pictures. Is that one of the new orange-y heucheras I noticed there? I've been suckered into two of them so far this spring... :)
Anonymous said…
Lovely pond. Don't you just love the sounds of the water? You have inspired me to actually clean out my pond. As soon as it gets just a bit warmer. :)
Cheyjay57 said…
I LOVE it. It looks very natural, unlike some I have seen lately. And I know the sound of the water has to be, well, intoxicating! Congratulations!
lisa said…
Awesome! I wish I could have a bigger water garden, but the racoons would tear it up in no time, so I have to be content with tubs. I agree, it already looks "settled" with the plantings-great job!
EAL said…
The orangy-rust heucheras seem pretty hardy. Unlike others I have had one of these lasted though the winter and survived the pond-related plant moving. That's why many of these plants look mature--they are. They just had to be moved.

There is also a lettucy lime green heuchera. I will never plant a heuchera in the fall again--that's the killer.
Anonymous said…
Ditto all the praise - it sure looks worth all the work and expense. I bet it'll look even better in late July. S
Margaret said…
Hello Elizabeth. Sorry for the tardiness of my post, but then again, I just found your blog so I guess it's not so terrible that I'm writing many months after the event. I came upon your blog via another gardening blog via another gardening blog.... So it goes in blogland.

I am a bit of a pond fan, and congratulations on yours. I've recently completed my second (having moved house early this year), and have worked on friends' to get them into working order. Somewhat different from yours, however, since I'm in Australia and use only Australian native plants. I hope you'll drop by my blog to see what I've been up to with this and other gardening adventures. And if you want to see a really exciting pond, check out my friends'. Now that's a pond:

http://pool2pond.googlepages.com/home

I am very jealous. But I control it nicely.

Cheers,

Margaret

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