The Rural Voice, 2001-08, Page 45I need
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Garden tours have got to be the
best educational tool available for
both no% ice and experienced
gardeners alike. All the books and
magazines in the world cannot
replace looking at a real design in
working order. Matching leaves from
trees to pictures in books may help
you identify your newest specimen
but seeing the mature version in front
of you is breathtaking. The same is
true of water gardens.
I had the good fortune to take part
in a pond and water garden tour
sponsored by Aquascape, a firm that
specializes in pond filtration systems.
The gardens were designed and built
by a variety of firms who all shared
one common element, an Aquascape
filtration system.
The tour began for my friend and
myself with a pond in Exeter. The
whole design included a wonderful
covered deck with nautical features-
which
eatureswhich overlooked a lovely water
garden complete with paths and both
shade and sunny spots in the
Gardening
ten torts of rock for my garden
surrounding garden. We took pictures
and merrily drove on the next
location west of Huron Park. By the
end of the day we had seen gardens in
Sarnia, St. Clair and Chatham. On
Sunday we hit the London area. We
were both weary and excited by what
we saw.
Although we did not get to see all
of the gardens listed in the I 2 -page
ticket, we made a small dent. The
majority were located in sunny
locations and all featured fish. Many
had bright koi darting in the deeper
water. We saw some that were
electric -sunshine yellow. Without the
filter system their ponds would be
pea soup. but you never noticed
the system. The working parts were
neatly tucked away camouflaged with
water falls. streams, and additional
rocky pools.
This was the fourth year for this
tour and most of the ponds we saw
were two years or younger. Grasses
were used extensively for back drops
and for softening around rough rocky
edges. Very few trees were used in
HELP FOR ONTARIO FARMERS IN CRISIS
Queen's Bush Rural Ministries
Provides a free confidential service
to listen and offer a network
of helpful contacts.
Call Collect 1-519-369-6774
SAVE $$$ NOW ON CARPETS
AND FLOORING AT THE
Ye,en c rok4LES
Carpet Warehouse
(on the Owen Sound Bypass • 2 miles south of Springmountl
376-0975
•
Open Wed., Thurs. & Fri. - 10:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m., Sat. - 10:30 a.m • 2:00 p.m. t;
Evening appointments available for your convenience
42 THE RURAL VOICE
landscaping around
the ponds. Older trees drop debris in
the pools/ponds and their roots may
intrude into the pond.
We didn't see any pond liners.
Every inch of the pond bottom was
covered with a variety of stone, sand
or gravel. And we saw stone. One
gentleman has a gravel business and
used 35 tons of stone and gravel in
his wonderful water garden. In one
corner of the yard was an eight -foot
mountain with evergreens planted in
the back. A bubbling stream gently
rolled from the top, cascading into a
series of shallow pools 'til it carne to
the larger pond at the bottom. All
around the -edge of the shallow pools
birds were drinking, butterflies
dipping onto the wet rocks and
dragonflies were busy diving here
and there. In the bottom were the
gold fish flashing their bright colours.
I learned that to have a clean clear
pond you need a good filtration
system. To keep a balance you need
submerged aquatics like elodea,
cabomba, sagittaria, hornwort and
eleocharis. Generally, one bunch per
square foot of pool surface is
recommended. To help control algae
you need to control the amount of
light reaching the water. To that end
one third to two thirds of the water
surface should be covered with lily
pads or floating aquatics such as
water lettuce.
I hesitate to recommend water
lettuce or any of those remarkable
tropical water plants. I found our fish
ate the roots off the floating plants
and the plants were unable to
multiply. If they don't winter over in
your house you are out the initial
outlay of money. Using native lilies,
rushes and cattails helps with pond
problems and they will be there next
year.
After a viewing some of the most
beautiful water gardens I have come
to the conclusion I need 10 tons of
rock and a few more loads of top soil
and then I can redo ours!O
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger and her
husband raise two children at their
home near Auburn. She is a skilled
cook and gardener.