Pam's Ponds

The last ponds Mr. Fix-it, Naomi, and I toured were the ponds of Pam. I am not sure if Pam is the President of the Montgomery County Water Garden Society or not, but I must say she is most passionate about ponds. 

There is a beautiful gazebo near the two ponds Pam maintains. The gazebo set the tone for the whole garden; which is elegant and varied.

This tree had some earrings! Earrings on trees is not so much an elegant thing but ever so fun!

Pam said she is not a gardener perse, just a pond person. Well, she had a very nice garden in my opinion and I enjoyed taking photos of it.

This leaf casting was beautifully finished.

Cockscomb has done really well for most gardeners this year. I even have it growing in my garden-for the first time ever.

Pam maintains two ponds; one for the boy fish, and one for the girl fish. One of the ponds has a long waterfall and stream leading down to the pond. As we walked up a shy frog took off from our view.

This area is the bog area Pam maintains. Some plants need certain conditions in which to grow well. If you have a deep koi pond with lots of koi the plants might get eaten and not do well. Therefore you might consider building a bog area like this one for specialized plants.

More of the stream flowing down the natural slope.

Part of the garden around one of the ponds.

Pam's son-in-law was hand feeding the koi. I thought this was cool!! Pam's koi must be about three feet long as well so to be able to handfeed these behemoths was pretty neat. Can you imagine the time it took to train them to eat out of a hand? I'd love to do this with my koi but don't see it happening any time soon. My koi are such drama queens that even when they are fed they swoosh around like the hounds of hell are after them. It's kind of strange they don't calm down for me even though they are quite friendly prior to me tossing in their food. 

One last look at one of the ponds. The two ponds were quite large and deep. Pam had bubblers going in both of the ponds. I believe she said bubblers help to aerate the water and to cool it down. In the summer ponds can get quite hot; which reduces the oxygen level; which then stresses the fish. Aerators help with that. 

This concludes my pond tour series. It was a lot of work and I'm not sure I'll do it again but it was fun for me to remember the ponds too since I always try to make the annual pond tours. I am thinking about joining the society too. If you have a pond or are thinking of making a pond I highly recommend you join a local pond society as they are a wealth of information and resources the ordinary person cannot get on their own. 

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Les and Rhonda's Ponds and Gardens

Welcome to Rhonda and Les' ponds! This was the final pond on the 2012 MCWGS Pond Tour but not our final pond tour on In the Garden's pond tours. I have skipped both my pond and my friend Naomi's pond but will at some point come back to them. After this post there is one more pond tour that was actually a bonus for Mr. Fix-it and I as it was not on this year's pond tour. 

The Shank's pond had to have been the largest pond on the tour. Rhonda told me it was 5500 gallons; which is enormous! The depth of this pond was over three feet and the koi were about three feet long themselves. It is a pretty spectacular pond. This pond also has the distinction of being the only pond  on this tour that had a bottom drain installed. The filtering system on this pond was quite incredible, but I won't go into details because I don't understand any of it myself. The picture above is of the covered bridge that crosses the large pond. This pond was surrounded by bright and cheery gardens. The hard work of the gardeners is evident everywhere you look in this garden.

Elephant ears seemed to be a mainstay of most of the ponds on the tour. They are beautiful next to a pond because of their large tropical looking leaves.

This stunner is 'Golden Spirit' smoketree. Smoketrees are native to North America and are one of my favorite small trees. I too have 'Golden Spirit' and can vouch for its toughness and attractiveness in the garden. All of the new chartreuse growth you see on this tree is due to the recent rains we have had. Normally only new growth shows the vivid coloring many smoketree hybrids display. This one is no exception. Do you see how the lower leaves are more green than chartreuse? The two toned effect is actually quite nice but if you expect your smoketrees to show bright colors all season you will be disappointed.

Here we are looking under the bridge and toward the waterfall. Behind the waterfall area there was a huge stock tank full of beautiful baby koi. Rhonda's male and female koi are all in the same tank and it seems the babies have lots of places to hide once spawned. Normally pond owners won't see many babies from their koi because the small fry are quickly eaten. That changes if you have plants and safe spots for the baby to hide. A pond owner can quickly get inundated with baby koi and this has happened to Rhonda and Les. I told Rhonda she should sell them but another pond society member kind of laughed and said you can't hardly give baby koi away let alone sell them. That is sometimes true of the regular looking koi but the baby koi in Rhonda's stock tanks are beautiful. I would think she could sell them easily.

Rhonda told me she is from Missouri and near where her mother lives is a factory that makes gazing balls for the garden. Leftover glass is melted down and sold to the public. Some of the pieces Rhonda has collected are displayed on a nearby table. Aren't they beautiful?

On one end of the covered bridge crossing the pond is a beautiful vine cascading down the structure. I remarked that the Sweet Autumn Clematis was lovely there but it was so invasive in my garden that I removed all of mine. Invasiveness did not seem to be a problem for Rhonda and many others in our area that grow Sweet Autumn Clematis.

I took a lot of pictures of this pond for some reason. It was simply gorgeous.

Here we are peeking through the trees and gardens toward one of the two stock tanks. I think everyone liked looking at the baby koi as much as at the large koi.

This two acre property in a subdivision in town contained several fruit trees. I thought this patio peach was stunning. It was SO big and healthy. I just added one to my garden this spring and hope mine is as happy. The tree behind the patio peach is a Mimosa tree. This is not a tree that I am impressed by because it is rather weedy, but it is a pretty tree both in and out of flower.

Mr. Fix-it was interested in this garden art. He was not sure what it was so he asked Les and the two of them wound up talking during the whole tour. It seems they were both in the same field in the Army. It's a small world I tell you. I seem to remember Mr. Fix-it finally telling me this art object was perhaps a cotton gin. I am not certain though.

More tropical like plants in this very sunny garden.

And here is my dear husband. He had a great time on this tour as we do each year. Here he is enviously looking at one of the many fig trees on the property. The fig trees were LOADED with figs. I think Rhonda perhaps started with one fig tree and has split off many offshoots to transplant in her garden. She must now have about a dozen. There were several Asian pear trees loaded with fruit as well, and probably more fruit trees though I did not explore all of the plants. Rhonda was gracious enough to allow me to pick a fruit to bring home to eat. It is sitting and softening up but I plan to try it soon. 

Rhonda's garden had been on the tour a few years ago when I did the tour with my friend Vonna. Everyone was quite impressed with not only the pond and gardens, but also with Rhonda's generosity. She is a sharing person who packaged seeds from her garden free for the taking. This was a wonderful large pond and garden....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The Westfall Garden

Our fourth stop on our group tour took us over toward my side of town (west side). Here we entered the magical backyard paradise of the Westfalls. Their pond was a very large pond that contained some beautiful fish and a classical pergola.

Our path to the backyard took us down this stone pathway. Mr. Fix-it and I got some good ideas on what we would like to build our backyard patio out of whenever we get aroundtuit. These stones were securely set into a base and the path itself was so darned perfectly level you would've thought it was not really stone. It made for a comfortable walking area.

Here are some of the beautiful koi. Do you see how the water adds light, reflection, and movement to the garden? Ponds provide this unique facet of gardens.

There was even a bit of whimsy in this garden. The pond area itself was part sun and part shade. Perfect conditions for a pond in my humble opinion. Here a seating area is set up under an apple tree. Watch out for the colorful lizard looking to get an apple or two!

This is the lower end of the pond next to the house. This pond had a retaining wall built on this side because the yard angled up toward the back of the property, away from the house. Building a pond like this serves a purpose in that the drainage from the slope is stopped above the pond so it will not drain toward the house, plus you have something nice to look at. Making a wall that lasts and is structurally sound is very important so if you undertake such a project be sure you do it right.

Do you remember I said Naomi is a learner and takes in all sorts of information? She was very interested in how these impatiens were growing in the water of the waterfall stream. Did you know impatiens grow in water? They do wonderfully in water.

These variegated irises were stunning.

This turtle shell made a nice statement.

Impatiens cascade down the waterfall.

A long shot of this large pond.

Finally I close with the newly built pergola near the pond....

in the garden....

 Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Garden Whimsy at Herman and Donna's Garden Pond

The third pond on our 2012 Montgomery County Water Garden Society Pond Tour was the garden pond of Herman and Donna. For me these tours are more about the gardens than the ponds. I believe ponds, and water in general, enhance a garden experience. I simply cannot tour for ponds only so please excuse me when I refer to the gardens. 

Herman and Donna are fellow master gardeners and actually spent some time in my garden in June during the Master Gardener Garden Tour. My husband and I really got to know them and enjoyed talking to them and Herman's sister, Sue. It was no surprise then that when the tour stopped at their garden I was pretty excited. Their garden made me feel right at home-let me tell you!

One of the first things I saw was this mosaic. My husband said I should ask Donna if she got inspired from my three mosaics like this in my garden. I immediately went to her and asked her and she said she was indeed inspired by my mosaic when she spent time in my garden in June and gave me a big hug. She immediately went home after the June visit and created her own glass gem-shower door mosaic and the result is above. Isn't it beautiful? Now I no longer have the claim to fame that my garden is the only one in this area with a mosaic. Harumph! Nah, just kidding. I am flattered that Donna loved the mosaic so much she created it. I can tell you they take some work and each and everyone will be a bit different and unique. Mounting them in the garden adds so much to a garden. I am so thrilled to see this beautiful one in Donna and Herman's garden. It was a big hit with our tour too.

Here is the backside of it. Both sides are gorgeous. One side is in 3D while the other one simply sparkles with color.

There was another reason I felt at home in this garden. There were so many wonderful garden art pieces and splendid seating areas that I surely felt at home. Here we have some of those famous tipsy pots made by Lola, and a tower that sparkles with gems.

This had to be my favorite piece aside from the mosaic of course. I plan to make one of these soon. Mr. Fix-it has already been forewarned.

The garden area was interesting. I did not actually explore the growing spaces but noticed this wonderful trellis made from cattle panels. I wish I had the room to do this in my garden. These trellises are perfect for growing vining crops.

The host of the tour, Terrie, loved loved loved this sparkly tree. She asked me to take a picture of it. It is an easy do it yourself project for anyone and not very expensive either. The 'gems' are plastic doodads you can buy at any hobby store. I bet you can get the tree there too.

This totem was created by Donna. She is quite the artist and had paintings displayed in her home that I loved. I unfortunately did not get pictures of them as Mr. Fix-it and I were in the food line and so I left my camera at our table. Speaking of which, part of the tour included a lunch provided to the VIPs (PreTour guests). The spread Herman, Donna, their daughter, and friends laid out for us all was pretty amazing. Everything from fried chicken to barbeque to chess pie! And a very comfortable spot to eat it too! A few of us sat under a gazebo right next to the huge pond and enjoyed a shady spot to eat al fresco. I tell you I was not ready to leave.

This little bicycle was all set for a champagne toast.

How about this nearby bottle tree?

I like rusty things so this large flower caught my eye. No fertilizing, weeding, or watering required!

Now this weeping Atlas Cedar would need some help from the gardener. It was a specimen plant I wished I had in my garden.

Naomi was our traveling companion on this date. She thoroughly enjoyed herself as you can see. Pond tours are great to get good ideas not only about ponds but about gardens. Naomi is a learner and she savored everything we saw this day.

This whimsical koi caught my eye. He looks like he was washed up high and dry doesn't he?

Ah, here is the pond. This post is long and I was not sure if I even included the pond. I am really glad I did!! Herman used to have three ponds that he very recently combined into one large pond. This is one of the ponds that was less than three feet deep. He was limited on how deep he could go by fill lines under the pond. Pipes and lines are a big consideration when digging a pond. I made sure my waterline was no where near where I dug my pond as well. It takes some work to figure this all out but you must know where your lines are prior to digging to avoid costly mistakes down the road.

This neat piece of art was a hanging planter that really stood out to me.


As did the potted wreath welcoming all to Donna and Herman's garden....

in the garden....

 Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden