I don’t write often about the garden’s ponds because nothing particularly exciting happens from month to month. Typically, there are a few dozen new hatchling fish in spring, irises and pickerel weeds that appear and begin to spread by late spring, and then sometime in autumn the ponds must be covered with nets so they…
Category: ponds
I hate nature
A territorial dispute threatens harmony in the garden. No, the conflict is not with the neighbors, who have been eternally understanding while our garden harbors wildlife that regularly raids their veggie patch. I wonder if they quietly curse us (me), but a few years ago the kind fellow next door reacted to a persistent groundhog…
Back to the garden
After two weeks away, I’m quite relieved that the garden has not become the disaster I feared. While traveling, the gardener envisions many thick stalked weeds sprouting above shrubs with a ground hugging crop spreading seeds below. Certainly, some weeds have popped up, but not in alarming abundance. I will catch up with maintenance quickly…
Rain, rain, rain
Parts of this country have been deluged by rain in recent weeks, so a gardener must be pardoned for even the mildest complaint about too much rain. One storm after another has turned the rear garden into a swamp, which in recent years it has become for too many months of the year, but rarely…
When good sense is ignored
I have some good sense, but at least as far as the garden’s concerned, it’s displayed only on rare occasions. In an effort to cram as many delights as possible into the garden, sensible design is occasionally overlooked (or disregarded). I see no reason to excuse or apologize. I will gladly sacrifice proper design to…
A month of irises
Several clumps of Japanese iris (Iris ensata, above) surrounding the koi pond have been invaded by yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus, below). These are pried from the tangle of roots with great difficulty, and with only limited success. Yellow flag works splendidly to populate the gravel bog filtration area of the pond, but if left alone…
In the mud and the muck
The spot of damp ground where ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel died a slow death is a work in progress. Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Duet’), black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), and sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus, below) will fill this void, but today the shrubs still have a few years to go before I’ll be satisfied with this space. In damp…
The koi pond in May
Along one side of the koi pond a gravel bog filter (below) is planted with tall, variegated sweetflag (Acorus calamus), yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), and water lilies (Nymphaea). Pockets between boulders at the pond’s edge are planted with Japanese irises (Iris ensata), though a few clumps have been infiltrated by the…
He’s back
My wife identified the snake as a Brown Water snake, and who am I to argue? As far as I’m concerned, any local snakes besides black snakes. copperheads, and rattlesnakes are garter snakes, but she insists otherwise. While this snake is native to habitats a bit south of here, what do I know? Until late…
The spring tour
Occasionally, a reader suggests that I should include a few scenes from the garden rather than photos only of individual plants. A time or two through the year I will do this if I can figure angles that edit out the piles of brush, and my old sailboat that is hopelessly landlocked by the garden….
The ice is melting
Finally, ice on the large koi pond is receding. The pond’s pump was left running through the winter, so there has been at least a spot of open water, which has varied in size through the winter’s temperature fluctuations. Through the coldest parts of winter the pond was almost entirely frozen, with a hole only…
Contemplating the garden
Without question, winter is time for contemplating the garden, though I readily admit I’m not much on planning. With cold temperatures and less labor there is opportunity to consider what went wrong, and no doubt countless minor tragedies befall the best of gardens. Also to consider, what worked, no matter how small the successes might…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 