The garden is bordered to the south by a sliver of mature poplars and maples, and to the west by a water retention area that was botched in construction, which resulted in a poorly drained swamp that is impossible to keep cleared of cattails and brambles. Over twenty years I have planted more of this…
Category: water gardens
A splendid September stroll
Today I was roaming through the garden with no particular purpose, just wandering, reflecting, listening. I choose each footstep carefully to avoid any of the abundant frogs that flee in terror as I approach, and pause for a few moments to watch a striped garter snake glide through the dark water in the front pond….
Meadowlark Gardens
Today I visited Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia while taking part in the ZNA Koi and Pond Expo. The beautiful, huge koi are worth the trip, but the ninety-five acre garden is a delightful spot to spend a September afternoon. Unfortunately, the summer’s heat and extended dry spell have made the garden a bit…
The last of summer?
Today a cool breeze whistles through the sliver of forest that borders the garden, the tall poplars and maples sway in rhythm. The sun shines brightly, but this is an autumn sun, not the unmerciful sun of summer. The past week has been quite hot, with temperatures in the mid-nineties that have become so familiar…
The marvelous blooms of late August
When gardeners refer to August their descriptions are unlikely to be favorable. The “dog days”, and worse, characterize the most troublesome part of the growing season when the heat of summer has taken its toll. Spring is vibrant, full of yellows, reds, and blues, but August is dusty and brown at the edges, the gardener…
The swimming pond -Summer 2010
I’ve had several recent inquiries about my swimming pond, so I figure that it’s about time for an update. This is my favored spot in the garden, where I spend my most relaxed time, and (on rare occasions when I’m sociable) where my wife and I entertain friends and family. There are six ponds in the…
Big is beautiful
No, not me, I’m big, but more bulldozer than beautiful, useful for digging holes and moving boulders. In my garden I’m a fool for any plant with large leaves, trees, shrubs, perennials, or tropicals, the bigger the better, I’ve got to have them. In garden design big leaves contrast nicely with just about any foliage in…
Plants in the water gardens
The topic today is plants in the pond, not around the pond, but growing in the water. But first, I must address briefly the plants that surround the pond. Through the years I have seen many ponds that are intended to mimic a natural water feature, but are left naked, ringed by stones, stark in…
A bullfrog’s domain
In the heat of summer there is no place so pleasant as sitting on a bench as the sun sets, watching goldfish and koi swim lazily in the garden pond. In my garden there are five ponds, and along side each there is a bench, or a seat, or just a boulder, so that one…
Japanese iris
In my garden there are five ponds, four that are one hundred fifty square feet and smaller, and a large pond that is nearly fifteen hundred square feet that I call the “swimming pond”, though I do not swim, only float in it. Only the swimming pond is in full sun, and here is the…
A place to relax
I wore out my old garden lounge chair, and have had to purchase another, the kind that’s called a zero gravity chair but is really just a recliner. They’re cheap and ugly, but suit my purposes quite well. I’ve tried to “relax” (sleep) in one of the chairs we have scattered on the various stone…
A tadpole’s paradise
For a few weeks in April, evenings in my garden are alive with the sounds of spring peepers, so today, inevitably as the course of nature would have it, the ponds are full of tadpoles. Not a few, but thousands, many thousands. I have five ponds in the garden, and a sixth dirt bottom, wet…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 