Water features in the garden

Nancy Carter

I am interested in incorporating water features in my flower garden. Mostly for a tranquil and relaxing effect. Nothing overzealous but a couple enhancements. What are your water features and your diy ideas? Anything creative and eye catching?

Torey

I have seen small water features that are made out of a series of clay pots with the water spilling from pot to pot. I saw one that was a watering can tipped to spill water into a small pond. I like including gardening type enhancements to a garden. Don't care for the statues peeing into ponds.

VickiP

I have a couple of ponds, this one is small and has a small solar pump that feeds a little fall. I didn't get a picture of the fall but here is one of the flower garden and the pond. Unfortunately we started letting he chickens free range, they love it but my poor little garden has suffered. I will probably redo the whole thing this fall after it cools off.

judsoncarroll4

When I was a kid on the farm, my grandfather had a little concrete pool in a shady spot for water lotus. Well, in eastern NC, it became a mosquito breeder pretty quickly! So, in came the goldfish.... then the frogs.... then one day, a small, three legged alligator. No one knows quite where the gator came from. Most likely a turtle bit off its leg. There were ponds on the property and a swamp on the far end. She became a family pet.... until she began trying to eat the pigs. I do LOVE grilled gator! But, I don't know what became of her. Anyway, if you can find it, there is a good book on edible water plants... out of print last I looked... https://www.amazon.com/Edible-Water-Gardens-Nick-Romanowski/dp/1864471026/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=edible+water+gardens&qid=1597536807&s=books&sr=1-3

Nancy Carter

@torey I don't care for the peeing statues either, the clay pots sound cool!

@VickiP beautiful pond!How deep is it?

@judsoncarroll4 I'm not sure I could handle an alligator in my backyard!! I have tried it and liked it!

VickiP

@Nancy Carter it is shallow. I dug it around some pretty thick tree roots, didn't want to kill the tree. It is about 18" deep and maybe five foot long by four foot wide, I dug it out by hand. I used a liner I found at Lowes on clearance and the stones were broken bits from a marble company they let us have for free. So I don't have much in it as far as money but it was pretty labor intensive.

stephanie447

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/870988#Comment_870988

I love water features! That is very industrious of you, and it looks terrific!

Nancy Carter

I would like to add a water feature that sprays up water ( not too high maybe a foot or so) . Anyone have ideas on how to make this?

I would also like to add different colored lights for the evening! I have a solar wind chime that changes color and it looks pretty neat.

@judsoncarroll4 How would I care for the fish? What kind would be best and how do they winter? I live in North East Pennsylvania.

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/871102#Comment_871102

I'm not sure if your pond is deep enough for the fish to over winter. But, you can probably source some "mosquito fish" minnows in your area and just toss a few in each spring.

Lisa K

@VickiP beautiful pond!

I let my two go dry mainly due to the maintenance and the raccoons which ate or destroyed everything in them. I did have one lone goldfish that got big but he was eaten my a Giant Blue Heron 😐️ Once I can figure out a way to secure pedestal I plan to have a small table-top like fountain with a solar power pump, the goal is to bring the sound into the garden and get the Dragonflies back!

VickiP

I love the dragonflies and the frogs! A little pond/water garden really brings a new dimension to the garden. I have fish in both ponds but I lost some out of the little one this last winter. I haven't had any predation that I am aware of. A black snake did get tangled in my chicken netting last year, I think he was after frogs. I had to put on some tough gloves and cut him out, He was not happy, he huffily slithered off into the woods and disappeared.