Here is a picture of my backyard pond ... it was put in last August. We love it .... we were told you'd always want to go bigger, so we went as big as we possibly could in the space available. I just stumbled across DG in the last week and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.
-kw
So many beautiful ponds, large and small. Just really enjoy looking at all of them.
My little ponds were built by the fellow who has worked ,(whenever he had the time and i had the money) for me for 15 years. I had built two small ponds at my other place before i moved here just over 10 years ago. here there was NOTHING except sage brush and grass, so it was start from beginning.
So we excavated the soil from a pretty much level areanad made the two ponds using for information my previous limited experience and what I got from books and magazines. In this pretty much isolated area there are no pond supply businesses. The rocks are all native rocks. I don't have a waterfall, other than from the sort of tree shaped one on the cement shelf. There is a tiny stream from the small pool to the larger one going under the bridge.
The larger pool has the goldfish, 3 are 10 years old that i moved with me, the rest of the 35 or so goldfish are their offspring. Last summer i bought a small koi who hides most of the time. The smaller pond is for the frogs and toad and polywogs.
DonnaS
Another photo of ponds. Donnas
And here is one more, this is the berm created from soil excavated from larger pool. DonnaS
lovely ponds DonnaS
viv
Viv, Thanks, I just went out to feed my bluebirds, was late, but finally just a drizzle. There is a family of quail that come in to eat, actually several families but this one couple have about 20 babies, but I can't get a good picture , as soon as they see any movement, they are gone and I tried to take a pic through the window, but just can't get a good one. I have two tiny like half barrel size pools, and one just off the deck I just leave for the quail and what ever other birds want to drin or use it., there is a dripper in the half shell above it so water is dripping into the lower pool all the time. DonnaS
Wow - I wish our berm looked like that!
Ours is full of whatever chose to grow there, mainly weeds and sumacs. Skip (my sweety) burned it off last fall thinking that it would help control the mess (you couldn't even walk through the brush), so this year I think Ihave an extra fertile landing strip for weed seeds. It's pretty in August when the rudbeckia blooms, though, and in the fall the sumac is gorgeous.
Stacy
kw--that is one gorgeous pond! Welcome to DG, I think we all just sorta stumblied across it and got stuck here. The pond has a wonderful shape. Nice framework to play with as the years go by and you can experiment.
Ruth--that is so inspiring, holy schmoly. I absolutely love what you have done. It's so lush and full of "you".
sstate--Isn't it a drag when the things you do to help your desirable plants end up helping the ones you don't want instead? Hate that ;) Let go and let mother nature.
earth - that's about what I've decided to do. The birds and butterflies seem to like it, so what they heck. I've thought several times about seeding is some things, but have never gotten to it. That part of the yard isn't covered by the sprinkler system, and it's a 4 acre hike from the house. My last thought has been to plant some ultra hardy ground cover roses on each end. Just a couple of plants to water, which I can do when we're down fishing if I leave my watering can by the pond. The neighbors down the road have some, and according to her, once she got them up and going she's never worked with them since. Pics of the back of the berm follow....
This one is from the top of the berm out to the woods last fall
this is late July last year.
By the way, my name is Stacy - that's got to be easier to type than "sstateham"
my little pond
another view
Stacy that is a really great view from your berm. What is the peeling bark tree to the left.
jerry, good looking pond and I can see lots of work involved moving all those rocks around . Are they from your property. Are there fish in your pond. I have about 30 goldfish and one koi that keeps itself hidden most of the time. DonnaS
Wow! Look at all the great ponds that have appeared since the last time I visited this thread! I had no idea so many people had ponds until I found this website. I just kept 'finding' it whenever I'd search for information on ponds.
Donna, I still love your pond with all of your mature water lilies! I do hope my little fishies have babies, too! They look mightly small in the pond just now.
Stacy, welcome to DG! I agree that mother nature has provided you with the perfect berm! The colors and textures cannot be beat! Why fight it?
Jerry, your rocks look just like mine! Sure you don't live in Washington State? Mine all came from my soil. What about yours? Any fish?
Here's a photo of my pond so far. I've changed the waterfall since I took it, and I'm still planting the rock garden. But it's getting there!
Pixy--those little miniature evergreens are adorable. I agree with you about Stacey's berm, what the heck are you complaining about Stacey? All that color and the texture of the beautiful bark. Nice!
Jerry--that's a beautiful little pond! I love the contrast the rocks provide.
Ruth - the bark is a river birch. They're all over out there. Earth - not complaining so much as wishing it was tamed. It's pretty as it it, jusy very difficult to keep under any control.
Ahh, yes! The uncontrollable nature of...nature! In this case, Beautiful! We pay a nice big price here for River Birch.
Earth, I'm a little addicted to the dwarf evergreens. I find them exceptionally charming even though I'm not that crazy about most of their larger cousins. And they won't outgrow the space!
earth - thanks for your comments. The back yard is definitely a "work in progress" with the pond the first element. I hope to put a gazebo in the back corner and a deck to the right of picture ()maybe with a hottub). Thanks to all of you for the warm welcome and the beutiful pictures of ponds. My pond buddy (we built our ponds at the same time and helped each other) and I are thinking of starting a pond building/maintenance business and I've already gotten some neat ideas to incorporate into new pond designs. Hope you all have a blessed day.
-kw
That's great kw! Good luck with it.
Pixy--I like the dwarf evergreens too. I agree, it's a charm thing ;)
Stacey--good luck with "control", it's a tough concept with gardening!
earth - no kidding! I can use all the luck I can get. Acutally last night we were talking and I think we've decided to just let it go as it chooses. A cut down in the winter and a burn off in the spring ought to keep the sumac from running too rampant.
Here is my pond. Still work in progress.
Here are some photos of our pond under construction (fall 2001.) I had to take a person out of the middle of the photo, so it may look a little odd:
This message was edited Jun 12, 2005 12:13 AM
The pond before it was filled:
And an aerial view after ice had started forming (tree in the top left corner is the same as tree in first photo):
This message was edited Jun 12, 2005 12:18 AM
Pinky--usually "a work in progress" means "a mess", but that pond looks gorgeous!
Jasmerr--keep us informed. Interesting progression of photos. I like the ice shot. That's a big pond. Do you have any recent photos?
I'll try to get some current photos taken soon. I won't be able to get an aerial shot; we were able to get that one when we rented a lift truck to do some Christmas decorating (see http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/368150/.)
checked it out. Neato.
OK. I copied that article that I spoke of recently, ((((Ponds, gravel, ecosystems, balance and clarity))) but it is TOO large to post here, so if you will send me your email address, I will send you a copy!
Melanie
melharris@dot11net.net
pinky. such a nice pond!
Viv
Here's a picture of our koi "tank". It used to be a planter but we took out all the dirt and lined it w/ rubber liner. We've had it for about 8 years now. The kois you see are about 7 years old. There are some gold fish in there, too. We planted yellow and pink water lilies but only the pink ones survived. It's a joy to watch the shoots and leaves emerge every spring. And, of course, it's great fun for the kids to feed the kois.
(The nylon mesh keeps out the racoons, cats, and possums.)
How big is your koi "tank". It looks wonderful.
Viv
Thanks, Viv. It's only 20 in. by 5 ft. and 2 ft. deep. We have 2 butterfly kois and 2 BIG goldfish in there. We also have a 900 gal. koi pond in the back with 9 small kois and 1 goldfish. The only plants we have in that one are the algae.
Quyen
Ahhh....algae. Now THAT'S a plant I can grow!
I've got a new goldfish pond that I've "furnished" mostly with plants from Davesgarden! I don't even need a filter as they keep it basically clear. I do, however, add a bit of fresh water to make up for the evaporation every few days.
My newest little pond but deeper than last year. It is still a work in progress but the plants are starting to spread out and I have missed two of the lilies bloom to get a picture, also the fish are much happier with their new home..
vswilliams, very nice looking pond and the goldfish seem to be very happy.
Here is a photo of my little pond that is north of the house at edge of path in bonsai patio. There are calla lilies around the edge as the ground is quite moist from the drip from the little bird bath above it. No goldfish in it, I did put a large pollywog from the other pond in but haven't seen it since. DonnaS
I love the word polywog. It's such a happy word.
I just love seeing all the ponds it sure makes me want an even bigger one but no space but maybe a little one in a small area in the front yard like your's rutholive it is so cute..You all have done such a wonderful job with your pond's it makes one want to jump right into the picture....
I just recently discovered my smaller Koi has ICK......bought the medicine and started treating him......does anyone know how long it takes to clear up? I'm hoping the other fish do not get it! Any ideas out there?
Thanks,
Joni
Hi madelyn65. I just finished successfully treating one of my fish for Ick. I would definitley advise separating that fish from your pond and the other fish. I had mine in a large fish bowl, lowered onto one of the shelves in my pond. I treated it for 7 days, changing the water each day and then putting the drops in. Don't be surprised if the fish doesn't
eat right away and will continue to be listless for a while longer as well.. The white spots started fading away after about 4 days, and were completely gone in 7 days. Fishy was full of zip and ready to get back to his friends again. Good Luck!
Forgot to mention that I also treated the pond while I was treating the segregated fish, to make sure the any infection was stopped.
This message was edited Jun 29, 2005 1:25 PM
