Water Gardening

By day a water garden becomes a window on nature. Set among shrubs and flowering plants, it is a magnet for birds, butterflies, dragonflies, frogs and other interesting creatures. By night, still water reflects twinkling stars and becomes a cool have for frogs and the like.

A backyard pond is a clam oasis in our otherwise hectic lives,which helps explain why the popularity of water gardening is exploding.

More and more homeowners are turning their backyards into garden rooms that are an extension of their living space, and water is a natural addition to anylandscape.

Garden ponds, already a part of 6.6 million American households, are getting bigger and fancier, and much more sophisticated, too, thanks to new products and improvements in technology. Some have waterfalls disappearing into rock beds, or longer streams for wildlife, with planting pockets to make it more natural-looking instead of just rocky.

There’s also more choice of aquatic plants. In Speichert’s Encyclopedia of Water Garden Plants, published last year by Timber Press, the descriptions of submerged, floating and marginal plants run to 388 pages.

In 1988, there were about 28 plants you could get for the margins of ponds,” says Speichert, who started breeding water plants when he ran a garden center. “We introduced about 400, and I think now there are close to a thousand you can get, with more flowers, more textures, more leaf colors.”

All those pretty plants have prompted a boom in container water gardening.

You don’t have to have a pond, just a water proof container that doesn’t leak. It’s easy even for the beginner gardener because you can’t overwater.

Floating planters make things even easier. They can be planted with bog or water plants and alowed to float in a container to make an instant water feature.

But water gardens aren’t just decorative. Backyard ponds and streams can be an important water source for birds and other wildlife. Frogs are always a fascination for people young and old, and if you build a pond, they will find it and in addition, water gardening is a safe way to introduce children to nature.

The advent of pond liners two decades ago was what shook things up in the world of water gardening, gradually transforming a horticultural afterthought into a billion-dollar business.

Ponds once only made from concrete or fiberglass,are now easily attainable with a sheet of rubber.

Technorati Tags: water garden, Garden ponds, container water gardening

Welcome to all gardeners and especially to those mad about water gardening.
I like to take the opportunity at this time of year to reflect on things that went particularly well last year and those that will need to be changed.

We have had an unusual amount of snow this winter and the trees suffered immensley from broken branches and many have come uprooted.

In light of the looming job of pruning, general yard cleanup and pond maintence I am taking advantage of this time of year to pour over gardening books and magazines and my favorite websites to find just the right container water garden to place near the front door that will welcome our visitors.

I am trying to choose between a spectacular Stainless Steel Waterfall Fountain and a Stone Pillar Water Fountain(probably much better suited, but not nearly as dramatic!).

I will keep you posted on what I decide. If you have any photos of container gardens you would like to share - please send them along!

Technorati Tags: water gardening, container water garden