Showing posts tagged water plants
Sagittaria Sagittifolia Blooming in the Galeazza Aquatic Plants Area I’m afraid I don’t have Sagittaria japonica after all. Oh well, this will do for now… View high resolution

Sagittaria Sagittifolia Blooming in the Galeazza Aquatic Plants Area

I’m afraid I don’t have Sagittaria japonica after all. Oh well, this will do for now…

A New Bridge and Pond We made this pond and bridge two days ago.  I’m not a good designer or garden planner, but I’m a talented junk collector and recycler. The 30-foot beams for this bridge are two poplars that I had to cut down to save the trees around them. In the late 1980s they were planted only 3 feet apart, and weren’t going to survive much longer.  Now the others have some space to grow stronger. All of the wood is scrap lumber that a nearby factory throws out if I don’t go over and take it from them. So total cost for the bridge: about 20 euro - 15 for wood stain and 5 for 220 big nails. The JCB guy is a friend who patiently dug the pond about three feet deep, spread out a nylon tarp, dumped about 16 inches of soil inside it, and used all of the excess soil to make a gentle hill shape that I’m going to cover with grass. I was inspired by the simple low bridges I’ve seen in Japan, and the soft, totally artificial but somehow “natural” landscaping (echoing nature) which is often part of Japanese stroll gardens. I began filling the pond with our well water on Friday evening, and while I’m sure it has a few small leaks, it seems to be holding. At the moment it looks a bit like a, well, like a sewage-filled  swamp, but not for long… add fish and water lilies and bog/border plants and it will be beautiful. Maybe. View high resolution

A New Bridge and Pond

We made this pond and bridge two days ago.  I’m not a good designer or garden planner, but I’m a talented junk collector and recycler. The 30-foot beams for this bridge are two poplars that I had to cut down to save the trees around them. In the late 1980s they were planted only 3 feet apart, and weren’t going to survive much longer.  Now the others have some space to grow stronger. All of the wood is scrap lumber that a nearby factory throws out if I don’t go over and take it from them. So total cost for the bridge: about 20 euro - 15 for wood stain and 5 for 220 big nails.

The JCB guy is a friend who patiently dug the pond about three feet deep, spread out a nylon tarp, dumped about 16 inches of soil inside it, and used all of the excess soil to make a gentle hill shape that I’m going to cover with grass. I was inspired by the simple low bridges I’ve seen in Japan, and the soft, totally artificial but somehow “natural” landscaping (echoing nature) which is often part of Japanese stroll gardens. I began filling the pond with our well water on Friday evening, and while I’m sure it has a few small leaks, it seems to be holding. At the moment it looks a bit like a, well, like a sewage-filled  swamp, but not for long… add fish and water lilies and bog/border plants and it will be beautiful. Maybe.