What Started Your Passion for Ponds and Water Gardening?

[FountainMan]

For some reason I thought someone had already posted this and maybe I used the wrong wording in my search, but I thought I’d post a general discussion thread about how and what got you into ponds and water gardening?

For me, it began when I was a child and my parents took me to the local mall in the Seattle area and as most malls did in the 80s and 90s, there was a huge fountain in the center of the mall and I was mesmerized by the display of water and lighting.

At some point afterwards, my parents took me to some of the nurseries and garden centers at the hardware stores in the area to do plant shopping and they always had display ponds set up where they showcased their water gardening supplies as well as aquatic plants they sold, and again, I was fascinated by this. Fountains, waterfalls, streams etc was an obsession in childhood that carried on into adulthood. I enjoyed reading water gardening books growing up and the ideas from those books inspired much of what I’ve incorporated into the setup I have now.

Now I want to hear everyone else’s stories on how y’all got into it.

 

[addy1]

Moving from Maryland with water to the desert, Phoenix, needed some sort of water near. Which = a small pond , to bigger and bigger as I changed houses.

Now back in Maryland, still needed the close water which =s. 11 ponds.

 

[j.w]

Started in grade school when I dug a hole in the yard for my baby turtles! Then added in some tadpoles, uh oh I did not know they would become din din for the turtles!

 

[GBBUDD]

The usual snow ball the wife asked for a little water feature next to the new patio. I started searching online for water feature and ran into rain garden that grew to water Garden, pondless waterfall and Koi ponds. That led me to Youtube and Aquascapes and one of their videos Worlds most beautiful back yard ponds . The hook was set i was reeled in.

I grew up on a pond property we had two ponds and that was where you would find me. Today that pond is very small due to cat tails taking up 75% of the open water of the pond.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Way back when we lived in suburban Chicago on a tiny (approx. 1/5 acre) lot, both my husband & I were avid gardeners. We built perennial gardens all through our back yard & across the front. Then, in 2001/2002 the large silver maple tree that was the center of our front lawn area died & we had to have it cut down. I wanted *something* to take its place as front yard centerpiece, so we installed a small prefab pond/waterfall combo where it had once stood. That lasted a year before I wanted a "REAL" pond. Aquascape legend Brian H. came out to help us do the design & install (May 2002) and our front yard was transformed into this:

When we sold that house in 2009 & moved to NW North Carolina, we **knew** there would be a pond in our yard (when budget allowed) In 2012 we directed a local landscaping company who had some pond building experience (but not Aquascape style experience) into building us this:

Last September my yard looked like this:

I will never be without a pond in my life, as long as I am able to tend to it.

 

[GBBUDD]

Is your pond and gazebo in the hands of an artist book?

 

[Tula]

What gorgeous ponds !

My grandparents had a lake cottage in Indiana and I loved catching turtles and making habitats for them in our Coleco baby pool !

 

[Mgessert]

I was intrigued by aquaponics but didn’t want to eat the fish I raised, so got goldfish and set up vegetable grow beds. Then my goldfish wanted a pond instead of an IBC, so I built them one. Now they want a bigger one.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Is your pond and gazebo in the hands of an artist book?

No. More like the 'Garden of Weedin' book.

 

[Hound Heaven]

I grew up at the beach. I simply have to have the sound and sights of water around to keep me happy.

 

[JRS]

Always near a creek growing up, even if it was only a concrete lined drainage area in the city with sand on the bottom that we could sometimes see a bit of life passing through. Lagoons in the city parks where you could see large golden fish swimming through the murk. The local mall had a large meandering water feature with fountains, waterfalls and goldfish for a while before it was remodeled again. Was the best part of shopping with the family.

Fascination with aquatic life led to my own aquariums which led to tubs outside in the summer and finally an inground pond which is when I joined the forum looking for edge ideas.

 

[bagsmom]

When I was little, my Dad liked to get his small plants from a local nursery in the early Spring. I remember them having baby chicks and ducks -- and a POND with goldfish. That's been about 50 years ago, but I swear it planted a seed in my mind - that it would be so neat to have goldfish in your own yard!

 

[addy1]

We camped a lot as kids, too many of us to afford hotels. One of our favorite places Trap pond in Delaware, many great memories of fish, snakes, turtles, in a rowboat exploring.

Then on to the outer banks for 4 to 6 weeks at a time, every summer for years, camping in the sand, playing in the waves.

Water bodies were A big part of my young life.

Now ponds at home and a floating condo in Annapolis.

 

[j.w]

We camped a lot as kids, too many of us to afford hotels. One of our favorite places Trap pond in Delaware, many great memories of fish, snakes, turtles, in a rowboat exploring.

Then on to the outer banks for 4 to 6 weeks at a time, every summer for years, camping in the sand, playing in the waves.

Water bodies were A big part of my young life.

Now ponds at home and a floating condo in Annapolis.

I like your floating condo, nice getaway to enjoy in nice weather!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Originally it started when I was around 10 years old. My friends and I were in a neighbors backyard. They had a pond and a ton of leopard frogs. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Thought it would be cool to have one but it seemed unreachable, especially being a kid. The idea faded away.

Then in 2011 I started thinking about getting one, mainly because I wanted to attract frogs. First I just bought a 30 gallon shell and tried that out for a couple years. Then I decided to build a larger pond in 2013, I think it was around 350 gallons, but ultimately ripped it out a year later and installed what I still have today, which is an 800ish gallon pond.

It's been a fun decade and I'm glad I've been able to enjoy it. Lots of fun summertime memories of sitting out and watching the fish and frogs.