Backyard Water Gardens

Backyard Water Gardens is a complete overview of everything you need to know in order to create a backyard water feature, from ideas, to installation, to maintaining, to stocking with plants and fish.

How to design and create water gardens, ponds, and fountains. Over 490 color photographs and illustrations.

"It's up to every single one of us to do our bit for wildlife, however small our gardens, and The Butterfly Brothers know just how that can be achieved." Alan Titchmarsh Join the rewilding movement and share your outdoor space with nature. We all have the potential to make the world a little greener. Wild Your Garden, written by Jim and Joel Ashton (aka "The Butterfly Brothers"), shows you how to create a garden that can help boost local biodiversity. Transform a paved-over yard into a lush oasis, create refuges to welcome and support native species, or turn a high-maintenance lawn into a nectar-rich mini-meadow to attract bees and butterflies. You don't need specialist knowledge or acres of land. If you have any outdoor space, you can make a difference to local wildlife, and reduce your carbon footprint, too. "Wildlife gardening is one of the most important things you can do as an individual for increasing biodiversity and mitigating the effects of climate change. From digging a pond to planting a native hedge, the Butterfly Brothers can help you every step of the way." Kate Bradbury

A Beginner’s Guide to Water Gardens Table of Contents Introduction Growing Plants in Your Water Garden Siting Your Pool Formal and Informal Water Gardens Shallow Pools or Deep Pools? Different Types of Pools Concrete Pools How to Make Your Own Pond Prefabricated Pools Miscellaneous Containers Polythene Sheeting Stream Gardens Bog Gardens Using a Tub as a Water Garden Planting in Containers Winter Care of Pools Planting Your Pools No Organic Materials! Growing Water Lilies Maintenance and Care Cleaning Your Pond Planting Aquatic Plants Planting Oxygenators Best Planting Time Livestock in Your Pool Discolored Water Suggested Plants for Your Pool Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction I was talking about gardening with a friend, who is an avid gardener, when we got onto the topic of water Gardens. Her immediate reaction was “how do you make a water garden in a limited space, especially in congested cities. Water gardens are only for those houses built in really wide-open spaces, and plenty of land where you can go high, wide and free, making a water garden.” Unfortunately, that is the mindset of a number of people out there, who are under the impression that you need plenty of land in which to make a water garden. That is because the moment you say this word water garden, you visualize a huge pool, in which a number of exotic plant species float. You may also find some Koi goldfish moving leisurely to and fro, and people appreciating that garden while walking around it leisurely of an evening. Well, that may be all right for a hotel lobby, where no expenses are spared. However, ordinary water gardens can be made right in your back yard, in the limited space, and with a little bit of creative gardening. I told my friend that a water garden could be made in the amount of space, in which she wanted to erect a water fountain, and she blinked. What is the fun of a small water garden was her immediate response. I replied, “Just think about it. After all, you are planting some attractive plant species which are growing in water. This is a contrast to the plants growing on land. You do not have any kids, and you do not have any pets which may find them taking a ducking in that water garden. So think about it. ” She did. And now she has a small water garden in her backyard. It has water lilies and lotuses goldfish and even tadpoles in it. Also a Walt Disney statue of Snow white’s pal Dopey looking at his reflection in his typical dopey fashion. The idea of water gardening is definitely not a modern concept. Since millenniums, water gardens have been a part of garden layouts. Be they the palaces of Caesar, in Greece, or a castle in Spain, or a manor in Britain or perhaps the palace of Kublai Khan, you could be certain that there would be a water garden built there, and tended carefully and lovingly by all the gardeners.

You'll learn how to select the perfect site, choose the size and shape of your garden, and install preformed or flexible-liner pools, as well as how to select pumps and filters, test and treat the water, and choose the right plants and fish for your own unique garden environment. A comprehensive gallery of plants will inspire you to try this increasingly popular form of gardening.

Everyone loves a garden filled with bright colors, soft textures, and lovely smells. Add a little water to the mix and you have the perfect spot to relax and enjoy the best of nature. Relaxing by your water garden is the end of a long but rewarding process. Follow these step-by-step instructions for finding the best spot in your yard for a healthy water garden, designing and digging it, choosing water flowers, and adding fish. You can even build a toad house to attract wild visitors to your backyard. When all the designing, digging, lining, planting, and stocking is done, you can sit in your own private oasis and enjoy nature’s gorgeous bounty. Color, movement, scent—it all adds up to life!

Build a natural pond for wildlife, beauty, and quiet contemplation Typical backyard ponds are a complicated mess of pipes, pumps, filters, and nasty chemicals designed to adjust pH and keep algae at bay. Hardly the bucolic, natural ecosystem beloved by dragonflies, frogs, and songbirds. The antidote is a natural pond, free of hassle, cost, and complexity and designed as a fully functional ecosystem, ideal for biodiversity, swimming, irrigation, and quiet contemplation. Building Natural Ponds is the first step-by-step guide to designing and building natural ponds that use no pumps, filters, chemicals, or electricity and mimic native ponds in both aesthetics and functionality. Highly illustrated with how-to drawings and photographs, coverage includes: Understanding pond ecosystems and natural algae control Planning, design, siting, and pond aesthetics Step-by-step guidance for construction, plants and fish, and maintenance and trouble shooting Scaling up to large ponds, pools, bogs, and rain gardens. Whether you're a backyard gardener looking to add a small serene natural water feature or a homesteader with visions of a large pond for fish, swimming, and irrigation, Building Natural Ponds is the complete guide to building ponds in tune with nature, where plants, insects, and amphibians thrive in blissful serenity. Robert Pavlis , a Master Gardener with over 40 years of gardening experience, is owner and developer of Aspen Grove Gardens, a six-acre botanical garden featuring over 2,500 varieties of plants. A well-respected speaker and teacher, Robert has published articles in Mother Earth News , Ontario Gardening magazine, the widely read blog GardenMyths.com, which explodes common gardening myths and gardening information site GardenFundamentals.com.

Learn how to transform an ordinary backyard garden into a true showpiece. Originally published in 1924, Peter Bisset shares with readers timeless advice and tips for creating a variety of water gardens. After experiencing one, it’s easy to see why these gardens hold such appeal; these splashing fountains and ponds make hot days seem cooler, and they also attract birds and butterflies to your backyard. Even tiny tabletop fountains offer soothing sounds to drown out a busy street or a noisy neighbor. The Water Gardening Idea Book gives in full detail all the practical information necessary for the selection, grouping, and successful cultivation of aquatic and other plants required in the making of a water garden and its surroundings. It’s perfect for both amateurs and those with green thumbs looking to take their gardens to the next level. Readers will enjoy projects of varying difficulty, starting with simple container gardens to the large estate or park fountains and ponds. Whether you’re interested in creating a casual pond or a formal fountain, with The Water Gardening Idea Book you’ll be able to create them with confidence.