Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Water In the Garden

Water, who could do without it? All living beings need it, our gardens need it too. A water feature in the garden supplies many animals with drinking water, a place to bathe or living accommodation in or near the water. Even the smallest water feature can make a huge difference to the wildlife we want to attract in our gardens.

Frogs, newts and toads are very welcome in the garden as they eat many harmful insects such as slugs in huge quantities. But to entice them to come, you need a water feature.

To add a water feature to your garden is to enhance its beauty tenfold. You can grow so many beautiful plants near or in a pond that will not grow anywhere else. A pond will also act as a mirror and make your garden look bigger and more interesting in every season.

A pond (big or small) creates it's own habitat in which many animals, insects and plants live.
Beautiful waterlilies that are such joy to behold.




The sound of running water on a hot summer's day soothes the nerves and makes us feel refreshed.


The reflection of the sky in the water brings such calm and serenity.

A Japanese garden with lovely water feature.
A water feature can be very formal


or very informal, like this wildlife pond.




It can be used as a mirror to reflect a temple ruin
or, as this brook, form an integral part of the landscape such as here in the gardens of Voorstonden.



Even a birdbath will attract wildlife to the garden and give birds plenty of opportunities to drink and bathe. Water brings life!


At Blackwater Pond

At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have
settled
after a night of rain.
I dip my cupped hands. I drink
a long time. It tastes
like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold
into my body, waking the bones. I hear them
deep inside me, whispering
oh what is that beautiful thing
that just happened?

Mary Oliver



17 comments:

Andrea's Garden said...

Hello Yolanda,
great topic for your post. Your selection of pictures is awesome. Have a wonderful week! Andrea

Sisah said...

Thank you for a wonderful tour round the gardens in Voorstonden, even though I can hardly believe all photos were taken there.
The last one is your garden, this I am quite sure, it looks very inviting for sitting down and having a cup of tea or coffee!

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Hi Andrea and Sisah,

Glad you liked it Andrea and have a blissful week yourself! ;-)

Sisah, only the picture of the brook was taken in Voorstonden and yes, the last one was from my garden. ;-)

All the other pictures were either taken at the Garden of Life (nr 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9) or at Tiemens garden, nr 2, 3, 4 and 5.

You are right, it is a lovely spot to sit and have a cup of coffee or tea, but not today as it there is no sun and it's cold, only 10 degrees C.

Jen Fu said...

Oh, thanks so much for that Mary Oliver poem. I love her and this has made my day.

Verena said...

Hi Yolanda,
your pictures are amazing!
I love water too and I ever wanted to have a little pond with waterlilies. I hope some day I can realize my dream!
Greetings, Verena

Anonymous said...

En ook nog dezelfde stoelen/plukmand en engkleurige onkruidmand...en eeehh met die tuinstijlsmaak zit het ook wel goed ;-)
Mooie serie waterfoto's!

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Hi all,

Jen and Verena welcome to my blog.

Jen, I'm glad you liked this poem by Mary Oliver.

Verena, like you I'm dreaming of a garden pond. My hubby has promised to make one this year. Hopefully your dream will come true too.

Marleen, dit wordt spooky, we zijn toch geen tweeling, die op jeugdige leeftijd van elkaar is gescheiden? :-)
Laten we maar siamese tweelingen worden en linken! ;-)

Gotta Garden said...

I am feeling more peaceful already! No kidding, you're getting a pond? How wonderful! What fun it will be to read about that!

Beautiful pictures...this could be a chapter in a book...hmmm?

We all get to learn from you a bit of garden design and garden elements...as well as garden style!

Garden Cats + Crafts said...

Du hast ja so Recht, Yolanda. Wasser im Garten ist absolut eine Bereicherung. So ein Teich macht ja auch eine Menge Arbeit, aber er entschädigt mit so viel Entspannung. Auch ich liebe das Geräusch von plätscherndem Wasser. Man kann herrlich entspannen dabei. Schöne Fotos von Teichen hast Du uns gezeigt. Noch einen schönen Abend wünsche ich Dir, Birgit

LostRoses said...

I can hardly wait to have my water fountains running again. Your photos really evoke that feeling!

Lis vom Lindenhof said...

Deine Fotos sind eine Augenweide! Wir haben auch einen kleinen Teich und erst am Montag haben wir ihn wieder einmal sauber gemacht. Die Pflanzen sind so stark gewuchert und wir haben alles mit dem Messer trennen müssen. An solchen Tagen überlege ich machmal ob ich den Teich nicht zuschütten soll, aber das machen ich dann wohl doch nicht :-)
Lis

Gowri said...

Beautiful pictures and every word you say is absolutely true!

kate said...

There is something so appealing about a pond. I had a small one in my last garden and the first thing that I did when I moved to this garden is dig a bigger pond. I overwinter my pond plants on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and I catch the goldfish and have them in an aquarium till spring.

I love watching the goldfish swimming through the shadows cast by the sun on the pond.

What beautiful pictures you have in this post, Yolanda! I especially liked the final one because I know I would very much enjoy sitting for a spell and having a café with you while looking out on your garden.

I love the way the blue flowers are picked up by the lovely painted blue seat ...

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Hi all and thank you for all your comments!

GG: hopefully there will be a pond in my garden this year. I had one in my previous garden and miss it a lot. And so do the cats. ;-)

Birgit: ein Teich is such a wonderful thing to have in the garden. Yours is lovely and I have no problem believing that it gives you lots of pleasure and peace.

Lost roses: water is so important in our gardens. Hopefully your fountains will be running soon again!

Lis: I'm glad that you decided to keep your pond. It is a lot of work in spring, waterplants grow like mad but when the work is done .... it's pure bliss, isn't it? ;-)

Thalia: thank you!

Kate: I feel that a pond can never be big enough and I see that you feel the same. ;-)

I allways enjoy watching the fish swim in the pond. Mine were so tame that, after awhile, they ate out of my hand. I miss that a lot. Fish are so zen. ;-)

I enjoy meeting so many garden friends via blogging but there is one serious drawback: most of you live too far away to just pop round for a cup of coffee or tea or some home made elderberry blossom champagne. sigh!

Anonymous said...

You're absolutely right: No garden is complete without living water.
Ponds are my favourites, with nice fishes, plants, and other wildlife.
One can watch for hours at a pond, sizzling with fife!

Green thumb said...

I agree fully with you dear yolanda. Water is always so refreshing and full of life, a sine qua non for life to exist and thrive.
All those lovely water features have left me absolutely enamoured.
I love the way you present things, something as common as a 'wildlife pool' seems so special in relation to other water features.

Anonymous said...

So lovely photos, thanks.