Lori,

Love it! Looks like a serene sanctuary from the world! Also looks like a great place for a party...lots of walking paths and places for people to sit and relax. How about some pictures of the front now, :)? I love seeing other peoples gardens, it provides me with my inspiration! Thanks for sharing!

Helen

Excellent idea for the pond. I'll have to keep my eyes open as I've been wanting one for a while. Very serene garden.

Hi Lori, just back from a few weeks in the Bahamas....You need to snap a picture or two of the arched trellis coming around the side from the front, that's a magical place too ;-)

Tom

This reminds me a little of our back yard when we lived on a small suburban lot. We had a Coi pond, it was very restful and peaceful right in the middle of chaos. Very nice. Just goes to show you don't have to be a land Barron to have it nice.

Very nice! I like that there is no grass, too :)

What do you do with the bettas during freezing weather?
Marcia

Lori,
I love what you've done in a small space, because it makes it look larger with the paths, benches and other items. And you've selected plants with texture and good sizes - it is orderly but not formal. Just perfect. Sometimes I think it's almost easier to plan gardens in confined and defined spaces - like your corners, with fences, etc. You've done really well.
I too am trying not to get non-hardy things these days. But the growers tell me people forget about the cold and want the tropicals now!
But I'm always on the hunt and looking at your pics help me to plan.
Thanks for posting,
Hester

Lori, I absolutely love your yard! I love the paths taking you through it, and all the foliage. The pond is beautiful and healthy looking too. I like how you used large rocks in it and also your use of plants in and around it. So nicely done! I love all the photos you showed, but I'm with the others- I'd like to see more and especially that trellis Tom mentioned.

Anna

Lori,I love your yard! I would like to know how you keep your pond clean. Doesn't the tree that's nearby drop its leaves into it? We built a pond with a waterfall in a corner of our yard but the problem is that there is a large Live Oak tree near it and the branches have spread over the pond. Once a year, when the Live Oak sheds its leaves and brown seeds, they fall into the pond and I can't keep up with scooping them out.The water turns muddy brown and we have to pump out the pond and clean it. Next year, I'm planning on covering the pond with some screening during the shedding. I assume you have a filter, what kind?

That is just beautiful Lori! Can you please tell us the names of your pond plants? I think I see Cabomba in there. Yes? If so, it seems to be doing well; how much sun does your pond get?

Everything is beautiful, and I'm with you - wait out for the good stuff that won't freeze.

~dianne

Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

Lori, I loved your Bettas... never thought of keeping them in a pond... are the beautiful submerged plants Cabombas? I have always seen them loaded with algae but they bloom regularly with white or blue tiny flowers.. I've got almost the same questions as posted above....

Izhar

Your garden is lovely. It shows that you don't need lots of land to have a great garden. I would love to have a pond like yours and what a wonderful idea to create one. And saved putting something in the land fill. Good for you. :o)

Nice sanctuary = )
& your pond is just beautiful! So are the fish - have you had any problems w/ mosquitoes?

So relaxing and shady. Wish I had shade. Love it!

It looks lovely Lori! I have a koi pond also, how did you keep lettuce thru the winter? I always loose them as well as the hyacinths.

Marcia-I put an aquarium heater in the pond during the winter to keep the fish warm. Interesting story on the intelligence of fish...one winter day I was feeding the fish. Usually I just throw the food in, but there was one that was really friendly who would come to the edge where ever I was standing. On this day she came to me, then dove to the heater and sorta swam along it's length, then came back to me. Then did it again. It was so odd, but it clearly looked to me like she was trying to tell me something. I reached in and the heater was off. I guess the dogs or me had tripped on the cord and pulled it just enough out of the socket to turn it off. How's that for interspecies communication??

Regine-yes that tree drops it's leaves every year. I put a piece of screening over the pond during that time. I also muck it out yearly, probably more often now that I have fish in it. I just last week got a filter. I had a pump circulating the water, but no filter. I found a box filter at Lowe's that seems to be working fine. It's like a shoe box with holes. You put your pump inside it and it draws the water through some filter material. It was about $35.

Diane-yes, it's cobamba, water lily "alba" and water hyacinth and water lettuce.

Carol-I use to use mosquito dunks (discs that you throw in to kill mosq.) but since I put the fish in, I'm letting them eat the larvae. I cut back on the feeding of them during skeeter season so they'll take up the slack. Not sure it's working, I got bit last night when outside.

Keiki-I've never lost plants in the pond during winter. And then last winter I put that heater in for the fish. How odd that you would, I wonder why I don't?

Lori

I kept bettas in aquariums (indoors in Pennsylvania) and even had a pair breed once. They are interesting and beautiful fish. I feel sorry for those fish kept in little bowls, too. I read (probably 30 years ago, so not sure it was accurate or my memory correct!) that the fish live in shallow drainage ditches in the wild. They can come to the surface to breathe air, so they can live in more mucky, polluted water.
Marcia