Cathy, you have a beautiful yard there and quite a talent with the camera, as well as gardening and landscaping, but I'm sure you already know that. I wish the pictures on your website would display larger, though, so I could see a bit more detail as to exactly how you're thinking about going about this two-pond system. First, your current "dry creek bed" looks great, and I see you have it surrounded by a variety of perennials which no-doubt benefit from the water that seeps through those rocks when it does act as a drainage area... As for contamination in your pond system, if you build your lower pond there, you'll likely have to remove all the rocks to start with, in order to keep your liner from being constantly punctured. You could try to do it without a liner, using something like Bentonite clay, or a compound such as gunnite, but those are both beyond my level of experience... Either way, if you build it where it DOES still get some runoff, yes, it will get "polluted," but not necessarily "contaminated." I have a two-pond system with a 55-foot stream between them, and unfortunately my lower pond sits where runoff sometimes overwhelms it when we have heavy downpours (I'm still working on redirecting that after three years -- we had gone MANY years without such heavy rains when I built it, and I had forgotten we got such rivers in our yard until I got to see my liner floating up from water going underneath it firsthand!)... The things you learn the HARD WAY, huh? :) Anyway, even when mine just gets runoff IN IT, and not under the liner, I end up with a brown, muddy-looking pond for a day or two, but it clears -- BUT I don't use any chemicals in my lawn and nothing but some liquid fertilizer on my flower beds... If you have pesticides, herbicides, roof shingles that are leaching chemicals and whatnot UPstream of your drainage, those could all be concerns if you put fish and/or plants in your ponds. My biggest question, however, is exactly where and HOW you plan to implement the larger pond ABOVE the dry creek bed, as from the pictures I could see, your yard appears fairly level on both sides of that dry creek bed, and of course you'd need a few feet of incline for the "upper pond" to be above the "lower pond," unless, perhaps, you're thinking of putting something on the deck that cute cocker spaniel was sitting on. That's a possibility... It would have to be more of a tub-pond, like maybe a converted hot-tub, or possibly a preformed pond fitted into a structure you built, but it can be done IF the deck is sturdy enough to hold the weight (bear in mind that water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon and there's 7.5 gallons per cubic foot, so you can have a ton of water pretty quickly... roughly 250 gallons equals a ton). But if you have the time, the money, the patience and are willing to do your homework ahead of time AND/OR make sure you hire people to do the work who REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING (there are PLENTY of folks doing this who DON'T), I think you can do pretty much anything you want to. Best of luck to you! Jeff

Molie, So sorry about more rain: ( I wish you could come see my roses right now! My sister-in-law is suppsoed to come take some photos. If she does, I will post them. Most people are very shocked to know I do nothing besides pruning them. Once in a blue moon, I'll fertilize or put some compost on them, but that really is it. I used to spray horicultural oil,baking soda, and insecticidal soap, but I haven't in a few years now. I got the blackspot under control, and I haven't seen much of it since, only in the worst conditions like you are experiencing now. As far as bugs, I think I have a good little ecosystem going in my yard. I have tried to have some things blooming through out season, you know from spring blooming crocus to fall blooming Japanese anemones. It helps attract beneficial insects. I also put up bird feeders. I don't want to make it seem too simple, because it didn't happen overnight! I have seen all kinds of problems in the past, and I'm always just a little nervous that a catastrophe is waiting to happen, lol. Also, I only grow a few Hybrid Teas. They are definitely more high maintanance. The rest of my roses are shrubs and antiques. I do some careful planning of my rose purchases. I read many posts about people favorites and looked into those that seemed to stand out. If you like the look of Hybrid Teas, but want less maintance, look into Buck roses. Dr. Buck's most famous rose is 'Carefree Beauty', which is more shrub like, but many of his creations look more like Hybrid Teas. There are a few picture posts on the Antique Rose Forum Gallery. They may be a few pages back, but take a look. Remy

I have a Senna corymbosa that was mislabeled when I got it, so it's much too big for its current spot. I'm considering moving it on the berm to the area where the 'head' of the creek is. I also have a Lindheimer's muhly that I'd like to place next to on that left (east end). The camera makes the whole area all look huge and really long but from the front, what's to the left of it, is the neighbor's driveway/front and what's behind it is my side yard and wooden fence. So there really isn't a field behing it, thought it may appear that way. I also have 2 switch grass 'Prarie Sky' Panicum virgatum that I think I'll put where there is a wedge of grass righ now between the head of the creek and the berm, where the water will funnel in. I think the switch grass will be OK being in the water when it rains hard. DH really likes grass and doesn't want to mulch the berm. For the winter I think I'm going to put a cover crop on it and then next spring we can do the Habiturf. We'll have to edge the front side of the berm to do that to be sure no other grass runs up in there. Then hopefully we can leave the berm unmowed. I am going to plant all of it between the creek and the house and I've already done carboard/mulch over a big portion of it. We've been waiting all this time to get the walk replaced but they finally told us they'll do it next week. So that will help me a lot getting going forward on this. I do have some of the plants that I've picked up on sale, repotted and kept in morning sun only. I'n hoping to have it all prepped and be able to get them in the ground late September/early October. I'll do some more pics after the walk way is finished.

I don't have good luck with greggii either. That red one in the pics is darcyi, which is doing great with water just once a week when watering the new grass. I actually bought one from Flowers by the Sea to have in a pot and they are fairly brittle. That one on the berm is actually a piece I broke off and rooted and it's done that well from starting as a cutting this spring. I've never grown it before but it seems to do great in DFW. I amended that berm with some compost before I planted but that's it, aside from that it's nice black gumbo clay. Really hoping it overwinters but even if it doesn't I'll get another next spring.