With diligence, weeds can be successfully controlled under most conditions, but they will be easier to combat in a shady setting than one that is full sun. Since the stream is not distant, it would be pretty easy to establish shade that, with a high-pruned canopy, still allowed for a good view of the water. If this were mine, that's what I'd strive for. The minimum approach would include a tree canopy plus a durable groundcover. If you wanted to do more and have more interest, you could include shrubs, perennials and even some annuals. I would avoid fussy plants and use trees and groundcover that were easy to grow and not particular about soil or ones that needed soil amendments. Anything you plant will need fertilizer and supplemental watering. A vining groundcover would be the easiest to establish and it would cover objects--like rocks or stumps--sitting on top of the ground. You'd need to be especially diligent, until the groundcover and some shade was established, not to permit any weeds. If any were to re-seed or spread by roots, your job of getting rid of them would be greatly increased. You might need to be creative about mulch. Power company mulch would be good if you can get it. You might need to stabilize it (to keep from sliding down the hill) with sticks, branches and miscellaneous forest litter.

Some thoughts from someone with many years of water/drainage experience. Step 1. Visit your municipality's planning/building department. Ask if this section of your property is a designated wetlands on their maps. If it is then your planning will be controlled by that agency plus possibly your State Environmental Agency. Have a clear understanding of the situation before you do anything that might develop into future, legal problems. What you intend seems minimal at the moment, but opened up and running could cause erosion problems as it exits your land. Never underestimate the power of moving water! Step 2. Assuming that you can continue planning on your own, take the time to study where the water goes to when it leaves your property. Ma Nature has developed a retention area and if it is cleared will downstream properties be impacted? Step 3. Option 1...Hire a landclearing person with a bushwacker to cut all the grasses along the stream during next year's dry period. Just doing this every other year may make the situation more tolerable without disturbing the land. Step 4. Option 2...Leave all as is and concentrate on the wooded area. Mow a walking path through the weeds into the woods and clear it out. If a bushwacker can gain access to this area then use that method to clear. If not, then the purchase of a Gravely brush cutter is an easy method to keep brush and grasses under control. In the long run it is an investment that makes life much easier in this type of situation. If you are determined to modify this natural ecosystem, brushcutting is the way to go. Forget about planting anything except possibly willows/pussy willows along the stream channel as the thick grass growth will choke out your efforts.

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

Bruce, I would dam the stream up a little and dig a sump adjacent to the stream that doesn't allow debris to get in it, just water and have a submersible pump that can be used with a hose or go into the tank. Submersibles are good for pushing water up and wont be affected by air leaks like suction pump do. Check the pumps "pump curve" to see what the best flow rate at a certain head is for the pump. You would need a pump that operates at 20 ft plus the operating pressure head would want. If you want 20 psi at the hose end you need 20 ft of hgt diff plus 40 feet op head Plus 6 of contingency (not exactly friction loss) to equal 70 ft head. You would look for a pump that pushes 70 ft of head at what ever flow rate you are looking for. GL Aloha