Ten-Finger Exercises

ponds and gardens

We had beautiful weather today for the annual hospice fundraiser, the Pond and Garden tour.
This was our first time to go, and we had volunteered to greet visitors at one home from 1-5. Before then, after Bill got the car washed, we made it to five of the ten sites, all within about a ten mile radius.

What lovely gardens! The first was enormous, about two acres at least, with an engineered stream about 50 ft long for its water feature. A waterfall was at the head of the stream by the patio, and the water moved fast, too fast for fish since it came to an end quickly. I don't think pond fish could be trained to swim upstream.

The next house had a charming garden along the side yard with several small fountains tucked away in corners. There was a secluded firepit area, a swimming pool that was the clearest and bluest I've ever seen, and a cottage used as a gift shop. The back covered deck was partially screened by a wall of vines, and its large dining area was furnished with antiques and was, visually, an extension of the home's hospitality. That is to say, it wasn't, "Here's the house where we live. Here's the deck where we eat when the weather is nice." The personality of the place was seamless.

The third house had a wide, steep, paved driveway that curved around the house to a plunging waterfall and koi pool of 8,000 gallons. The plantings were natural, the koi spectacular. The hostess told us she sometimes swims with them. The six bedroom home is for sale, and she said she'd probably have to sell the fish with the house, but she'd hate it. There were ten, and each was named.

The fourth house had the smallest yard, only about twenty feet on three sides of the fence. It was very cleverly done, with a small pond and bridge next to the house and a fountain made of drilled pillow basalt near the dryer vent "where nothing will grow." One corner of the yard had a weeping cherry tree with its branches trained and pruned to form a roof over a three-sided playhouse with a chalkboard on the wall. The pruned tomato plants climbed stakes from ground to roof at a corner of the house, with herbs all around the base. The plain grass area on the far side of the house was used for a dog run, and was adorned with canine sculptures at the border dividing it from the rest of the yard.

We spent the afternoon in the courtyard of a home, greeting people as they came up the driveway. There was a large, three tiered fountain in the corner, with a ceramic heron standing beside us. Several birds flew down for drinks.

The backyard there had several fountains and a small pond. The interesting features there were the steeply terraced back of the lot where three rows of grapevines grew. There was another fountain there beneath the grapes in the center. They harvest 450 pounds of grapes from those short rows, and the grapes are used by a local vintner for wine. One corner of the yard below had a large fire pit on a flagstone floor with comfortable seating all around. There were many sculptures in the garden, but my favorite was the grouping of iron cattails on a greenery island beneath a sumac tree.

I think I'll have a link to these gardens and more next week. Happy weekend.