My pond garden....

Almost a year ago, while I was visiting kids and friends in Oregon, by myself, Dennie and Ethan undertook the creation of a pond for me! Although it was a bit more of a job, I think, than they thought it was going to be, it's now a pretty cool garden. I'm landscaping it with “water-wise” plants because of the high cost of water in this area and having fun learning about the drought tolerant plants and buying them locally from the Ramona Garden Club Sale and local nurseries. We've visited the Cuyamaca College Water-wise Garden a couple of times and bought plants there too, and I recently went on the Ramona Garden Club Tour. I think whatever you study and learn about, you end up loving. This is true with drought tolerant gardening! (And I realize roses are not 'water-wise' but I love them and I'm converting some lawn areas to more drought tolerant plants so I can have the rose garden. At least it saves on buying cut flowers!) The pond was crystal clear in the winter and we have eight fish, five Koi and three Goldfish, but now with the warmer temperatures and more sun the water is getting kind of murky again and we're going to have to do a little more research on the problem. Here are some pictures of plants in my pond garden and some birds (I've also become a “birder”) that I've seen since the pond was completed. Most of the pictures are closeups because it's a work in progress and there are still a lot of areas that I don't know what to do with. But I did include one taken from the gate looking at the whole garden, or almost.