Sunday, March 2, 2008

An Improver of Nature

I was leafing through an old hard cover picture book today at a collaging event and found myself reading about Kew Gardens, one of many gardens I long to see one day. The section that caught my eye was about the man made pond dug from the Thames River. To me, water and gardens just belong together. The fact that this garden was designed by an "Improver of Nature" named Capability Brown makes it even more intriguing. (picture courtesy of www.inetours.com)

Water and garden have impressed me at many of the gardens I have visited.
Ponds are beautiful but I find what has grabbed my attention most is the movement and sound of water in streams and waterfalls.




At the Innisfree Garden just north of NYC I love the impressive "natural" water features that appear over and over as one travels the many paths. They represent partnership between man and nature, as water has been diverted and pumped to cascade over both man made and naturally occurring rock outcroppings. The sensory impact is mesmerizing.









And the waterfall at the Rock Garden in the NY Botanical Gardens is a place where I could easily spend hours.









Moving to a new house in 2006 meant leaving an established garden behind but it provided me with opportunity to try new things. So rather than the 4X6 "pond" I had built before, I decided to build a stream. It took 2 summers to get it to the point of having running water and I still have kinks to work out but, for me the designing and implementation is 3/4 of the "fun."

8 comments:

Aunt Debbi/kurts mom said...

Very cool water feature.

Gina said...

these are beautiful!

Melanie Chopay said...

First I just scanned the photos and I was voting for the stream. Then I read your words and saw the stream was yours! Lucky you!!! I love it :-)

Anonymous said...

So a man by the name of Capability Brown inspired you to build that stream? What a great story. I too am building new gardens and would like a water feature somewhere. I know it will take forever to decide on a theme and finish it. So I feel your happiness at finishing the project. It looks and I bet, sounds, peaceful. Congrats!

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

Such a gorgeous streambed you've built. I completely understand your thoughts on water and water used in gardens. The first winter we were here I started digging during a heavy rainfall to get rid of flooding and ended up with a 1,200 gallon pond. Funny, huh?!?!

Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

WiseAcre said...

I just try to make a rough copy knowing I can't improve on what nature has done.

As much as I love running water I shy away from pumps. My ponds are shallow and not much more than glorified bird baths. I clean them using a hose to 'flush' them out and the surrounding area becomes home to wet loving plants.

Shady Gardener said...

Absolutely beautiful job of creating a stream. I love the sound of running water. I don't have the best site, but I continue to desire, at least, a dry bed. We're on the downslope and have a lot of runoff during rains and/or snow melt. It may yet happen.

Kylee Baumle said...

Your stream is just GORGEOUS. I would love to have something like that here!