These beautiful additions to any land provide homes for some of our most important indigenous wildlife: plants, insects, fish, amphibians, birds and even mammals. A limpid pool edged with rushes, the humming of damselflies, the croaks of frogs and the swooping flight of swallows will be a microsite of the best of the countryside. Pond expert Chris McClaren introduces the reader to the world of ponds: how to create one, how to maintain one and how to introduce wildlife to this idyllic pool and help it thrive. All your questions are answered here. What plants are indigenous and will have positive environmental impact? What cover to include around the pond so that it links to a suitable 'wildlife corridor'? What fish are sustainable in a pond of a small size? How can I make sure the pond is safe? What will the pond be like through the seasons? To help create and conserve our wildlife and to discover the delights of creating a micro-ecosystem - take time to create a pond.

Water lilies are inextricably linked to the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome, Egypt and the Far East, where they were highly valued, just as precious metals or gemstones, their properties were thought to be medicinal, spiritual and purely aesthetic; they have been represented in architecture, printed textiles, religious paintings and illustrations, cited in mythology, folklore, mysticism and the creative imagination. This volume meticulously records our enduring love affair with the most beautiful and exotic of plants, the water lily. It is a comprehensive and detailed account of their introduction into European culture, largely through the passion and devotion of one man, Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac (1830-1911), whose lifelong work in the field of propagation, cultivation and commercialization of water lilies inspired a generation of horticulturists, artists and poets to create the words and images that are deeply embedded in our culture today. Claude Monet, for example, used lilies from Latour-Marliac's nursery to create his garden in Giverny. The work Latour-Marliac did gave rise to development of specialist lily nurseries and growers across Europe and North America; in fact, Latour-Marliac's nursery still exists today, owned by Robert Sheldon, an American who shared Latour-Marliac's passion for water lilies and water gardening and has been the force behind the nursery's continued success today.

This title is an illustrated guide to varieties, cultivation and care, with step-by-step instructions and over 110 beautiful photographs. Everything you need to know at a glance in one handy and beautifully illustrated practical guide. It includes full photographic directory of more than 40 common and exotic water plants, from bog plants and marginals to oxygenating plants and water lilies. For each plant, full botanical information is provided on history, growth, hue, height, spread and suitability. It offers step-by-step photographic guidance on buying plants, propagation, routine maintenance, and pests and diseases. Includes instructions on how make a pond with a liner, stocking your finished pool, and adding ornamental fish. A highly accessible guide to bringing water plants into your garden, whether you have a large or small space. Water gardens are increasingly popular, not only for the exciting variety of plant life that can be cultivated, but also for the diversity of animal species attracted by the aquatic environment. This clear and accessible book explains how to use water plants to their best advantage, as well as providing an illustrated directory of over 40 recommended varieties. It explains the difference between bog plants and oxygenators, surface floating plants and deep-water plants, with practical advice on growing and maintenance. From selecting and caring for water plants to making your own pond, the book will help you to create a water feature to enjoy for years to come.

This lavishly illustrated book celebrates water gardening in all its forms. How to create a wealth of water features, with advice on incorporating them stylishly into the garden. Over 300 glorious photographs show ideas, examples and how to achieve the practical results you want.

Pick your container, fill it with water, and sit back and watch your plant grow! This book is the answer to anyone who has ever shied away from growing house plants because of messy dirt or fear of things dying if left for a few days without water. Ditch the hassle and learn how to grow plants indoors with nothing but water. Peter Loewer, an inveterate inventor of water gardening techniques, has written and illustrated this charming guide to teach readers the basics of hydroculture. This technique of growing plants in water has a history of almost 300 years, from experiments by an English botanist to the giant automated factory greenhouses of the twentieth century where vegetables are now grown commercially by the ton. Learn how to utilize this simple, time-tested method in your own home and never worry about over- or under-watering again! Peter Loewer, an inveterate inventor of water gardening techniques, has written and illustrated this charming guide to teach readers the basics of hydroculture. This technique of growing plants in water has a history of almost 300 years, from experiments by an English botanist to the giant automated factory greenhouses of the twentieth century where vegetables are now grown commercially by the ton. Learn how to utilize this simple, time-tested method in your own home and never worry about over- or under-watering again!

Ponds are vital oases for nature. They are nursery grounds, feeding stops and bathing spots. They are genetic superhighways and vibrant ecosystems each brimming with life, interactions and potential. And they are for everyone. In The Wildlife Pond Book, Jules Howard offers a fresh perspective on ponds and encourages gardeners to reach for a garden spade and do something positive to benefit our shared neighbourhood nature. As well as offering practical tips and advice on designing, planting up and maintaining your pond, Jules encourages readers to explore the wildlife that colonises it with a torch, a microscope or a good old-fashioned pond-dipping net. With a foreword by award-winning wildlife-gardening author, Kate Bradbury, this helpful new guide includes a section outlining the hundreds of organisms that may turn up in your pond and is packed with creative ideas that have been tried and tested by author Jules Howard, an avid pond-builder, prolific pond-dipper and passionate voice for freshwater conservation for more than fifteen years. So, no matter how big your outdoor space is, The Wildlife Pond Book is the guide you need to create your very own haven for nature.

The Pond Lovers is a sustainable farmer's ode to the watery microcosms all around us, from the half-acre farm pond to the suburban garden pool. Readers looking for hands-on experience will find plenty of pond-keeping dos and don'ts. Gene Logsdon's higher purpose, however, is to proclaim the natural, spiritual, and recreational benefits of ponds. Fed by spring or filled by rainfall, the ponds closest to Logsdon's heart need minimal human interference in the way of machinery or chemicals. Those we read about in ""The Pond Lovers"" mostly belong to Logsdon's friends and neighbors, an extraordinarily resourceful group of people. For them, a pond is many things - from a place to fish, swim, or skate to an oasis for local plants, insects, and animals. Each purpose, Logsdon shows us, has its place in a thoughtful, self-sufficient life. Drawn from many and varied lifetimes spent around ponds, ""The Pond Lovers"" brims with lessons and opportunities for good work and good play - for backyard naturalists, do-it-yourselfers, and armchair gardeners.

Discover all you need to know about creating and maintaining the water garden of your dreams with this practical guide. "Garden Ponds, Fountains & Waterfalls" provides readers with essential information on designing and installing all types of domestic water gardens - from naturalistic to formal, plus fountains, waterfalls, streams, and even bog gardens. With dozens of inspiring photographs, readers will learn how to construct each of these structures, as well as how to design bridges and stepping-stones. Its additional features include a comprehensive plant encyclopedia and supplementary sections on aquatic plant, fish and pond dwellers.

Natural swimming pools rely on the correct balance of living plants and micro-organisms to clean and purify the water. They are easy and less costly to maintain than chemical pools. Chlorine and other common pool chemicals that are hazardous to human health are not used. Natural pools are safe places for children to play and birds to drink, and are a dramatic example of ecological design, combining the natural and man-made worlds while creating beauty. These pools offer enjoyment not only in the warm months, but during winter, when they can be used for ice skating. Often the focal point of a garden, a natural swimming pool blends into the environment, flowing into the surroundings with plants and rocks. It reflects the changing seasons and enhances the environment naturally. This book is a necessary resource for people who consider a natural swimming pool. It shows how the natural system works to provide environmental, health, and safety benefits. Drawings, diagrams, and charts help explain their planning, design, biology, materials, construction, planting, and maintenance. Over 300 beautiful color photographs of natural pools will inspire your own water garden, where you can swim in harmony with nature.

This celebration of the style, design, and joy that pools bring to us brims with over 200 glamorous photographs. It is organized by swimming pool design from glimmering infinity pools with a view of the ocean to dramatic cascading waterfall pools and those in lush garden settings. Ranging from beautifully landscaped backyards to dramatic beaches and tropical paradise surroundings, the stunning pool locales show creative examples of pools as architecture and organic forms. In the mix are seductive pools owned by such celebrities as Cher and Dianne Keaton and leading designers Bunny Williams and Carolyne Roehm, as well as masterpieces by famed architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, and Luis Barragan. Splash concludes with a section on poolside elements, from tiled steps, patterned surfaces, and Jacuzzis to pool houses with outdoor showers, landscaping, furnishings, and much more. Every example evokes the enduring and irresistible appeal of the swimming pool.

Water running over rocks is a welcome element in any outdoor space, having the power to soothe or excite. Whether you want a small feature or a series of waterfalls, this practical guide provides a host of inspirational ideas for using water and rock in your garden. Step-by-step photographic sequences and cross-sectional artworks show how to build a range of features, including a Rock-edged Pool, a Wildlife Pool and free-standing features such as a Cobble Fountain or a Brimming Urn. Useful sections look at introducing fish into a pond, while a helpful chapter on care and maintenance explains how to keep your water and rock garden in top condition.

Planted freshwater aquariums combine the DIY aspects of terrariums with a sophisticated palette of gorgeous foliage plants. Sunken Gardens is packed with everything someone new to the hobby needs to know; it details the equipment needed to get started; surveys the best plants for aquascaping; and shows how to design, plant, and maintain an aquascape.

Veronica Fowler's comprehensive step-by-step manual shows you not only how to install your water garden, but maintain it entirely on your own."Backyard Water Gardens" teaches you how to install liners, pre-formed shapes, containers, and aboveground pools and fountains. From there, it helps you choose plants, add them to your garden, fertilize, prune, divide, and ward off pests and diseases. But Fowler's book goes far beyond the basics, covering all the maintenance and troubleshooting of water feature hardscapes--from a rip in a liner, to a damaged pool, to maintaining equipment and filters (including seasonal maintenance for winter care). Veronica Fowler's "Backyard Water Gardens" allows you to fully enjoy the convenience and versatility of water gardening, all while maintaining it with ease for years to come."Backyard Water Gardens" is truly an all-inclusive manual, encompassing every style, type, and size of water feature imaginable. No matter the "feel" you wish to convey in your garden--casual, formal, or whimsical--Fowler's book enables you to create it with confidence. Your range of hardscape options is incredibly vast, from small, container-sized fountains that complement any space with added sound and movement, to large in-ground or aboveground ponds and streams. Larger installations not only provide soothing, rejuvenating sights and sounds; they can also house fish and plants and passively attract natural wildlife to your backyard.

Revel in the extraordinary expressions of water-inspired architecture known as AquaTekture! Discover the vision and construction challenges imaginative designers faced to craft the inspirational designs shown here. Unconventional, daring, and creative are only some of the words used to describe these pools, spas, and water environments. Now in its third year, the Global AquaTekture Visionary Awards (GAVA) features 59 exceptional installations. View magnificent visions of artisans who garnered these coveted awards. Over 190 color photos take you on a private tour around the globe to view awe-inspiring, prized design applications. Enjoy projects that exemplify AquaTekture, including water-inspired architecture from exclusive residences in Australia, Acapulco, and Austin, to the Swarovski Crystal Sparkling Hill Resort holistic spa in Canada and Francis Ford Coppola's Winery in California.

Build a natural pond for wildlife, beauty, and quiet contemplation Typical backyard ponds are a complicated mess of pipes, pumps, filters, and nasty chemicals designed to adjust pH and keep algae at bay. Hardly the bucolic, natural ecosystem beloved by dragonflies, frogs, and songbirds. The antidote is a natural pond, free of hassle, cost, and complexity and designed as a fully functional ecosystem, ideal for biodiversity, swimming, irrigation, and quiet contemplation. Building Natural Ponds is the first step-by-step guide to designing and building natural ponds that use no pumps, filters, chemicals, or electricity and mimic native ponds in both aesthetics and functionality. Highly illustrated with how-to drawings and photographs, coverage includes: Understanding pond ecosystems and natural algae control Planning, design, siting, and pond aesthetics Step-by-step guidance for construction, plants and fish, and maintenance and trouble shooting Scaling up to large ponds, pools, bogs, and rain gardens. Whether you're a backyard gardener looking to add a small serene natural water feature or a homesteader with visions of a large pond for fish, swimming, and irrigation, Building Natural Ponds is the complete guide to building ponds in tune with nature, where plants, insects, and amphibians thrive in blissful serenity. Robert Pavlis , a Master Gardener with over 40 years of gardening experience, is owner and developer of Aspen Grove Gardens, a six-acre botanical garden featuring over 2,500 varieties of plants. A well-respected speaker and teacher, Robert has published articles in Mother Earth News , Ontario Gardening magazine, the widely read blog GardenMyths.com, which explodes common gardening myths and gardening information site GardenFundamentals.com.