Pond Watching

Admittedly, it sounds as though anyone with time enough to engage in pond watching has little else to do but truly the rewards are well worth an hour or even twenty minutes taken from our busy schedule to regard this remarkable and even mystical world very much apart from our world.

Water gardening is a method of connecting with the Natural world in our own back yards.  To sit on a deck with your morning tea or coffee overlooking a pond is a form of meditation.  Water lilies are magical.  To contemplate the lotus is a mystical experience.

To see the Great Blue Heron in his sylph like stance, so still, among the reeds, you may begin to wonder if he was really there at all or just a figment of your imagination or perhaps even  an otherworldly apparition. 

 Eventually he will take flight on cambered wings and you are again awe struck by the breadth of his wing span (70 inches according to the bird guides).  The creaking sound of his laborious take off seems somehow prehistoric.  You may not think he is aware of your presence but he sees you perfectly well.    I hesitate to use the word “tolerate”, I would venture to suggest that he “accepts” you as a neighbour. 

 

For some years there were Shiners in our pond.  We have no idea how they got there (perhaps stowaways in the shipment of water hyacinths and oxygenating plants we had ordered from Moore’s Water Gardens in Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada).http://moorewatergardens.com/

. Shiners are so called because the school of small fish just beneath the water’s surface shimmer like a jeweled bracelet caught in the sun’s rays. The school of fish suddenly takes evasive action and in unison they turn in such a way as to become invisible.

We often fed the little fish our toast crusts, watching with interest as the bread upon the waters was nibbled up very quickly. 

A turtle, an Eastern Painted turtle, would occasionally come out of the water to sun himself on the ledge or on the bough of the willow which fell in a storm.   We left it at the edge of the pond to build upon our little ecosystem.

The scientific community continues to debate about whether or not turtles can hear.  In our experience, even treading softly sends the turtle headlong into the pond licked-split.  If he does not have excellent hearing, he must be psychic. 

When the water lilies bloom, dragonflies abound. The species are many and varied.  They circle and dart and land upon the edge of a reed and just generally bedazzle the pond watcher.

There are pond skaters and night crooners and the moon’s reflection on the still glass surface of the water is a magical scene. The fragrant night-blooming water lilies makes the pond watcher fall in love with night.

To invest a little time near a pond offers so many rewards.  If the effort or expense is too great or there is not enough room, a pond in a bread bowl will work.   There are miniature species of water lilies and other aquatic plants available through many water garden nurseries.

To take up pond watching is to find a way back to your creative self. 

Be forewarned, you may find yourself wanting to put brush to canvas.  Consider Claude Monet’s works, the immensity of his collection and his inspiration?  Water lilies. 

Sources & Links:

http://www.finegardening.com/make-big-splash-tiny-water-gardenhttp://extension.illinois.edu/containergardening/water.cfm