The Natural Water Garden

If you buy nothing else for your gardening home library, buy monographs from a responsible organization such as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. THE NATURAL WATER GARDEN, published in 1997 and again in 2000, is an excellent example of the quality of material you can expect from this fine source. Now you may think you don't need a book like this because you live in the city or suburbs and have no nearby pond or stream you could dam up to make a pond. You would be wrong with that assumption. I live on a small urban plot and have managed to have a water garden and if I can do it you can too. Those of us who subscribe to the BBC TV network remember a fine (apparently no longer extant) series called `Ground Force'. Every week this team would overhaul someone's garden and without fail, they would find a way to install a `water feature'. Usually these projects were relatively simple because most of the gardens the team revamped were small urban entities. Once in a while the team would take on a larger project (they once overhauled Nelson Mandela's patch in South Africa, which is how I discovered the Nile Lily). Usually, they dug a hole, lined it with a water-proof liner, trimmed it with stones, and then filled it with various water plants. Once in a while they did something different such as make a water garden in a pot. The BG guide shows you how to create larger and smaller water features, be they bog gardens, soil erosion projects, or marshes, or pools, or ponds. My favorite chapter is the `storm water marsh, because I have yet to live anywhere in the South where water does not come down in torrents and cascade from the roof in a `downpour'. Our current house was no exception. I say "was" because we used a number of ideas found in this little monograph to convert the runoff for good purposes. Where water once washed off the house and under it, it now moves out to the yard and under the patio, and collects in the far corner of the back yard, where Viburnum, Aronia, Holly, Hibiscus, Japanese Anemone, Iris, Hosta, Ajuga and Hyacinth congregate and thrive. The Guide mentions Prince Georges County in Maryland as an example of a jurisdiction that promotes building a storm water marsh to reduce the effect of sudden surges in the flow of water which cause flooding in lowlands and damage the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Although I live across the river in Arlington on higher ground, my county is very Green and promotes similar eco-friendly behavior. The upshot is that you may find buying this little book and using it as a guide may be an act of responsible citizenship.

We just started planning our water garden and wanted it to be as natural as possible. This book has good pictures and lots of info to help you make the right decisions in planning and then creating your water garden.

This is one of the most practical and useful ponding books I have, and I have plenty. One of the best things about it is that it covers topics not mentioned in other ponding books. Most ponding books say the same things. This gives a little extra. It is helpful for the person who wants to keep a pond as naturally as possibly, especially for those with large earthen ponds, but also those of us with modest sized linered ponds.

With the boom in water garden popularity has come the boom in water gardening books. Most of these books are expensive and disappointing, either being pretty picture books or complicated guides to dream water gardens. As usual, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden 21st Century Gardening Series has delivered the goods for under $10. The subtitle of this book, "Pools, Ponds, Marshes & Bogs for Backyards Everywhere," accurately describes this little jewel. Topics range from stream restoration to landscaping that soggy area in your yard. This tiny book also manages to pack in regional plant recommendations and an excellent resource list along with helpful and inspirational photographs. Buy it!