An Inexpensive Water Lily Pond-By Lena Smith Ford, ssr 



A/TOST of the water gardens described 

 ■!-▼-*■ in garden literature are elaborate 

 naturalistic ponds or formal pools of 

 masonry, beautiful but costly and quite 

 unattainable to the modest gardener; 

 the case of the amateur seems to be limited 

 to tubs and cemented tanks. We did 

 not doubt that beautiful water lilies could 

 be grown in tubs or tanks, but we wanted 

 a small, naturally outlined pond (about 

 twelve feet long) with no cement edges 

 showing and we wanted to locate it in a 

 low, unmown spot at one side of the lawn, 

 where some young hemlocks would be 

 a protection for it. We were the veriest 

 of beginners in gardening and desperately 

 afraid of doing something ridiculous; 

 mistakes might be "stepping-stones to 

 higher things," but a misfit lily pond 

 would be very uncomfortable to have 

 ever before one's eyes. 



However we determined to follow our 

 own ideas. We believed that the honest 

 expression of the best that is in one might 

 be permitted, at least, in the privacy of 

 one's back yard, and that a garden of one's 

 own making, mistakes and all, would give 

 more joy than the perfectly correct pro- 

 duct of another. After staking out the 

 curving outlines of the pond, we dug 

 out the soil to a depth of two feet and 

 three inches, saving the good top loam 

 to put back later into the finished pond. 

 The sides were slanted to an angle of 

 45 degrees, and both the bottom and 

 sides were lined with stones about six 

 inches thick. A three-inch layer of cement 

 (three parts of coarse sand to one part of 

 cement) was laid over the stones, the top 

 rim being cut under the turf in order to 

 hide the cement edge. The pond was 

 fortunately located over a cellar drain 

 and we merely had to cement a pipe into 

 this drain to provide for emptying. After 

 a thorough drying of the cement, it was 

 necessary to soak out its caustic properties 



that there might be no damage to plants 

 and fish. 



When all was ready we covered the bot- 

 tom of the pond with one foot of loam 

 enriched by one-third rotted cow manure, 

 planted this with nymphea roots and 

 aerating plants, and top-dressed the whole 

 surface with two inches of sea sand. There 

 remained a foot of depth for water, but 

 only four inches were put in at first. 

 After the first floating leaves appeared 

 upon the nympheas we began letting 

 in a little water each day until the 

 pond was full. Three large gold fishes 

 were added for their beauty and use- 

 fulness. 



The nympheas chosen were of the hardy 

 varieties : the handsome N. Marliacea, vars. 

 chromatella, alba, and candidissima, and 

 the white Chinese Pygmy (N. tetragona). 

 We also planted a few roots of pickerel 

 weed and arrow head from a nearby brook, 

 and anchored a small clump of water 

 hyacinth at one side of the pond. A 

 potted umbrella plant (Cyperus alterni- 

 folius) was added with good effect. Both 

 the lilies and the wild plants bloomed 

 beautifully and continuously all summer. 

 The nympheas were of the varieties bound 

 to succeed, and surely nothing could be 

 easier than raising water lilies if these 

 sorts are chosen. 



The margin of the pond was not very 

 extensive, but we wanted to make the 

 most of it. The side toward the lawn 

 was left open so that we could see the 

 lilies from any part of the lawn or garden; 

 the remaining sides and back were planted 

 thickly among stones and grasses with 

 plants of the following kinds: 



Near the edge, forget-me-nots, English 

 daisies, and tiny ferns; back of these, 

 iris (German, Japanese and common blue 

 flag) Hemerocallis flava and Dumortieri, 

 Funkia, cardinal flower, closed gentian, 

 turtle head, and some phlox. Back of 



all were the young hemlock trees. The 

 forget-me-nots grew right out into the 

 water a foot and were a sheet of bloom 

 for a long time. All the other plants 

 did well here, as the place was naturally 

 somewhat moist and one only had to 

 flood the pond a little to give them an 

 extra drink. Every three or four days 

 we sprayed the pond to replace the 

 water lost by evaporation, but the 

 amount of water used increased our 

 water bill less than a dollar for the 

 whole season. 



All summer long something delight- 

 fully interesting was happening in and 

 about this little pond. Three green-brown 

 frogs came to live in it; toads laid their 

 eggs in long strings to the overhanging 

 forget-me-nots, and soon the bottom of 

 the pond was covered with little gray 

 tadpoles. We supplied our own garden 

 and the whole neighborhood with plenty 

 of toads. Soon, too, young gold fishes 

 began to hatch by the hundreds and by 

 the end of summer many of them had 

 changed their color from brown to gold. 

 But most charming of all were the waxy 

 flowers and bronze-green leaves of the 

 nympheas. They bloomed continuously 

 until the frost finally froze the half open 

 buds. 



In late fall we took out the fishes, 

 drained the pond, covered the nymphea 

 roots with manure and filled the whole 

 opening with hay and cornstalks, bring- 

 ing the mulch out two feet over the 

 edge to protect the sides from cracking 

 by the frost. 



Considering the happiness our little 

 pond brought us in its first summer 

 alone, its cost seemed very trifling. 

 We had only stones, cement, plants and 

 fishes to buy and the expense of all 

 came under twelve dollars. There was 

 no labor to pay for as we did the work 

 ourselves. 



The back-yard water garden was made at a cost of twelve doUars and successiuUy accommodated water lilies and other aauatlcs. besides goldfish, etc. 



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