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Carolina Water Garden Journal

© Stephen Strother

I would loosely define water gardening as a term used to describe the use of water as part of the garden or landscape around a home, business, or other property. Water gardens are often referred to as garden ponds, goldfish ponds, koi ponds, etc. Water gardens can range from small habitats created from water filled barrels to large water features that use natural rock to highlight pond boundaries and may even include waterfalls and streams. No matter what the pond design, one benefit of creating a water garden is that it promotes wildlife habitat in the yard. Throughout most of North and South Carolina water gardens can be maintained year round. Our winters rarely get cold enough to freeze the surface of a water garden completely as long as an adequate water flow is maintained through the use of a filtering system that includes a waterfall. As long as the surface does not completely freeze then goldfish and koi are able to survive in the pond throughout the winter. The article that follows is an account of some of the wildlife observations I have made at or around our current water garden located in our backyard in the Piedmont section of North Carolina.

About five years ago my wife and I were introduced to the world of water gardening. We had a landscape architect include a pond as part of a landscape plan for our new house. Neither of us had ever considered the possibility of having a pond in our back yard but we decided to go with it. The small 1,000 gallon pond became a focal point of our backyard. We have since moved but the hobby of water gardening stayed with us. In April we had a pond built in the backyard of our new home. I have been given the responsibility of maintaining the pond and it is a job I am glad to have.

There are numerous benefits I enjoy from water gardening. There are of course the more obvious reasons such as the aesthetic beauty a pond brings to the yard, the enjoyment my family and I get from the calming sounds of running water, as well as the fun of choosing, caring for, watching and even breeding the fish. If I had to pick my favorite aspect of water gardening however, it would not be one of these more obvious reasons... My favorite thing about water gardening is actually something I had never considered prior to installing my first pond. For me the biggest bonus of water gardening is the wildlife that a pond brings to the yard.