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Ambiance

© Vicki Paull

I love atmosphere. I love it in a restaurant, I love it in my home and I love it in my yard. Creating the right ambiance in a garden is as much a pleasure as it is a challenge. What are some of the things that add to the mood and feeling you want? Think of your garden as a room, the pond as the most impressive piece in it. Is it formal? Is it rustic? Natural? Now decorate it in your style.

Plants in the seating area are a must. They can be added in a number of ways. For instance, in a rustic setting you may want to use plain clay pots, whitewashed or antiqued, avoiding the elegant, grand planters that would be more at home in the formal scene.

As I have a rustic look developing in my garden, with woodland wild flowers and shade loving Hostas and Azaleas, when I shop for plants I look for lush decorative foliage such as Japanese Painted Fern, Variegated Solomon's Seal, and hardy Begonias. However, I have found room for a large pink Geranium and a Fescue. All of these plants are in beds surrounding the pond and the seating area. As for the plants in and around the waterfall, plastic pots work well as they will "give" and fit snugly between rocks. A nice way to further disguise them is to use tufts of Spanish moss tucked around them.

The seating area itself can be anything from a patch of grass to a costly veranda or deck. Cypress mulch makes an easy and inexpensive "patio." Just spread it several inches deep and as wide as you want. This way any shape or size can be accommodate and it fits well with most water garden designs. If it is available, creek gravel is another material that can be used create patios, paths, and borders around the pond.

To enjoy the pond after dark, some kind of lighting will be needed. Twinkle lights can be fun, as can the strings of novelty lights. But candle light is the most inspiring and restful. Just fill a clay pot with sand, put a candle in and light it. Adding a hurricane globe insures it won't blow out and gives it an extra glow.

Great! Now you have the scene set, but what do you sit in? Most garden supply stores have a selection of benches and chairs ranging from the five-dollar plastic chairs to beautiful wooden benches and chairs for hundreds. Maybe you could just spread a blanket or use a floor pillow or build a simple bench with blocks and a plank.