Thursday, July 10, 2008

PONDS, FOUNTAINS, POOLS



I do not have a water feature in my yard. We have talked about it but it never gets past the planning stage. I would dearly love to have one like this but that would take more money than we can spare right now. Those who live in an area where they can just go out and pick up stones probably don't realize how lucky they are. Stones cost an arm and a leg down here on the Coast. I have though about trying to use flat pieces of concrete and covering them with plants to disguise them. I am still working on this idea. Some real stone mixed with some faux stones might work. I found a link that tells you how to make the faux ones. This might be a possibility. I'll leave it at the bottom of the post.


My brother in law made some of those stones you make from moulds once and he said it wasn't difficult. I may have to settle for a fountain instead but there are some pretty ones at one of the nurseries. I haven't given much thought to a pool. Pepper, my juvenil delinquent cat, can't be trusted around fish. I just know it!


FAKE ROCKS

12 comments:

Gail said...

We grow rocks here and when we need larger stones for projects they are expensive....probably not as expensive for us. A water feature would be lovely and calming and noise abating. Wish we had one, too.

Don't know about faux stones but it sounds like a fun project.

Gail

Skeeter said...

The water feature looks so serene! I have longed for one but the Saint has not bitten as of yet. He says it would be a constant struggle with the wildlife around us, snakes, frogs, etc. He is probably right but I still want one just the same. Maybe some day so I can dream until them….

tina said...

I love that waterpool! It is exactly what I have in mind one day for where my son's swimming pool currently resides. I wanted to tell you to check out Freecycle.org. I got over 600 brings, 3 truckloads of limestone and countless other things for the garden-all for free. I have posted about it before and if you already know about it-sorry! But I bet if you are close to a big city or old city, people will offer up rocks and all kinds of neat things. I have to go hunt rocks myself. They are too expensive for me to buy too. Good luck!

Susie said...

Eve,

A lady that lived across the street from me in GA used those molds. She also thought it was easy.

We would love to have a pond in our backyard too!! The sound of running water is so relaxing.

Anonymous said...

I, too, would love a water feature in my garden, but we are surrounded by tall pine trees and other trees. I know the upkeep would be just too much with all the falling needles and other leaves.

Jan
Always Growing

Esther said...

That water feature is so peaceful and lush - just beautiful! I hope you'll get one soon. :)

Julie said...

We have NO rocks in south Florida either..it was killing me to see all of them in Georgia when I was just there...how I wish i could have loaded them all into my trunk..........I saw a site once where someone had made cute rocks in plastic grocery bags, and they looked pretty darn good...will look for it for you!

Julie said...

OK...I finally found this gal on Garden Web...she uses a recipe (any one you can find for rock/hypertufa}...and shovels some into a plasic grocery bag...here is what she wrote and a pic she posted...although not a close up...but I thought this would be easy and quick if you need to make a quite a few!

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hypertufa/gal0710100325486.html

Julie said...

Looks like that link did not work. Here is what she said..."I slopped a small spade full of mix into shopping bags, twisted shut, massaged the air out, let sit overnight, et voila! River rocks (or petrified dinosaur poop, as my hubby says) at 1/4 the weight of stone, and, IMHO, not too bad looking for edging."
and here is the pic:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/hypertufa/gal0710100325486.jpg

Eve said...

Thanks Julia, I found it. Internet explorer is blocking the site. I also saw a pic of another girl's bed with the rock laid around it, done in the same way. She just used the same recipe for hypertufa I had on an earlier post to make the rocks..they look real. I am going to trying this this weekend...I'll let you know how it goes.

tina said...

Julie, That was so nice to find this link. I checked it out and it worked fine. The pic was kind of small but it did resemble petrified dinosaur poop. Also checked out your blog. Very pretty succulents. And what is an ATC if you don't mind me asking. I used to be an air traffic controller (ATC) so that is what I thought it was. lol Eve, you don't mind me talking on here do you?

Eve said...

I love you talking on here. And I am a big fan of Julie's ATCs.