Tom Fisher is sharing his Buffalo, New York, garden with us today, including a feature in the garden that is popular with all sorts of visitors.
We have a very small prefab pond we bought a few years ago. The day we filled it a toad took up residence. Since then, we’ve added a couple of pondlets to create a small waterfall. Now every season the toads and frogs spawn at least twice a year, the birds bathe and drink from the waterfall, and three goldfish spend their summers in the pond then like snowbirds head south (to a basement tub) for the winter. It has truly been our best addition to the garden; it’s brought so much life and enjoyment to us and the creatures we didn’t even know were around us. I still don’t know where the frogs came from and how they found the pond. We run a 3-in-1 pond filter with the pond that we also take out with the fish in the fall, and the maintenance of the pond is almost nothing at all. I encourage you all to consider adding a pond. You might be surprised how even a little one can add so much.
One of the frog residents of the pond is nestled in the surrounding greenery.
Look closely at the trickle of water flowing through the pebbles and you’ll see countless tiny black tadpoles, a future generation of frogs or toads just getting started in the tiny garden pond.
The three goldfish that live in the pond during the summer come inside for the winter. In larger ponds they could overwinter outside, but a small pond in a cold climate can freeze solid, so these fish need a little winter vacation.
This view of the whole pond includes the series of pondlets above it that make a small series of waterfalls. Even the smallest garden has room for a little space like this.
Here’s the pond lit dramatically at night and surrounded by greenery and flowers.
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Comments
Cool addition, Tom! Great way to support your local wildlife! Go Bills!
Love the frog and "real" wildlife. Goldfish are illegal in some northern states. They are a terrible invasive if they get into natural bodies of water.
Love the great pictures and looking at them does make me a little jealous, but I have a serious fear of raccoons and one time visiting my sister outside of Seattle, I looked out the window in the night and the raccoons at her pond were the size of "OH MY".
How delightful!
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Everything about your pond is so lovely and how wonderful to see all of the tadpoles! The lighthouse is perfect.
Your pond and the surrounding plants and stones are a lovely addition to your yard, Tom. I can't imagine the pleasure it gives you watching all the critters frolicking in the flowing water! It's wonderful.
Wow! You did an excellent job of making the plastic pond liner look natural! I know how hard that is, because I tried it myself years ago in a shade garden and I just gave up LOL!
I really LOVE what you created here, it's just rich with plants and life and such a great garden feature....and I can tell you are respectful and caring of the the creatures in it.
Your garden post has been refreshingly different from so many others, with the focus on how a water feature supports wildlife!
And very well done- and a beautiful design!
Oh how charming and delightful!!! I ditto everything that SimpleSue said! And, thank you for taking the time to photo and share this gem with us!
Truly gorgeous. I have an antique baby bathtub on a stand. Have the same things. No filter. Just a solar fountain thingy I received as a gift. The frogs, bees, birds hang out. It really is encouraging to take the next step.
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