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Couple find bliss in big pond, fish

Their lavish "living area"will be featured as one of many in Pondscapes' annual tour of ponds and water gardens.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published May 5, 2006

But, in a way, it did.

When they're not working 60-hour weeks at Tampa Digital Studios where George is president and JoAnn is business manager, the newly married couple are creating a soothing outdoor space behind their three-bedroom, two-bath 1940s cottage on El Prado Boulevard.

Together, side by side, day and night.

"It works because we're friends first and in love," says George, 56.

Together they also share a passion for ponds. It's a hobby they started together about five years ago after visiting Pondscapes, the famous local business along Manhattan Avenue, whose owners, Kevin McLeod and Michael Jones, have managed to hook a generation of home-improvement buffs on the joys of pond ownership.

The Corneliuses are no exception. Their backyard pond will be spotlighted on the seventh annual Pondscapes Pond and Water Garden Tour, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. It's one of about a dozen residential ponds featured on this year's tour that rambles through both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

All the proceeds from the self-guided tour benefit the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, and the tour is free with a donation. Total proceeds from previous tours have netted more than $30,000. People interested in going on the tour may call (813) 839-8062 for information or pick up packets with directions and descriptions of each garden at Pondscapes, 4213 S Manhattan Ave.

The tour will feature lots of imported Japanese koi, goldfish and beautiful aquatic plant specimens - something pond owners seem to fall for as much as the ponds themselves.

"It's really crazy, but this hobby has become our whole life," explains JoAnn, 51. "We bring things back for the pond when we travel. Even our grandchildren bring us gifts for the pond. Our friends bring us things, too."

Pond-related gifts have included a small black fish that grew to be an enormous black fish with teeth. It's a relative of the piranha.

"He's not aggressive and he's a vegetarian," JoAnn explains. "He likes it when an avocado from the tree falls into the pond."

Friends enjoy coming over and lingering on the couple's deck or by the pool. The couple throw two large parties a year and entertain casually with friends or family.

"We like to cook out and just hang out," George explains. Their dramatic backyard living area - meant to be viewed from the main living area of the house - includes a water garden, a big and small pond they dug themselves, a waterfall, a gently turning gristmill, and a collection of lovingly handmade yard accessories.

The couple made virtually every notable decoration themselves, including an Adirondack love seat with heart cutouts; exquisite red and orange fish carvings in the decking, and an outdoor checkerboard with fish-adorned checkers. They even painted rocks to look like turtles and ladybugs.

In addition, they recently installed a "koi cam" and a flat-screen TV on the exterior of their shed, so they can sit by their pond and spy on what's going on with the fish underwater.

"And I didn't want any fish at first," JoAnn recalls, laughing. "I don't know why, really. I just wanted a pond."

Now, she's hooked.

So is George.

"We live only 2 miles from downtown," he says, "yet we feel so peaceful out here by the ponds."

In the mornings before going to work at Tampa Digital, a company that makes commercials, infomercials, videos and other forms of media, the couple like to eat breakfast in their garden, taking in the beauty of the ponds.

They've also cultivated a collection of water plants, some of them gifts from neighbors, also pond owners.

"We've gotten to know a lot of other pond people and they really are very special," George says.

The yard is also a magnet for migratory birds attracted to the water. Both ponds are so elegantly designed that they've been featured on previous Pondscapes tours.

The Corneliuses' back yard remains a constant work in progress, one that changes so much from year to year that there's always something new to see.

Visitors ask a lot of questions about the couple's collection of supersized koi - practically the size of miniature dachshunds - as well as the famous 25-pound pacu, a black fish expected to grow to 65 pounds.

"You would never know that you're just a few minutes from a major metropolitan area," George explains, happily. "We spend a lot of time out here and really enjoy it. We can relax with no pressure and do what we want. For people like us who work long hours, it's perfect."

[Last modified May 5, 2006, 08:44:29]