Beautiful when wet

By JEANNE MALMGREN

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 29, 2000

Lush foliage, soothing waterfalls and playful fish are the stars of backyard aqua-gardens, spotlighted in a tour this weekend.

TAMPA -- The blackbird sits on an oak limb, eyeing the shady stream below. The music of water tumbling over rocks is irresistible.

A quick flash of wings, and the bird is in the brook, ruffling and splashing. Nearby, a breeze stirs the rust-red leaves of a Japanese maple.

Bonita and Pete Cockey of Tampa have a 400-galloon pond at the entrance to their Beach Park home. Water flows over Florida fieldstone rimmed with moss-covered rocks, ferns and bromeliads.

This scene may sound as though it is deep in a forest somewhere, but it takes place in a Hyde Park back yard just a block or two from the whizzing traffic of Bayshore Boulevard. The lush water garden was created by homeowners Chip Vogel and Scott Scherschel, with the help of a Tampa pond-building business called Pondscapes.

Vogel and Scherschel's backyard oasis, along with 18 others, will be open to the public today and Sunday, in Pondscapes' first water garden tour. Some of the featured ponds were designed and installed by Pondscapes; others were "do-it-yourself" weekend projects done by the homeowners. Some are brand-new installations; others have been in place for years.

"This is a chance for people who might be considering a water garden to get ideas and inspiration," said Pondscapes owner Michael Jones. "They can see everything from a miniaturized goldfish pond at the front door of a house to a 4,000-gallon, two-level koi pond with a magnificent waterfall."

Koi are large, colorful Japanese carp found in many backyard water gardens. They are friendly fish that rise to the surface and eat right from their owners' hands. They are bred to be brightly colored -- orange, silver, white, black and dappled combinations -- so that they look pretty when viewed from above. Jones said in the six years he has been in the pond-building business, koi have become the rage.

"It used to be, eight out of 10 people wanted goldfish ponds. Now eight out of 10 want koi ponds."

Koi ponds are deeper -- generally about 3 feet -- and larger, to accommodate the size of the fish. Goldfish, by contrast, can be housed in tiny ponds, even whiskey barrels filled with water.

Jones started his company from a hobby, after he was laid off by Florida Power. The first pond he installed was in his own Tampa back yard. Today Pondscapes builds at least two ponds a week, throughout the Tampa Bay area. Jones fields constant phone calls from homeowners wanting to jump on the water garden bandwagon. Some want advice on how to build their own pond; others want Jones to handle everything, from design to plumbing to filtration.

Prices for a custom-designed and built pond range from $3,000 to $9,500, Jones said.

Last year, he opened a store in South Tampa that sells pond supplies, water plants, garden ornaments and goldfish and koi. Out back, several display ponds, complete with fish and lush landscaping, show customers what a water feature might look like in their yard. Soft music plays throughout the store.

"The whole idea of a pond is that it helps you forget the stresses of the day," Jones said. "You come home, and you can go relax by the pond. You watch the fish swimming, you listen to the burbling brook or the waterfall, and it just totally chills you out."

Vogel and Scherschel have a pair of green wicker chairs set on the lawn by their pond. They also can gaze out at the water through wide kitchen windows. Soon, they hope to replace those windows with French doors and build a deck where they can sit and enjoy the water garden.

Their pond was finished last November. From an oak-shaded corner of the yard, a waterfall feeds into an upper pond that spills into a winding stream, over three ledges and down to a lower pond stocked with goldfish. Features include handmade retaining walls that match salvaged rock brought in from a house being demolished on Bayshore Boulevard, Tennessee fieldstone ringing the edge of the pond, and a metal obelisk placed as a focal point at a bend in the stream.

"We talked for months and months when we started this project," Jones said. "They had something smaller in mind. It took awhile to convince them to make it larger."

Many homeowners start out small, then expand, Jones said. They choose a mini-water feature, and after living with it awhile, they fall in love with the whole ritual of tending fish and water plants. Then they want a bigger water feature. That's why he usually recommends a large-scale project at the beginning.

"We've redone (made larger) too many small ponds," he said.

An example of a small pond that stayed that way is at the Beach Park home of Bonita and Pete Cockey, also on this weekend's tour. The petite 400-gallon pool is tucked into a planting area at the entrance to their home.

Originally, the space contained only a huge boulder "spouting water everywhere and leaking like crazy," Jones said. "We just ripped that out and put in this little secret garden. You don't even see it until you walk up to the front door."

The new pond, installed about four years ago, features a small waterfall of Florida fieldstone and is rimmed with moss-covered rocks, ferns and bromeliads. It is only 18 inches deep, to comply with code regulations that govern the depth of water features not surrounded by fences.

This weekend's tour includes ponds in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, from Brandon and Lutz to Tarpon Springs and Pinellas Park. Homeowners will be present at each location to answer questions and offer water gardening tips. The tour is self-guided; visitors can choose to stop by only a few ponds or all 19. Maps and directions will be available at Pondscapes.

If you go

Pondscapes' water garden tour, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. today and Sunday. A self-guided tour of 19 backyard ponds in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, some professionally installed and some do-it-yourself jobs. Register and pick up maps/directions at Pondscapes, 4213 S Manhattan Ave., Tampa. Suggested donation of $5 benefits the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. Call (813) 839-8062.

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