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The Noyes Pond
We initially took the UWGS tour in 2000
and were excited with the potential to add to the landscaping of our home and the soothing relaxing sounds and serenity of water in our yard.
Designing and maintaining a pond seemed like a fun project for my wife and me in the post-raising children phase of our lives. It is a lot of work keeping it up but also very rewarding and relaxing if you like to work around water.
Cath does the terrestial landscaping and I handle the pond work. We pick out the plants together.
We travel a lot for pleasure and work and it has been fun to collect boulders/rocks from around the world to add to our pond. We also collect small artsy turtles made of stone that we hide under plants and rocks for visitors to find on their own as they visit our pond. We started in 2001 with a small pond and a waterfall that cascaded down from the elevated corner of our back yard. It looked like a natural stream and we came to call it Crestline Creek (Crestline is the name of our street). Most who weren’t from our neighborhood had to look pretty hard to see that it was not a natural waterway coming off the mountainside behind our house. We added lillie's, bull rush, iris, papyrus, thalia, and corkscrew reeds as our initial plants and a few goldfish.
After about two years we decided to enlarge the main pond and add a second waterfall as we enjoyed the sound of running water out our back door and the fact that it added so much to the beauty of our garden. The digging of the new pond was a bit of a problem as the electrical lines and phone lines were underground right where the enlargement was planned. We didn’t figure that out until the next hole was dug adjoining the existing pond. Several months later, with city permits all in place and the electricity rerouted, we finally had a bigger pond with one skimmer and pump on each end of the pond for each of the two waterfalls. We use filtration mats in the skimmers and at the tops of the waterfalls along with bagged lava rock.
We also have a whiskey barrel lava rock planter with a separate small pump as another bio filter. We started with just a few fish and had our grown children and grandchildren help us pick them out. That way, when they are over they can check on their own fish and watch them grow. We also act as a repository for abandoned fish from our realtor connections. When home owners are selling and moving and can’t take their fish, we go and collect the fish to add to our pond. This has been helpful as we have a red tailed hawk that occasionally likes to feed on our fish as well as raccoons that live in the neighborhood.
We have a pair of Call ducks (half size ducks that we named Fred and Ethyl) that use our yard as a home and produce eggs routinely that our granddaughter collects; we boil and eat the eggs when Ethyl does not sit on them. She produced four ducklings last Spring that unfortunately were taken by predators during our absence after they were two months old (and we erroneously thought they could fend for themselves). We’re hoping for more ducklings this Spring and will protect them more carefully so that we can distribute them to other pond owners who may also enjoy them in their water feature.
We have an old dog pen in our back yard where the ducks live so that they are not in the pond 24-7, as they are a bit messy. This last Fall we added a red slider turtle that was found abandoned in a relatives yard and he/she has been hibernating at the bottom of the pond all winter. Hopefully the raccoons will not get at him/her in the Spring when he/she ventures out. We have been totally unsuccessful in keeping frogs in our pond but will probably try again this year.
The gambusia placed by the mosquito abatement project several years have eradicated the mosquitoes. We also added a stone bridge so that our two year old granddaughter could sit and dangle her feet in the water and feed the fish. She is now four and swims with the fish fearlessly and loves it when they suck on her toes!
and were excited with the potential to add to the landscaping of our home and the soothing relaxing sounds and serenity of water in our yard.
Designing and maintaining a pond seemed like a fun project for my wife and me in the post-raising children phase of our lives. It is a lot of work keeping it up but also very rewarding and relaxing if you like to work around water. Cath does the terrestial landscaping and I handle the pond work. We pick out the plants together.We travel a lot for pleasure and work and it has been fun to collect boulders/rocks from around the world to add to our pond. We also collect small artsy turtles made of stone that we hide under plants and rocks for visitors to find on their own as they visit our pond. We started in 2001 with a small pond and a waterfall that cascaded down from the elevated corner of our back yard. It looked like a natural stream and we came to call it Crestline Creek (Crestline is the name of our street). Most who weren’t from our neighborhood had to look pretty hard to see that it was not a natural waterway coming off the mountainside behind our house. We added lillie's, bull rush, iris, papyrus, thalia, and corkscrew reeds as our initial plants and a few goldfish.
After about two years we decided to enlarge the main pond and add a second waterfall as we enjoyed the sound of running water out our back door and the fact that it added so much to the beauty of our garden. The digging of the new pond was a bit of a problem as the electrical lines and phone lines were underground right where the enlargement was planned. We didn’t figure that out until the next hole was dug adjoining the existing pond. Several months later, with city permits all in place and the electricity rerouted, we finally had a bigger pond with one skimmer and pump on each end of the pond for each of the two waterfalls. We use filtration mats in the skimmers and at the tops of the waterfalls along with bagged lava rock.
We also have a whiskey barrel lava rock planter with a separate small pump as another bio filter. We started with just a few fish and had our grown children and grandchildren help us pick them out. That way, when they are over they can check on their own fish and watch them grow. We also act as a repository for abandoned fish from our realtor connections. When home owners are selling and moving and can’t take their fish, we go and collect the fish to add to our pond. This has been helpful as we have a red tailed hawk that occasionally likes to feed on our fish as well as raccoons that live in the neighborhood.
We have a pair of Call ducks (half size ducks that we named Fred and Ethyl) that use our yard as a home and produce eggs routinely that our granddaughter collects; we boil and eat the eggs when Ethyl does not sit on them. She produced four ducklings last Spring that unfortunately were taken by predators during our absence after they were two months old (and we erroneously thought they could fend for themselves). We’re hoping for more ducklings this Spring and will protect them more carefully so that we can distribute them to other pond owners who may also enjoy them in their water feature.
We have an old dog pen in our back yard where the ducks live so that they are not in the pond 24-7, as they are a bit messy. This last Fall we added a red slider turtle that was found abandoned in a relatives yard and he/she has been hibernating at the bottom of the pond all winter. Hopefully the raccoons will not get at him/her in the Spring when he/she ventures out. We have been totally unsuccessful in keeping frogs in our pond but will probably try again this year.
The gambusia placed by the mosquito abatement project several years have eradicated the mosquitoes. We also added a stone bridge so that our two year old granddaughter could sit and dangle her feet in the water and feed the fish. She is now four and swims with the fish fearlessly and loves it when they suck on her toes!
noyes |
Latest page update: made by noyes
, Mar 30 2007, 7:34 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by noyes
5 words added 5 words deleted view changes - complete history) |
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| SuzyQ | Wow! | 0 | Mar 23 2007, 8:01 AM EDT by SuzyQ | ||
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Thread started: Mar 23 2007, 8:01 AM EDT
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Your pond is really nice! Strong work!
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| lambo102 | Nice Job! | 1 | Mar 22 2007, 8:04 PM EDT by noyes | ||
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Thread started: Mar 22 2007, 12:49 AM EDT
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I am so glad that you have added some information about your pond. I broke the writing into paragraphs so it was easier to read and did a spell check. But we are glad to see more ponds be added!
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