Pond tour

My wife and I were able to make both days of the pond tour this year.Very interesting and very enjoyable as usual. The Austin Pond Society must be one of the most organized and nicest bunch of people on the planet. The directions are flawless and easy to follow and all the people are so nice and helpful that it makes the whole experience a joy to partake in. I would highly recommend that anyone who is interested in gardening should attend next year. Notice that I didn't say ponds but gardening. A pond is a container or a hole in the ground with water in it. For it to really look good it must have plants and landscaping around it. And there is plenty of that

This year my sister went with us on the south half of the tour. She has no interest in gardening or ponds [in some circles she is known as the "plant killer"] and she enjoyed the day very much. We took her vehicle and with the GPS were able to drive from one pond to the next quite easily.

Although all the ponds were beautiful and very individual to the owners I didn't take a lot of pictures this year. But one pond really struck my fancy. It was a pond made out of a swimming pool. When I read this in the information book I was thinking it just could not look good. Boy, was I wrong. Here are a few pictures just to show the imagination of some people. It was just gorgeous.

The ponds and landscaping that I liked the most was the Brushy Creek Community Center. As a Native Plant Society member and a known water mizer, I tend to like landscaping with said native plants and other drought and heat resistant plants. It was my Mecca. Whoever did this was good, I mean really good. It was stunning to me but might not look pleasing at all for some people. There were butterflies and bees on flowers everywhere. Birds were in abundance and they looked like happy birds as well. Plus, I really like big rocks in landscaping.