{"id":2272,"date":"2007-07-18T23:52:04","date_gmt":"2007-07-19T04:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.1.5\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=2272"},"modified":"2017-07-19T16:30:13","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T21:30:13","slug":"austin-pond-society-tour-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/garden-visits\/austin-pond-society-tour-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Pond Society Tour 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the unexpected benefits of the garden house project is that we are becoming owners of a pond. I’ve wanted a pond for a long time. In anticipation of this new stewardship, we began checking out books on ponds. I realized quickly that I face a very steep learning curve. The Austin Pond Society’s<\/a> annual tour was last weekend. Although I was in flight on Saturday, I decided I could extend my vacation one more day and spend Sunday visiting ponds instead of tending my own garden. Luckily, all the ponds open Sunday for viewing were in south Austin.<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed the tour and it was well worth the $15 admission even though I managed to see only about 1\/3 of the 30 ponds that were open to the public. What I liked best about the tour was the variety, little DIY ponds made by “normal” people with “normal” backyards; a pond in a funky old south Austin in a yard full of handcrafted buildings (including a screened porch room); brand new ponds which made the most of a steep otherwise unworkable sites by creating pools and waterfalls, artsy ponds in killer backyards overlooking Austin, and a series of ponds in a canyon being restored to native plantings. I even saw a house I’d give mine up for in a second…and only a few blocks (and several million dollars) away.<\/p>\n

Everyone was really friendly, too, and all the owners were extremely nice in talking about their pond experiences. Owners, thanks so much for inviting the hoards into your back yards!<\/p>\n

I’m afraid that my eye strayed more to the gardens and plants than to the ponds. I’m sure that once I have more experience with my own pond that I’ll become more attuned to what to look the next time I tour ponds. Part of the tour, my camera wasn’t working so I only have photos from three gardens.<\/p>\n

Gary’s Garden<\/strong>
\nGary Pettitt owns Seasonal Living Trading Co<\/a> here in Austin and his garden is a showcase for his wares .
\n\"Austin
Distracted by the poolside view overlooking Town Lake and the Austin, I thought the pond took a back seat. Which is difficult because what a pond it was!<\/p>\n

\"Austin
The backdrop was a 10-foot high drip wall which emptied into a 40-foot long, narrow but deep koi pond.<\/p>\n

\"Austin
A sculpture took center stage and on either side little statues of Buddha sat serenely in their niches behind the flowing water.<\/p>\n

Although this is not a pond I can imagine having in my own back yard, even if I had the money, it was wonderfully impressive. The rest of the yard was divided into various garden rooms, each showcase in itself.<\/p>\n

Marc’s Garden<\/strong>
\nIn contrast, Marc’s garden and series of ponds better epitomized the Austin aesthetic for me. Imagine having your own canyon in which to create a hidden paradise–very Shangri-la.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/p>\n

He is transforming the canyon on his property into a series of ponds. Native plants are being reintroduced. And I felt a special kinship for his collection of rocks and folk art and other quirky sculptures made from found objects.<\/p>\n

David’s Garden<\/strong>
\nWalking into David Amdur’s<\/a> garden I felt that I’d been transported to the Austin of my youth. The artist\/designer\/builder has handcrafted his own house and all the furniture in it. The large yard meanders down a hillside (a common theme on the pond tour). In a grove at the bottom of the garden is a little screened porch room which I thought was as cute a button. AJM gave me a look as if to say, well if you wanted something like that… I don’t want to trade, I think my screened porch room is the right thing for our yard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Austin
The tour’s featured garden was built into a steep hill. The owners are reported to have been inspired on the pond tour two years earlier. I wish my inspirations would take solid form like this.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[55,196,380],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5479,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272\/revisions\/5479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}