Make your water garden double as a winter garden

GREENVILLE, Va. -- Keith Folsom doesn't pull the plug on his water gardens when chilly weather arrives. He simply settles into a chair to enjoy the view.

"People put water fixtures where they can see them and savor them," says Folsom, president of Springdale Water Gardens near this Shenandoah Valley community.

"You don't feel like paying attention when they're not running. You like hearing them gurgle and watching them flow. That includes through the dead of winter. I run my waterfalls 365 days a year."

Water gardens make great winter gardens given the right accessories. That includes tall, sturdy plants for dimension and properly placed lighting.

"Even standing water is pretty when it freezes up," Folsom says. "Moving water, though, that gives you the best wintertime effects especially under landscape lights. Few things look as nice when it's snowing."

It isn't necessary to live in the Deep South to maintain fish and flowers in your pond year-round. Both can survive extreme cold if the ponds are dug deep enough, the gardens are built large enough and pumps keep the water moving.

"That tends to prevent things from icing over," Folsom says.

Be observant, though. Don't let ice dams build on the waterfalls. That could channel water where you don't want it and allow ponds to freeze closed. If you didn't already clear the organic rot from the pool bottom, then further decomposition could leave your fish oxygen-deprived and they'll die.

Winterizing a water garden is largely a matter of prevention. Keep dead leaves from dropping into the ponds. You also can pinch off your aquatic plants as they die back.

Covering and skimming

Cover the water with a screen, sweep the surface with a long-handled net or install a skimmer similar to those used for vacuuming swimming pools.

"Skimmer size will be determined by how much water you're pumping or how large the pond," Folsom says. "A skimmer is one of the best innovations in water gardening in many years. You won't have any debris making its way to the bottom."

Pond fish have appetites rivaling those of active teenagers as the water begins to cool. The fish are building the reserves necessary for surviving winter, Folsom says.

"Now through October, they will eat a goodly amount of food. Sometimes twice as much food as they ate in summer. If they don't eat it, it's fouling the water, so don't put in more than they'll eat."

Like their counterparts in the wild, fish placed in water gardens don't require being fed. They're capable of foraging the grasses, aquatics and algae that build up in the ponds," Folsom says.

"The advantage of feeding fish, aside from a health standpoint, is that it makes them visible, trainable. Feeding fish is mainly for us. They're usually fine without it."

Fish, plants, frogs and snails go dormant in winter, but birds and other scrounging critters above the water gardens don't. Give them a place where they can drink. Place feeders nearby and provide plant cover. That will bring you an abundance of wildlife guests, no matter how unpleasant the weather.

More people clean their water gardens in spring rather than autumn, by the way. They probably realize some leaves and organic matter will drop into the water over winter, Folsom says. Either season will do. Cleaning too often disrupts the buildup of beneficial bacteria, Folsom says.

"Clean your ponds no more than once a year. Some people can go longer. But if you do it in summer, you're disrupting the flowers and the fish."

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On the Net:

The Cornell University Department of Horticulture:

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/factsheets/ecogardening/watergard.h tml.

Springdale Water Gardens:

http://www.springdalewatergardens.com; click on water garden articles and FAQS; click on fall and winter care sheets.

You can contact Dean Fosdick at deanfosdick(at)netscape.net.