Garden Pond

Today Southern Gardening is at Henington House in Hattiesburg, MS admiring a beautiful backyard garden pond. The use of plants in and around the pond creates a beautiful space to relax and unwind. The first thing you notice is the water feature which produces the gentle sound of trickling water and the serene sight of ripples dancing across the surface. I love the horsetail plants. Horsetail is a rushlike evergreen perennial which grows up to 5 feet tall. The rough, hollow, vertically ridged, segmented, bamboo-like, dark green stems rise up from the plant rhizomes. Each stem node is marked by a whorl of tiny, stem-clasping, scale-like leaves which are fused into an ash-gray sheath ending in a fringe of teeth. Split leaf philodendron, a large, non-climbing, semi-woody shrub with huge, glossy, wavy-margined, deeply dissected evergreen leaves adds a tropical feel to this garden pond. Being cold hardy in USDA Zone 9-11, this plant will usually only survive outside in south Mississippi. Variegated Swedish Ivy brightens up the garden pond area with its spreading and trailing habit of growth and attractive small round leaves with distinctive creamy white edges. Guacamole Swedish Ivy also enhances the garden pond area with its deeply textured and variegated leaves with bright chartreuse and splashes of avocado green. Other plants also add to the beauty and charm of this backyard pond. Let’s not forget the goldfish darting around. Its like they have their own little underwater world. Consider adding a garden pond to your backyard. I am Eddie Smith, and I will see you next time on Southern Gardening.