Tips from Tours: Add Water and Sound

Last of five posts.

It’s garden tour time, and I’ve been on five wonderful tours so far, with a couple of more on the docket. I love garden tours, both for finding beautiful gardens to feature in Northern Gardener and for finding tips and ideas to use in my own garden. This week, the Notes from Northern Gardener blog will include five tips picked up on recent tours. Here’s No. 5:

Add Water and Sound

This year, I was able to visit just one garden on the annual Minnesota Water Garden Society tour. It was a beaut! This Maplewood garden had four water features, tons of interesting details, a gorgeous vegetable garden and plants that were clearly well-cared-for and healthy. The garden was surrounded by tall pines that gave it a sense of completeness and seclusion.

What I noticed most in the garden, however, was how wonderful it was to have water and sound from water everywhere. With several fountains gurgling, the garden felt alive. Humans have always been drawn to water, and like many northerners, I love standing on the shores listening to Lake Superior or getting away to the Gulf of Mexico in winter. But, we can have water and sound in our gardens, too.

water feature with bamboo tube
Water fills the tube, then splash, it empties into a pond.

I got splashed by the water feature above while exploring a waterfall and fountain in the garden. The water from above fills the bamboo tube. When it reaches a certain point, it tips and empties into the pool below. A fun water features!

water fountain with water
The sounds of this fountain fills the dining areas in this yard.

This more traditional water fountain filled the side yard of the property with sound. It was in a shaded area and hostas and other shade-loving plants surrounded the pond in which the fountain stood. A dining table was set up nearby. Who would not want to have dinner in this beautiful looking and sounding spot!

Not everyone has the skill or patience to install and maintain as many water features as this yard had, but adding a simple water feature with a fountain isn’t difficult and doesn’t have to be expensive.

Does your yard have a water feature?

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