A little colder...and in White!

The fish stay in the pond all Winter.  Did you know that you do not feed your fish after the water has reached about 45'?  Their digestive system shuts down at those cold temperatures.  If you feed them...they will eat...but bloat and die. 
I have an over-sized air pump that blows air through large air stones which not only supply a little oxygen to the water, but it also keeps a small hole open in the ice.  That way the methane gases, created by the decaying materials in the bottom of the pond, are able to escape and not poison the fish.  Although, on very cold Winter days, I must keep that hole in the ice open with an ice chipper.


An early view from the rooftop.


On this foggy morning there was a beautiful mist rising from the pond.


I turned this pond surrounding into my Fairy Garden to the right.

So...now we will be heading down my "dock". 
You see...originally, because the Fox River is on the OTHER side of the road...and I wanted a dock of my own...I decided to make a dock and have it going over a DRY river bed for effect and landscaping.

  Well...after 3/4 of the digging to make the river bed, I thought as along as I'm doing all this digging to make a DRY river bed...why not make it WET?  The pond followed.Then, to make it FLOW, I needed a pond at the top and a pond at the bottom...and then had to get the water back up to the upper pond.  It was quite an evolution to where it is today!


Looking back to the house.


Miniature purple Iris...


It's such a tiny Iris...


The birds are waiting patiently
for me to go away....

Mr. Frog.  One of our garden residents.

We have a "Mrs. Shower Frog" who hangs out in the outdoor shower and a "Mrs. Garage Frog" who hangs out around the garage door light for the good eating at nite.  They return each year...must be in the genes by now!
We are coming over to our breakfast nook now...smiles.  A very nice place to enjoy
our morning coffee.

What a nice place for breakfast!

And...the ferns are higher than your waist!

Very nice place to relax and
listen to the water...

Like the sign says...you might want to call before
dropping in un-announced! 
I'm known as "That Naked Gardener Guy".
Smiles.

A Giraffe licking at the leaves.

And early photo of the garden.

Well...I hope you enjoyed My Secret Garden as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.

And...It was only a
"Brisk Stretch of the Legs"
as Maureen O'Hara said to John Wayne
in "The Quiet Man"

So...we are at the end of the walk!

Alice sitting next to my third Fairy Garden.

The lower pond.
The pump which makes this fountain work also pumps water underground to the upper pond.  The stream bed serves as an excellent filter for the whole system.  No chemicals needed.

Part of the Hosta garden.  My Hosta collection numbers 448.
Did you know there are over 2000 varieties of Hosta?