water features bring plenty of beauty and serenity as a focal point to a yard. Using a pond in your landscaping design will provide interest, attract wildlife and even become a home for fish that you might choose to keep. Water features are becoming increasing popular, so finding ideas on ponds in landscaping books and on websites does not require much searching.

Once you have decided to add a pond to your landscape design, you will begin the process of selection to ensure that your pond is functional as well as beautiful. The first choice you must make is the location of your pond in your landscape plan. Keep in mind that most ponds require some digging, so stay away from underground utility lines. You also want to avoid placing your pond underneath trees, unless you happen to like fishing leaves out of the water in the fall! Too much direct sunlight can contribute to an algae problem in your pond, so a location that receives filtered light or some shade is preferable.

Materials For Landscaping Your Pond

Once your location has been determined for your pond, you will need to look into materials to create your water feature. Fiberglass shells are extremely popular for ponds since they are easy to install and even easier to maintain. The shells come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be found at your local garden store.

Of course, once the shell for your pond is in place, landscaping around the pond is an important consideration. Rocks and plants can create a lovely backdrop for the water and finish off a restful oasis for you to enjoy. Lighting your pond landscape can be another consideration if you would like to enjoy your water feature after dark. Include seating nearby so you and guests can have the pleasure of conversation in a serene setting.

If you want to maintain the charm of your setting, you will need to keep your pond clean and algae free. One way that you can keep your pond water clear is to place gravel at the bottom of your pond. Gravel provides a biological filter for your water as well as protection and stability for your pond liner. You can also bring plants into your pond landscape.

Aquatic plants will provide shade, food and shelter for any critters that make your pond their home. Even algae are a good aquatic plant to include – as long as they don’t get out of control. Finally, the type of water you fill your pond with will affect the ease of maintenance. Before you grab that hose, know that tap water has minerals that could encourage the growth of algae. Contact your garden center for advice on filling your pond, but keep in mind that rainwater is really the best source.

A pond adds beauty to a landscape, as well as providing a haven for wildlife. With proper planning, a pond landscape can be low maintenance as well as an attractive water feature for your yard.

anonymous
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/adding-serenity-to-your-outdoor-landscape-with-a-pond-126577.html

Imagine a beautiful garden, full of flowers and plant life kept perfectly healthy in its own carefully regulated ecosystem. Maybe there are garden ponds on each side of a bridge, or if the gardener has gone to the full extreme, maybe even koi ponds, filled with some of the most beautiful fish in existence.. But something is missing. What is that missing link that could tie everything together? For many avid garden enthusiasts, a truly remarkable garden is not complete without a garden gazebo.

For many hard working garden architects, a garden gazebo is the perfect way to accent your garden. Imagine being able to walk along a path between the koi pond and the bushel of flowers exploding in a bright rainbow array of colors. Maybe some more hedges, maybe some flowers and the appropriate cypress tree for shade, and then having a gazebo sitting right there, calling for you to sit down and rest, to enjoy everything around you without putting any more pressure on your feet. Its shade will be a welcome additional comfort, and its architecture will add that special touch to your garden, striking the balance between nature and humanity, a balance that is rarely caught with any type of success, making it all the more striking in that special garden. No matter what the environment of your garden, there is a garden gazebo out there just waiting to be the crowning touch to an otherwise almost perfect back yard garden.

In deciding on the right garden gazebo for you, one of the first choices that will have to be made is to choose your building material from wood, metal, or vinyl. Metal gives a long guarantee of sturdiness, though depending on the garden it can feel out of place and actually clash a little with the otherwise peaceful flow that you meant for the garden to create. Vinyl has a variety of plusses and minuses, and for vinyl gazebos there are a wide array of acceptable options, it just really depends on the specific gazebo in that case. Wood is by far and away the most common choice, and for very good reason: it goes with any natural environment. What type of wood is available generally depends on who you are buying from and what design you choose. Almost every dealer will at least have pine and cedar. Pine is the softest wood and complements surrounding evergreens for obvious reasons. Cedar is higher in overall sturdiness, is less prone to rot, and ages to a gray-brown. This is generally the most popular choice because of its combination of sturdiness and appearance.

A garden gazebo is not a new idea. Having gazebos or gazebo like structures in a garden has been seen for centuries. The elegance of a garden gazebo, and the ability to sit comfortably in the middle of a beautiful garden, made both extremely popular. Whether for showing off to other aristocracy, or for a young poet trying to find her muse, the garden gazebos were, and are, very popular, and for good reason. If you have an amazing garden, look at a garden gazebo. There is no better way to enjoy a beautiful garden than from within.

Matt Oconnor
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/garden-gazebos-for-the-full-garden-experience-39099.html

Different flower convey different meaning. You can send flowers with or without any reason or a celebration. It has empowered us to express our emotion just the way we want. You can send flower for various reason sometime for celebration, sometime for love, sometime as a way to say sorry, to say get well soon, as a sympathy messages, or just for friendship. The best way to express your feeling in front or your near and dear one is nothing but a flower. It says all that you can’t ever tell. Flower has a charm that inspires and expresses inside sentiments of heart. The flowers are the greatest creature of nature. Everyone knows the fragrance and poetry of fresh flowers.

You can send flowers to your near and dear one on any occasion like birthday, wedding ceremony, mother’s day, Valentine’s Day. Whenever you want to express your feeling through a gift, flowers always comes first in your mind because flowers are the ideal gift for any occasion. The softness of petals of flower and their attractive color along with the sweet smell fascinates your friends, family and relatives.

With the online flower delivery service provider, it is very easy to send flower in any part of the country. For instance, Kanpur is very far from Delhi but you can send flowers to Kanpur very easily through the online service. It shows that wherever you are sitting in the world you can send flowers to your near and dear one very easily. These flowers show your love, affection, care for them. These online shops have several contacts in cities and town.

With the online flower delivery service provider, you need not to go out of your home. Sitting in the cozy corner of your home, you can browse their website and have a look at their collections. You can send flowers to India or any where in the world by these online services.

Swati Srivastav
http://www.articlesbase.com/gifts-articles/want-to-say-anything-say-it-with-flowers-459505.html

There are several points you need to consider before building your pond or water feature. Should it be formal or informal, natural or modern? Do you want to keep fish, grow plants or attract wildlife? Are there children to keep safe?

Once you have answered these questions you need to decide where you want to site the pond or water feature. A pond should be kept away from big trees and shrubs so ensure their roots don’t puncture the lining. If you want to keep fish you need to have a pretty deep pond to stop it freezing over the winter. The smallest you should build a pond is 60cm (2ft) deep and 1×1.5m (3×5ft) across. However, the bigger the better.

If children’s safety is an issue or you prefer not to have to maintain a pond then a water feature is an excellent compromise. You could build a wall fountain or a pebble pool which can be sited in sun or shade near to a power supply. If you do not have external power then a wide plant container or half a barrel, without drainage holes, is ideal. You can still grow small aquatic plants or use floating oxygenators such as water hyacinth. You will need to protect them during winter or empty the container and start again in the spring.

Ponds

Formal ponds tend to be circular or rectangular with straight, steep sides. They are mainly used to grow water lilies or to keep fish. Informal ponds can be any shape you wish and usually attract wildlife. As fish tend to eat eggs, larvae etc. you are best not keeping fish if you want a true wildlife pond. You will need to build in a few planting shelves around the edges and at least one sloping side to allow creatures to climb out. All sorts of plants can be grown in an informal pond from marginal plants, bog plants or deep-water plants. Which ever plants you choose you must include oxygenators to ensure a good healthy environment for wildlife and plants.

Looking after your Pond
Spring: most ponds will turn green in spring but it will clear itself in a few weeks. However, new ponds could remain green for up to twelve months. Pull out blanketweed and leave on the side for a day or so to allow creatures to escape back into the pond. Remove duckweed with a small fishing net.
Summer: Feed fish between May and September. Pull out oxygenators if they threaten to take over the entire pond.
Autumn: Remove excess silt from the bottom of the pond leaving about 1 inch to allow plants to root. Remove floating plants once the die, cut down marginals and pull out dead lily leaves. Keep autumn leaves out of the pond by covering with a net.
Winter: If you keep fish place a plastic ball on the surface to avoid the pond freezing over totally. If you don’t keep fish there is no winter maintenance required.

Building a Pond
The easiest way to build a pond is to use a butyl rubber or plastic sheet. To work out how much to buy, dig your pond to the size and shape required then measure the length, width and the deepest point. Multiply the depth by two and add to the length then again to the width. Add 50cm (20in) for overlap on both the length and the width. This is the size of sheet you need.
When digging the pond ensure that the bottom is firm and flat and free from stones. At least part of it needs to be 60cm (2ft) deep for fish and deep-water plants the rest can be 45cm (18ins) deep.
Build in some shelves around the sides 15cm (6ins) wide and 20cm (8ins) below the surface. Slope one side to allow wildlife to escape. Ensure that all pond sides are level by using a spirit level, don’t use your eye.
Spread 2.cm (1in) of soft sand over the base, shelves and slopes then cover with pond underlay followed by the liner.
Start filling the pond. Once full, trim the liner to 30cm (1ft) overlap. Cover the overlap with paving stones or turf. Make sure no liner is exposed to the sun as it will rot.
Lower the plants into place. Wait six weeks before introducing fish.

water features

You can buy basic bubble pool kits at most garden centres and they can be adapted to any type of water feature. The kit consists of a reservoir with lid, a pump and water outlet spout. The reservoir is sunk into the ground and filled with water. Place the pump at the bottom of the reservoir on a couple of bricks to keep out silt. Place the lid on top and feed the water spout through the hole onto the pump. Once it is in place add a decorative finish such as pebbles, slate, gravel, millstone, etc. When it is turned on the water will spurt through the spout and fall back into the reservoir and recycled. You may need to top up the reservoir during very hot weather.

Water Plants

There are four types of water plants: deep-water aquatics, marginals, submerged oxygenators and free-floaters. For your pond to remain healthy you will need a few plants from each type except free-floaters.

Water plants tend to be grown in plastic baskets which stand on the planting shelves or floor of the pond. When you buy a new plant it will tell you the depth it likes. Note that it is the depth of water over the top of the roots not the depth of water it stands in.

Plants should be divided only when they stop flowering which could be as long as seven years. Lift the basket out of the pond and remove the plant. You may need to cut the basket away if the roots have grown through the sides. Split the clump as you would a border perennial. Choose a strong piece with healthy young shoots and replant into a basket of aquatic compost. Don’t use normal potting compost and be careful not to use pesticides or weedkillers anywhere near the pond. Top off with gravel to hold the compost in place. When repotting waterlilies ensure the rhizomes are sitting on the surface of the compost. Sink the basket back into the pond.

Marginals
These plants grow in shallow water round the edge of the pond. They not only look good their roots use up lots of minerals which would otherwise feed algae. Examples of marginal plants include Japanese water iris (iris laevigata), the cardinal flower (lobelia cardinalis) and flowering rush (butomus umbellatus).

Deep-water
These plants grow in much deeper water and should be placed at the bottom of the pond. Waterlilies are a deep-water aquatic but they like still water, don’t plant near a fountain or waterfall. Examples of deep-water aquatics include water hawthorn (aponogeton distachyos), arum lily (zantedeschia aethiopica) and waterlilies (nymphaea)

Oxygenators
These plants live under the water and the provide oxygen used by fish and other pond-life. Be careful which oxygenators you choose as many are invasive. A good one is Lagarosiphon major which is evergreen and can just be dropped into the pond to root at the bottom. It will need to be weeded out every so often. Another good example is the water crowfoot (ranunculus aquatilis).

Floating Plants
Free-floating plants provide shade to a pond. Some are not hardy and will die in winter, some duck down into the water for winter and reappear each spring. An example of a tender floating plant is water hyacinth (eichhornia crassipes) and frogbit (hydrocharis morsus-ranae) will come back in the spring.

Bog Gardens

If you have an area in your garden which never dries out, the easiest way to deal with it is to turn it into a bog garden. Bog gardens look particularly good next to a pond. This can be achieved by extending the pond liner into the required area and piercing it with a fork to allow some of the water to drain away. Add garden soil enriched with well-rotted garden compost or manure ensuring that the compost cannot fall into the pond.

You can plant any moisture-loving perennials or marginal plants that like very little water over them. Examples include hostas, primula and mimulus cardinalis.

Linda Peppin
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/aquatic-gardening-66781.html

Walking through Korazim, a small national park on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, I met Brigitta, a German economist and ex-resident of Bethlehem, with an unparalleled knowledge of Israel. It was a hot summer day and we sat down under a tree to talk. The tree happened to be a Zizyphus spina Christi, from whose branches it is said that a crown of thorns was prepared for Jesus. Not just any shade. Biblical shade.

Brigitta was of the opinion that the patchwork that is Palestine cannot last. The economy, the statal system, the land itself cannot support the nearly ten million people that live in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, yet Israel continues to encourage immigration. The country’s present course is unsustainable.

WATER FLASHPOINT OF THE FUTURE
Up there in cloud-cuckoo land, then, what is her solution? A holy land, comprising Israel, Palestine and Jordan, in which power and resources are shared. Chief among the resources is water, now in severely short supply. Water is the oil of this geographically unpromising and politically uncompromising corner of the Middle East. Both Israel and, subsequently, Jordan have been systematically draining the Dead Sea for irrigation. Its level has fallen ten metres in the last thirty years and at the present, faster rate it will fall a further 100 metres over the next century.

Palestinians and Israelis alike want land, livelihood, security and neither side has anywhere else to go. Water will be the flashpoint of the future.

WATER AROUND THE SEA OF GALILEE
There’s not much water at Korazim now, that’s for sure. But it wasn’t always so. Up until about 1,500 years ago, this whole region was far wetter and more fertile. There are ruins of a ritual bath and an oil press.

Korazim is one of Israel’s 54 national and nature parks. We were trying to see as many as we could in the two weeks we were spending there. Most of the parks are archaeological sites. But then, so is much of the region itself. There are sites dating back to Neolithic times, there are wonderful fortresses and palaces from the Crusader period Yehi’am, Belvoir, The Castel, Nimrod and Herodion. Although most of the parks are havens of peace and beauty, even at the worst of times, some of the national parks are in Palestinian territory and it is wise to take advice before going there.

The synagogue at Korazim is a monumental structure with broad stairs and a huge pediment (now resting on the ground beside the entrance). It is made of hard black basalt, a stone that is difficult to carve, yet it was impressively engraved with many patterns. Unlike later synagogues, which usually had mosaic pavements; early ones like this had floors of stone. And although the Jewish Commentaries (tosafta) prescribe that doorways to the synagogue should always face east, most of the synagogues in the Galilee, including this one, face south towards Jerusalem.

According to the New Testament, Korazim was one of the villages whose inhabitants refused to accept the teachings of Jesus and was cursed by Him.

WATER AROUND EASTERN GALILEE
Kursi, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, is also directly associated with the life of Christ. The place is mentioned in the New Testament as the scene, ‘in the country of the Gadarenes’, at which Jesus exorcised the devils from the body of a man and transferred them to a herd of pigs. The pigs then purportedly hotfooted it down to the water, where they drowned. Left at the site today are the remains of the largest known Byzantine monastery in the Holy Land, measuring 145 by 123 metres.

WATER AROUND LOWER GALILEE
Zippori, in lower Galilee, ‘perches on top of the mountain like a bird’, according to the Talmud (zippor in Hebrew means ‘bird’). The chalk hill was described as ‘as most assuredly a land flowing with milk and honey’. A settlement is confirmed from the days of the First Temple (eighth to seventh century BC). But the city had an extremely troubled history and changed hands several times. It became a Jewish city, a bishopric, a Crusader stronghold and an Arab town before falling to the fledgling Israel Defence Force in July 1948.

Zippori’s Christian significance lies principally in the fact that it was the birthplace of the Virgin Mary, whose parents, Ann and Joachim, lived there. Today its most remarkable artefacts are the coloured mosaics dating back 1,700 years. One depicts the life of Dionysos and measures 1.5 metres across. Another, the Nile Mosaic, depicts Egyptian festivals celebrating the high-water peak of the Nile, coupled, unusually, with a variety of hunting scenes. Most famous of all is the mosaic portrait of a beautiful woman, nicknamed the ‘Galilean Mona Lisa’, framed with medallions, on the floor of a luxurious Roman residence.

WATER-SUPPLY SYSTEMS
A testament to the technological skills of the residents in the second century AD is the water-supply system, consisting of two aqueducts and an enormous reservoir 260 metres long, between two and four metres wide and about ten metres deep. The capacity of the reservoir was 4,300 cubic metres, and at its end was a gate valve which regulated the water flow passing into the city through a tunnel 235 metres long., You can climb down some steps and walk through the reservoir, which winds through the Tunnel of the Shafts, its golden stone walls worn smooth by the action of the water.

At Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo and the still more famous Masada, gigantic water systems are also among the most stunning features with cisterns as big as aeroplane hangars sunk into mountaintops or carved into hillsides and openings the size of the First Temple itself.
At Masada the thirty or so cisterns kept the 968 Zealots supplied with water throughout the four-year Roman siege that eventually ended with their mass suicide.

On Brigitta’s advice, we visited Bet Shean, where excavations have revealed this ancient city dating back to the fifth millennium BC. The area, it is said, once enjoyed plentiful water and the first Hebrew historian wrote, as recently as 1322, that it ‘is situated on many sweet waters … and is fruitful like the Garden of Eden.’

Albeit dry as dust now, the city boasts glorious, mosaic-floored bathhouses and a hypocaust bigger and better-preserved than any I’ve seen.

ARMAGEDDON
Traveling back again another six thousand years, you may come to Tel Megiddo, or Armageddon, a hilltop city that commanded the strategic highway from Egypt to the north. It was fortified by King Solomon and turned into a chariot centre by King Ahab in the ninth century BC. The excavations look like a broad, gently rising staircase, representing twenty-five layers of civilization, with the oldest structures at the foot of the flight. At one point there are three temples, one on top of the other.

Christian teaching holds that Armageddon is the place where the battle of good and evil will be fought ‘at the end of days’. As we strolled down the hillside, a couple of doves flew over our heads a sign, perhaps, that the end is not yet nigh. 

TRAVEL BRIEF
When to go: Spring, when flowers are in bloom, and autumn are the best times. Not only is the weather extremely hot in summer (minimum daytime temperatures in August around 30°C) but also the countryside is not at its best, looking brown and parched. Also avoid times of war.

Where to stay: Youth hostels are basic but adequate and cheap, from about £32 per night for a double room with breakfast. For information www.youth-hostels.org.il; for reservations e-mail samy@iyha.org.il. Many kibbutzim offer accommodation too, e.g. Ginnosar Inn on the Sea of Galilee (fax 00 972 6 672 2991).

Further information: General information: Israel Government Tourist Office (tel. 020 7299 1111; fax 020 7299 1112); www.holytravel.com; www.inisrael.com; Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (tel. 00 972 2 500 5444; fax 00 972 2 652 9232; www.parks.org.il) offers various deals, including the Green Card, which costs $40 and permits entry to unlimited parks within a 14-day period. Admission to the parks otherwise costs between about IS8 and IS18 (£1.30-6.00).

Harish Kohli
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/is-water-the-solution-to-a-holy-land-75561.html

What a hoot! I’m learning a lot and fast about the nature of on-line forums.

I can only speak of my experience with forums related to the water garden or water feature industry. I have decided to join a waterfall and pond related forum and start sharing my somewhat biased views and experience with pond liners.

As of late, I have discovered that sharing my bias towards pond liners with a forum full of pond liner installers is something like trying to pass out Bibles at a porn convention!

Some startling statistics that could explain why:

1. More than 37% of all waterfalls have serious structural damage within 3 years of it being built.

2. 57% of homeowners say they’re rather unsatisfied with the way their waterfall came out – after the project was completed.

3. Nearly 1 in 3 waterfalls and ponds are leaking water within 9 months of completion.

4. 27% of all outdoor waterfalls and ponds have pumps that are either too strong or too weak – causing unnecessary expenditures down the road.

5. 63% of ‘do It yourselfers’ said they wish they had the proper information from the ‘get go’ or they wished they would have hired someone!

These statistics are from the pond liner industry itself (Bob Wilder, 48-Hour Waterfall). I can confirm and attest to these figures myself. I have built over 1,900 concrete and rebar waterfalls and ponds over the past 26 years. I have ripped out and replaced dozens of defective liner ponds and replaced them with concrete ones with lifetime warranties.

Pond liner guys will not attach more than a one-year warranty.

They make no guarantee against rats, mice, ground squirrels, gophers, tree roots and sharp objects. They know the truth, they just don’t share it.

Some guy on the forum was questioning the need to fill up the catch basin of a pondless waterfall with loose rock and gravel, thus covering up the sump pump. I thought this was a good question, because I wondered the same thing myself.

Water from a pondless waterfall is captured in a basin at its base. With a liner pond, they teach that after placing the pump in the bottom, you then fill it up with loose gravel. I’m thinking that would create three problems:

If you have to service or clean the garbage off the intake of the sump pump, you would first need to pull out all the stinky, slimy, poopy-laden rock.

The basin would not hold much water if the rock takes up most of the space. When you turn on the waterfall, most of the water is sucked from the catch basin before the water can cascade back to the basin.

There would be no room to install an auto-fill system, which means you would need to fill the basin area often with a garden hose to prevent the pump from running dry.

So I decided to be a nice guy and post my article, Pondless Waterfalls: Concrete vs. Liners, on the forum. This was a really bad idea – much like trying to untangle a nest full of rattle snakes.

Before I could post answers to several questions that were posed by a sincerely curious forum member, I was locked out of the website. By guess who? The administrator of the site, who was also the owner of the site, the webmaster, and the very guy who made the original inquiry about pondless waterfall construction!

According to him, several forum members complained to him that I was a spammer trying to sell my waterfall system. What? I don’t sell concrete and rebar. Nor do I sell high-efficiency centrifugal pumps, or Thoroseal, or galvanized grating to place over the basins, or anti-vortex drains, or rock! So what did he mean by saying I was trying to sell my system?

Well I soon figured it out, and it turns out that they probably meant I was trying to malign their system, not sell mine. I did a little research, and guess what? Mr. Administrator and Mr. Domain Owner was also a pond liner installer. End of mystery!

Read my article Pondless Waterfall: Concrete vs. Liner and you will get, as Paul Harvey says, “the rest of the story.”

Happy koi, peace and joy.

Doug Hoover
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/water-feature-forumsoh-my-94763.html

When I started in the waterfall and pond design & construction business in January of 1982, I was asking the same question. I had a slight advantage over most when it came to answering the question, “Which pump do I use?”

I came out of the energy conservation field, so I was already savvy about energy consumption topics.

It was a challenge in the seventies, when I was trying to convince people that they should buy the Mitsubishi compact fluorescent bulb to save energy. This was the first of its kind and it retailed for $12 to $14. Its lumen or light output was equal to a 60-watt incandescent bulb, which sold for $ .60 in most stores. I needed to convince the engineer at Betty Ford Hospital that a $12, 12-watt bulb would save the facility $35,000 a year in electrical costs. I did so, and it did!

Pumps are no different when it comes to performance vs. energy consumption. The rule of thumb is: If an electrical appliance was engineered to be used only occasionally, as opposed to continually, rest assured, it is not engineered or built with the highest industry standards in mind.

Sump pumps were designed to be submerged underwater and pump that water to a different location. Their most common uses are in basements, bunkers, bilges, and that sort of thing. These pumps would only come on by demand, when a float control indicated a high water level.

Sump pumps were cheap to buy because they were built cheaply. It did not matter that they consumed more energy than the more expensive centrifugal pump, since they only came on occasionally.

These pumps turned out to be perfect for the get-rich-quick liner pond industry for three major reasons:

They were cheap to buy, as were the liners;

They were simple to install; and

They were easy to hide.

One major drawback of sump pumps that the liner pond industry does not share with their clients is that they are literally energy sponges. But then, that is not the only thing they forget to mention to their usually innocent and unsuspecting clients.

These easy-to-install, easy-to-make-a-killing liners that come with a 20-50 year warranty (against factory defects only) are actually a meal down the road to a burrowing gopher, rat, mouse, ground squirrel, chipmunk or muskrat.

How do I know? I replace liners with concrete and rebar for a living and I ask if the customer if the liner salesman told them the pros and cons about the liner. (Most cons don’t!)

Besides a sump pump costing twice as much to operate than a high efficiency, centrifugal pump, they plug up easily. (By the way, the liner guys changed the name to a “submersible pump” and they are now using the term “waterfall pump.”) Concrete and rebar constructed ponds with bottom anti-vortex drains seldom, if ever, plug up.

In the industry magazine, Water Garden News, the vice president of product management for the Aquascape Company stated,

A lot of the time, the more energy efficient the [sump] pump, the less solids and debris it can handle. So often the consumer is excited the pump will only cost them $10 a month to run, but what they did not know is that they are going to have to be out there 3 times a week, cleaning the intake of the [sump] pump to keep it going.

Water Garden News is a trade magazine that is for manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in the water garden industry. This information was not meant for the consumers’ eyes. Until now!

Read my article entitled Pondless Waterfall: Concrete vs. Pond Liner ; ezinearticles.com. I cover the subject in depth, and expose the truth about pond liner promoters. All of the costs involved in building a pondless waterfall are analyzed by comparing the two techniques: using concrete & rebar or a rubber liner.

The difference in the cost of energy consumption between a 5700 gallon per hour sump pump and a 5800 gallon per hour high-efficiency centrifugal pump is staggering. The sump pump uses twice as much energy, costs $171 more to purchase, and its warranty is 6 months less! Look before you leap and research before you weep.

Happy koi, peace and joy.

Doug Hoover
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/koi-pond-which-pump-to-use-94766.html

Aside from the bouquet you spring for each Mother’s Day, chances are you’re a novice when it comes to flowers. However, now you are a bride-to-be planning your dream wedding, and suddenly you must make decisions on bouquets, boutonnieres, reception centerpieces and ceremony arrangements. Overwhelming? We know! Fortunately, we are here to guide you through this process so you can enjoy planning your wedding flowers without wilting from the stress. Read through these useful tips gathered from experts in the field. And if you have any questions not answered here, ask us.

Discover Your Style

Close your eyes and envision the perfect look to your wedding. Will it be formal or casual? Elaborate or simple? Bold or neutral colors? Are you a traditionalist in favor of roses or lilies, or do you favor a more contemporary floral theme incorporating grasses, fruits and herbs? Your wedding flowers are more than eye candy; they set the ambiance for the entire event. Knowing your wedding style is a start in the right direction, because you’ll want to choose blossoms that match the formality of your wedding day.

Pick Your PaletteYour color scheme should flow directly from your desired style. Today’s floral trends embrace an anything goes mentality, from wedding flowers in traditional whites and pastels to modern and adventurous dark hues and citrus shades. Flowers in matching shades or cool contrasts are breathtaking, but make sure they coordinate with your overall wedding theme. Choose your wedding colors accordingly, and your wedding will express your spirit. If you are still not sure where to begin, bring a bridesmaid dress fabric swatch when you meet with your florist and choose coordinating shades.

Go With the SeasonYou know your floral theme and you’ve chosen your color scheme. When deciding on the specific blooms your want in your arrangements, be sure to consider the season in which you are marrying. Consult this seasonal wedding flowers guide for help.

Set Your Floral Budget

Let’s face it: Determining how much wedding flowers cost is probably not the aspect of your wedding you’ve been dreaming of since grade school. You may see your floral budget as the biggest nemesis between you and your wedding flowers. If you plan wisely, however, you should have enough money to create the floral theme of your desires. Expect to spend about 8-10% of your overall budget on wedding flowers.

Hire a Florist

Even the most creative and artistic bride will benefit from a florist’s professional capabilities. Your wedding day will be full of activity, and you won’t want to spend vital hours fumbling with the wiring of each bouquet. A florist is not necessarily a budget breaker; a good one should be able to work with any floral budget. We’ll teach you the ins and outs of hiring a florist that suits your needs.

Now that you’ve been prepped with the basics, this complete wedding flowers guide will walk you the rest of the way towards planning your floral and decor scheme.

Cori Russell
http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/wedding-flowers-basics-5-easy-steps-to-planning-your-wedding-floral-arrangements-588470.html

Full glass of water.

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Charles Band * Full Moon Features * Full Moon Direct

Duration : 5 min 25 sec

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