A Backyard Pond and the Landscape Beyond | Volunteer Gardener

We tour a backyard garden that was a bit of an eyesore when the current homeowners moved in. It had just one nice thing, a pretty tree. The renovation of the backyard began with getting a pond installed to accommodate koi fish. Next came plants to accentuate the pond area, and the pond itself. We’ll see how this motivated and talented gardener kept the enhancements going throughout the outdoor spaces.

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– There are lots of reasons to be inspired to start gardening. Our next guest was motivated by fish. Prepare to be charmed. Koi, lots of people have them,
lots of people enjoy them. And they were the start
of the garden adventure for our friend Beth Hannabass
here in Springfield. We say the field, not the hill, right? – Yes, yes.
– So thanks to these that you inherited from your mom-in-law, your gardening adventure started. – Yes, yes. We bought this house in 2017, and at the time, there was
nothing in the backyard. There was a pad for a
garage that didn’t exist. There was a broken cement picnic table, a carport, and that was it. And one tree. You know, it was a gorgeous tree, but one.
– Right. – So we had a wide open pallet to start and I inherited the fish
and I got a company to come and dig me the fish pond and
then also put in the patio. And that was the beginning. That was the first thing that we got done. – And you incorporated some
interesting plant material in here that you don’t
normally see around a pond. So tell us about what you’ve got here that keeps them happy. – Sure, so there’s a
number of plants that… Well, this is an actual water plant, a variegated leaf virus. A friend gave it to me. And then the curly grass, which most people plant in the ground, but it does really well
just sitting in the pond. The same thing with the papyrus. I’ve not had any luck with the lily pads. – Really?
– The fish rip them out of the pots and
they end up in the intake. So I just kind of gave up on lily pads. But I usually will have
some of the papyrus and those are… The curly grass will winter
over and papyrus will die back. – [Tammy] And for anybody
interested in koi, all they really need is running water and aerated water, right? – [Beth] They need the
pumps for the oxygen. In the wintertime, this thing
can totally freeze over. They don’t eat from November until March. They just hang out in the pond, and they’ll be under the
ice just hanging out. So it’s pretty nice. – [Tammy] You know, it is tranquil to have the running water, isn’t it? – [Beth] It doesn’t, we
are in town so it cancels a lot of the ambient noise, and there’s plenty of noise, you know? – Right.
– Can’t control that. – [Tammy] In addition to these
beautiful plants in the pond, you’ve got some beautiful
trees surrounding the pond. Tell me about these. – So the trees serve a couple of purposes besides being beautiful. One is that they give some more privacy. They also tend to give the fish some shade because fish needs shade
as much as anything. And this tends to be pretty sunny in the late afternoon.
– Exactly. – [Beth] So it keeps the
water temperature cooler. – Got it.
– Yeah. – [Tammy] So you’ve got magnolia here. – Uh-hmm, uh-hmm.
– Two of ’em, that are beautiful. – [Beth] Yeah, they’re
the Little Gem variety, so they shouldn’t get a
whole lot bigger than this. But yeah, they’re a really nice one to have here by the pond. – And then your shrubbery here too is also a good anchor
for keeping things out of the pond and making a visual fence. – [Beth] Yes, it does. It makes a visual fence. It kind of, you know,
just kind of closes in and it’s just beautiful to look at. And the Japanese maple here is really neat ’cause the little grandsons
have figured out that that’s a hiding place for them. So they’ll go and get down
in there and, you know, and they have a good time down there. – You can’t find them,
that’s where they are. – [Beth] That’s where they
are, exactly, exactly. – [Tammy] Well, it’s
beautiful ’cause you got different textures and colors that are adding to the greenery here. So it’s all green, but it
sure is nice shades of green. – [Beth] Yeah, well, thank you, thank you. – Here’s your evidence.
(Beth laughs) Your first beds after the koi pond. – Yes, yes. – So this is your first
foray into gardening and you’ve done a beautiful job. – Well, thank you, thank you. – So tell me what you’ve done here, because this was a chore. – [Beth] Yes, it was. So when I first started
to dig this garden, I usually would just clear the whole area and then amend it and work it all up. But it was so full of construction debris from when this house was built in 1897, with cast off rocks and clinkers
from the coal fireplaces and all of those kinds of things, that I ended up just clearing the grass and then digging a hole where
I wanted the plant to be put. And you know, as time has
gone on, I’ve addressed that. But it was something else,
but it turned out great. – Trial by fire.
– Yes, yes. (both laughs) Yeah.
– So all of this started with just a single plant and then you’ve come back and filled in as the time has allowed.
– Yeah. – [Tammy] I love the roses
that provide a beautiful intro to your beautiful house. Incredible.
– Yeah, thanks. So I started actually with the rose bushes because I did the July sale at Lowe’s and was able to actually snag
some really nice rose bushes. And those were the first thing in here. And then this is a first-year
for that particular bundle of hollyhocks. They’ve already bloomed and
I cut them back and reseeded. I call ’em the north main hollyhocks because a neighbor had them
growing and I liked them. And I asked to borrow
and get some seed heads and he said, “Sure.” He didn’t realize they were hollyhocks or that they were in his yard. – Oh.
– So, you know, so I planted those and they are so happy. – Do you like pine straw mulch? – I do like pine straw for one reason. And that is that I can
handle a bale of pine straw better than a 40-pound bag of mulch. Last time I had the big bags of mulch, I was unloading my car
and I ended up falling out of the back of my car
with a mulch on top of me. And I laid in the yard
with mulch on me, laughing, ’cause it was so silly
and hoping no one saw me. And then I decided I needed
to change to something else. So I’ve got the pine straw. And I like it very well.
– Well, you know, it seems to last longer. – [Beth] I think it does as well. And I like the way it looks. – [Tammy] Right, right. You have perennials that you have embraced.
– Yeah. – And I love how you filled them in all these different places. This is a bed you made?
– Yes, yes. I’ve dug all of this by hand with a spade and fork, and yeah. And of course, like
everybody in Tennessee, I’ve had tons of amendments, you know? – Yes.
– To make the soil happy and to make the plants flourish. – [Tammy] And so you’ve got a variety of bloomers and non bloomers.
– Uh-hmm. – [Tammy] So talk to me
about what you’ve got. I love yarrow and needle-and-threads. – And the yarrow keeps coming back. It needs to be picked through. Which one are you calling
the needle-and-threads? – I call this needle-and-thread. – Oh, okay.
– That’s what my grandmother calls this.
– I call that cleome. – Yes, yes.
– And that comes up from seed, but it will self-seed. So those little seed pods will burst open. And then you have millions of these. – Yes.
– Growing up all everywhere. – [Tammy] So my grandmother
always called those needle-and-threads and I still do to this day.
– It’s pretty cute. – [Beth] Well, I can see why she did. – [Tammy] Exactly, so you’ve
got a lot of different things going on here, but they all seem to cohabitate well together. – Well, yeah, that was a happy accident. (both laughs) I just buy what I like or I
find it in a neighbor’s yard or somebody gives me something or I grow something from a seed. You know, I see a seed and
I decide I really like it and it’s just a mishmash. I’m not really concerned with
all one color or one shape or anything like that, so, yeah. – But hyacinth bean you must love. – [Beth] I love hyacinth bean
and it loves growing here. So the first year, I did
a cardinal flower vine and the moonflowers and neither one of them were
as vigorous or as happy. So I stuck with hyacinth bean, and now it pretty much reseeds itself. – And does it light… Do you have it staked behind that, because it looks very…
– Yes, there are trellis. I bought little trellis to put up there because I wanted to break up
all the gray of the fence. It was just big suaves of gray. – [Tammy] Right, right. You’ve got some hydrangeas. You’ve got some beautiful
bloomers over here close to it. And your lilies obviously do well here. – [Beth] Yes, and those were
my great grandmother’s… They’re tiger lilies, just the
old fashioned tiger lilies. And so I grew up in Michigan and I spent many years trying to grow Michigan things down here. And it was very frustrating ’cause we are very different climates and they didn’t like it.
(Tammy chuckling) But those are one thing that would grow. And so I really enjoyed
having those to remind me of my great grandmother and of home. Yeah, uh-hmm.
– Absolutely. You’ve done a beautiful job with this. I like the curved path.
– Oh, thank you. – And let’s move over and see what else you’ve got growing over here because you’ve got multiple beds. – I do, I do. Every time I get one kind of established, I go dig another one, because my husband might say, “You know, I’m tired
of mowing this corner. Can you do something?” It’s like, “Absolutely,
I can do something.” – [Tammy] 40 feet of hyacinth
bean is pretty impressive. – [Beth] Thank you. – So you threw a rope down.
– Yes, yes. Well, my grandsons do that. They put the little action figures on them to weight them down. And then they plant the seeds and they grow on up the vines, and we just leave the
little guys on here for fun. And also they like to take them off and play with them when they’re here. – [Tammy] It is just stunning. What you’ve made is another privacy fence for your patio.
– Yes. – [Tammy] And it’s just incredible. I love it.
– Thank you, thank you. – I’ve loved your house.
– Thank you. – [Tammy] Thank you so
much for having us here and inviting us to your beautiful home. It has been a sensation
and you are fantastic. – [Beth] Well, thank you, you’re welcome.