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One of the most beloved landmarks in England’s Kew Gardens is the Hercules garden water fountain at The Palm House Pond (as it’s properly known, although tourists are allowed to call it just “Palm Pond” or “Hercules Pond”).  Although originally built to add beauty and humidity to the next door’s tropical greenhouse (The Palm House), it seemed to the designers that something seemed to be missing from the outdoor garden water fountain.  It was a statue.

Say Hello To Hercules

Most of Kew Gardens was built and designed in the 1800′s, when the art of the Greeks and Romans was especially revered.  It was the only thing thought to be grand enough to place in an English garden water fountain.  The pond was built in 1845, the same time construction was going on at The Palm House.

The sculpture of Hercules wasn’t added until 1853.  He is naked in the Greek tradition and wresting with a large, angry serpent (the Greek God Achelus) on top of a large square base (called a plinth).  The whole thing is over six feet high.  Properly, the statue in the garden water fountain is called “Hercules Fighting Achelus”, but it usually just known as “Herc”.

Francis Joseph Bosio

The sculptor who won the job at placing a heroic image in one of the most visited garden water fountains in the country was Francis Joseph Bosio (1768 – 1845), also known as Baron Francois Joseph Bosio.  He was French, which somehow seem puzzling for England’s premier garden water fountain.  But then again, the subject matter of the sculpture was Greek.  England has always had a bit of an identity crisis.

Bosiso was heavily influenced by Greek and Roman art and most of his surviving works are all in the style and subject matter of Greek and Roman myths.  Mostly these were of large nude people and horses. Other sculptures resting in museums around the world include “Hyacinth Awaiting His Turn To Throw The Discus” in The Art Institute of Chicago and “Cupid with a Bow” in St. Petersberg.

However, Bosio is best known for the statues of angels and horses on top of the Arc de Trioumphe du Carrosel.  How he exactly won the commission for the Hercules statue in The Palm House Pond’s garden water fountain is not known, but in 1824 Bosio won renown for another Hercules and snake statue called “Hercules and the Lernaen Hydra”.  Besides his work, not much is known about Bosio.

Herb gardens are not difficult to maintain provided they have been well planned and the herbs have been planted in a suitable type of soil. For this reason it is always worthwhile taking the time and effort to prepare your soil thoroughly before you start planting herb gardens.

Happily, most of the herbs that we plant today are resistant to disease and they are a lot tougher than many of the other garden plants that we grow. This means that they are able to survive and even thrive in relatively poor, thin soil, although generally all soil should be well drained.

Nevertheless, before you start planting your herb garden, it is wise to analyze the type of soil in your garden so that you can make the best of what you have got.

There are three basic soil types:

Clay, which is heavy when wet, hard and lumpy when dry, and tends to get waterlogged very quickly. Very few plants flourish in clay soil.

Sandy soil, which is loose and so able to drain off moisture easily. The problem though is that the water tends to take valuable nutrients with it, and so plants generally need to be watered and fed more frequently.

Loam. This type of soil contains some sand, sometimes some clay, and silt. It drains well but still retains the essential nutrients and moisture needed for healthy growth. This is the ideal soil for most of the herbs we plant.

Another factor to consider is the condition of your soil in terms of its acidity or alkalinity. To determine the condition of your soil before you start planting your herbs, test or have your soil tested to ascertain its pH. This is the measure of the alkalinity or acidity your soil, and the pH ranges from 1 (which is very acidic) to 14 (which is very alkaline). A measure of 7 is neutral. You can test your soil with a DIY test kit. DIY test kits are inexpensive and easy to use.

Most herbs do prefer a neutral type soil – one that is neither acid nor alkaline – or one that is very slightly acidic (5 or 6 on the pH scale). There are a few that do like alkaline soils, including lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme, salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor) and chives. With good planning, you can prepare a bed or beds especially for alkaline-loving herbs, adding lime (calcium carbonate) or a suitable fertilizer containing line to the soil when you prepare it. The remedy for soils that are too alkaline is elemental sulfur.

Remember that the pH of your soil and the amount of clay or sand in it will determine how much lime or sulfur you need to add before you start the planting process.

To prepare a bed for herbs, dig the ground over to a good depth. Add compost or well-decomposed manure and a fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Mix the compost and fertilizer into the soil, level and rake the soil and then give it a good watering before you start planting.

A playground is a place where your child can relax, play and enjoy himself. We know that children enjoy playing in the park. Here playground equipment plays a good role in improving your child’s health and fitness. To know more about playground equipment, read the article below.

Every child loves to play on equipment like a sea saw, swings, merry-go-round, giant wheel and climbing frames, etc. With the help of such activities, they do a lot of physical exercises while playing. The more they play, the more exhausted they get and this builds up their appetite. In this way, they will consume their food properly which will enhance their growth. Thus, these equipments help in improving their physical fitness and also they are an important source of entertainment for your child.

This playground equipment is installed in parks, picnic places, even gardens, amusement parks, home backyards & also in schools. The most happening point about playground equipment is that while providing fun, joy and physical fitness, your child’s mental status will also strengthen. In this way, their ability to understand things, the level of concentration and confidence will increase such that they become friendlier with the environment.

Playground equipment, usually adds a lot of fun to your child’s entire daily routine. This makes them more independent, because at the playground, your child can explore various new activities and games by playing them. In this way, playing games makes them fit, sharp and more active, thus helping them in their study-time as well. While installing such playground equipment in your backyard, you should always keep some points in your mind. You need to look to properly measure the size and shape of the place where you are going to install the equipment. For safety purposes, you should consider some points in the equipment like smooth finish, avoiding sharp edges which may harm your child and even the toughness of the equipment so that there should be no flexibility in the joints. Then you have to look at its cost and maintenance.

If you are going to order playground equipment for your child, then you should check if the equipment is fully tested for bearing heavy loads. Now days, you can see that playground equipment is also constructed especially for physically disabled children. After all they too have the right to play and these specially designed playground equipments, perfectly meet their requirement.

There are several manufacturing companies in the market that provide very strong and durable playground equipment. They design the playground equipment according to the needs, age group, site of placement and budget provided by the buyer. You will see that the playground equipment is made from good quality material. You can buy innovative, affordable and attractive playground equipments, which suits all kind of playground needs. As far as price is concerned, shipping details and post-sales service, you need to know more before purchasing them. You can use keywords like children’s playground equipment and search them over the internet to get more information about how and where to get perfect playground equipment for your child.

These children’s playground equipment is meant for giving joy and laughter to your kids, if they are facing some sort of boredom and as responsible parents, you should understand that this playground equipment actually helps in the overall development of your kids. So, think carefully and give your child a perfect birthday gift this year. Let them enjoy their childhood and if they are happy, then you too will be happier.

Learn about the “Principles of Garden Design” with Dr. Ann Marie VanDerZanden of Iowa State University. More landscape design information can be found in eXtension.org’s Gardens, Lawns, and Landscapes: www.extension.org
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The main difference between a beautiful garden and a haphazard growth of trees and plants is designing. Without the element of proper designing, any growth of plants and trees will give you the feeling of a forest. You might have chosen the plants and flowers you want to grow in your garden but if you ignore the most essential part of any gardening project, that is design, you will only get mesh of plants that may die off soon and waste your money and all the efforts. Let us share a few simple tips about how to design a simple garden. Once your neighbours see your self-designed garden, they will be green of envy.

If you have raw land for gardening or a simple garden, you have great scope for designing. You can use your creativity along with a few simple garden-designing rules to give it a beautiful shape and structure. And you have a large area to add more plants and flowers in the future.

Before you start designing the garden, have a closer look at your property. Bring measuring tape, a notepad and a garden hose with you. You may be surprised, but garden hose will help you decide the shape of the garden. You can arrange it in many ways, using different shapes as a base, like square, round or rectangle to design a basic and balanced garden. An asymmetrical and free formed garden can blend beautifully in surroundings.

Write down the measurements of the garden in your notepad. Knowing these will help you design the garden in a more comprehensive way, and also, it’ll help you decide the quantities of soil and mulch additives. Using a scale, draw the garden on the graph paper along with the permanent features of your home.

Choose plants for your garden, which can grow according to the sunlight available in your garden. In addition, native plants are the best choice, as they need less maintenance. Colour scheme is an important element of the garden design. The colours should blend well with the house and existing landscape features. Colour scheme should be such, which alleviates your mood, creates a feeling of simplicity and peace. Red and orange are vibrant colours and green, blue or light purple are cool colours.

Focal point of the garden should be foliage plants, including ornamental grasses or other plants having beautiful kind of leaves. Plants should be arranged according to the garden shape. Place plants outward and forward in descending order in height which complement the focal point of the garden.

Garden design is the most essential part of constructing a beautiful garden. Gardens are very dynamic in nature and they change, grow, spread, die off and then bloom in many wonderful ways. If you’re not sure if the plants you want to have will not affect one another in a negative way, or you’re not sure about the design – ask a professional designer for help. You can share all your ideas and plans, and this way you can create a perfect garden of your dreams.

garden pond 2nd video almost done
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Japanese style gardens are very popular due to the beauty and serenity they offer. The concept of these gardens is to provide a place where one can be relaxed and calm. When designing a Japanese style garden, it is important that the plants and rocks meld together in the landscape; and the design of the garden itself must be well thought out.

Did you know that there are several different Japanese garden styles to choose from? Even though there are different types, you have the freedom to meld two or more different types together to make your own unique combination. However, you should have enough room in your yard to be able to do so. Here are the different styles for you to choose from if you are going to plan a Japanese style garden.

Island and pond style gardens are gardens with a centralized pond that is large enough to either have a boat go across or one in which you can stroll around the edge of the pond. This type of garden is designed to where all plant life, as well as rocks and other features, can be seen from the pond area. The elements as well as the plants are blended into the landscape beyond the garden itself. Small islands are also created within the pond with a small bush or tree to serve as a focal point and small bridges can also be built from the shore, to the island and back again.

Primarily used by Buddhist monks within their temples, the Zen garden is comprised of various size boulders, small and big rocks, gravel, and/or sand. Occasionally, they can also have one or two plants consisting of a shrub or tree. The rocks of a dry landscape Zen garden are very carefully positioned and consists of unique shapes and sizes; often representing islands. The sand and the gravel represent water and raked into various patterns. The Zen garden’s goal is to help clear the mind of the viewer as well as aid in contemplation and meditation without distractions. The garden is to be viewed from a single focal point and is not entered into other than to rake the gravel.

A Japanese tea garden is good choice for a garden that is either incorporated within a larger Japanese garden style or in average sized yards and it is a popular one to create. It consists of two gardens; one being an outer garden and another being an inner garden. The outer garden consists of the entry gate and is less formal in planting with a stone path leading to the inner garden. Visitors to the tea garden go through a second gate where a water basin, called a tsukubai, is located and used in the tea ceremony itself. The inner garden consists of a stone path that flows through it and formally placed non flowering plants. A small building where tea ceremonies take place sits at the end of the inner path.

A stroll garden is made of various paths that lead the visitor through interesting turns and new sights. Landscapes that are found in nature are usually the focus of these gardens and are often recreated in miniature form within the garden itself. Large yards of at least an acre are required to create these gardens with interesting views.

Do you want a Japanese garden but have a small yard? A Courtyard garden just might be the perfect solution for you. These gardens work especially well in yards that are very limited in space and are enclosed by a brick or stone wall or wooden fence. It is simple in design and can be observed from inside your house or enjoyed outside if it. Courtyard gardens consists of few plants, perhaps a tree, small water feature, often times a dry stream, or other simple elements.

The most important thing to consider when planning a Japanese style garden is to determine what you wish to achieve with it. Be sure to do some research on the subject and decide what you want to do with it before you start.

It is not a bad idea to build a sandy, muddy or stony beach together with one edge of the pond. It can give a striking feature to your garden. You can use pebbles, shells, and boulders to provide a shoreline effect. By assigning an adjacent part of the garden to shingle, where an upturned boat may be at permanent rest and placement of deck chairs and other such stuff can give a perfect landscape of beach. You can also reshape the garden shed to give it a look of beach hut.

Beach can be of any size, it can occupy the space as much as your pond space. In case you use a liner, you need to extend it to about a meter (3 feet) or more in a particular way. It is really not a good idea to create a beach surrounding the entire pond. This will not only occupy a vast space, but also look untidy.

For excavation of the beach area, always start from the farthest point from the pond. Starting from a vertical cut of about 25 cm (9 inches), going down towards the main area of the pond with a very slight slope. The slope should be angle at 45° while going down into the deepest part of the pond. The process of laying the liner is pretty much same for that of ordinary pond.

The only disadvantage of having a home-made freshwater beach is the developing of algae in the deep water. This is very rare in regularly washed seawater pools. However, this problem can be restricted by using any suitable algaecide periodically.

Muddy beaches

To build a muddy beach, you first need to build a retaining wall from old turfs. The wall should be quite solid with a desired height of 15cm (6 inches). The wall should be placed exactly 20cm (8 inches) back from the point of 45° slope. It is important to secure the turf wall by extending the bottom turf by one meter (3 feet). Now the next step is to fill the area between the turf wall and the vertical part of the liner with a profound clay loam (loam compost). Once the area is filled with loam, you need to compact it. Later rake it to level the far end of the pond with garden soil or lawn. Now what you need to do is to slope the compacted soil down towards the top of the turf wall. The slope should be slight throughout its way up to the top of the turf wall. Fill the pond now until the water level rise up to the turf wall. The water now begins to absorb in soil and give you a perfect muddy beach.

Sandy beaches

In sandy beaches, we don’t build turf walls rather we build a retaining wall for sandy beaches with stone, firmly secured with mortar. Sandy beaches usually expand beyond the vertical section of the liner. The sand in the beach is wet, but it gradually becomes dry towards the farthest point from the pond.  However, the sand outside the liner pretty much resembling the surrounding soil of the lawn or garden, i.e. damp or bone dry.

With sandy beach, the selection of plants is important. The suitable choices may include ornamental grasses, with spiky yuccas, cordylines and phromiums forming the backdrop.

The best time to plant a vegetable garden really varies from location to location. So if our living down in southern Florida then you are pretty much fine planting your garden at any time of the year. Basically some things you need to consider is when your last freeze is per year.

Get A Free Step By Step Veggie Gardening Guide Here

There’s no real clear cut answer here and you can actually grow some vegetables nearly year round. But in general the best planting times for locations would fall during these times. Here are some of the best times to plant a vegetable garden!

So lets go ahead and break down the time frames per location:

-Northeast USA: Best time to plant would be around May
-Southeast USA: The best time to plant would be around April
-Northwest USA: The best time to plant would be around April
-Central USA: Best time to plant would be around May
-Southwest USA: Best time to plant would be around April

Ok so there are a lot of factors to consider. Its not only your location but also your elevation and more. If your on the coast line odds are you experience warmer temperatures also. Another thing you might want to consider is growing your vegetables indoors.

If you need more help on getting started growing your vegetable garden then simply check out my bio box below for a free guide. I hope this short little chart of times has helped you. Now that you know what the best time to plant a vegetable garden you can start planning!

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If the disney World Flower and Garden Festival is of interest to you, the time has almost arrived! From March 19th through June 1st, a span of over 75 days, some of the most amazing displays will be on view at Epcot. Disney World takes the art of topiary to a whole new level with exhibits ranging from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Pluto, and everything in between!

There will literally be MILLIONS of blooms held within the artwork that the numerous horticulturists have spent long hours honing to perfection. Speaking of horticulturists, a new addition to the festival called Garden Town allows event visitors to interact with some of the premier horticulturists who are responsible for the colorful blossoms. These interactions will allow individuals to receive flower growing and cultivating tips, as well as take part in demonstrations. A presentation by DuPont educates viewers on turning their yard into an elegant place to entertain and relax through “The Keys to Outdoor Living.” These are only a few of the activities that visitors can partake in throughout their time at the festival.

In addition to the magnificent displays, Disney World offers a variety of subcategories to choose from. For example, the Butterfly House, a popular repeat, has butterflies flying free for kids (and adults) to enjoy up close. And don’t miss the Flower Power Concert Series, music provided in the evenings at American Gardens Theatre.

Since the event is spread over 2 ½ months, there’s no need to miss this opportunity provided by Disney.

this is the first video of my 3500 gallon ( 25′x9’3′) koi pond/ water garden. I hope you enjoy! fell free to leave any comments or questions and i will get back to you asap. rating and comments are greatly appreciated!
Video Rating: 4 / 5

If there was one thing that could enhance the look of a property’s exterior, it would be the presence of a water garden. Water gardens can be designed in a multitude of fashions. In many cases, the craftsmanship of a water garden can reach virtuoso levels. However, designing and building a water garden is not enough. A water garden must be properly maintained. For some, this may seem like a ponderous (pardon the pun) task. But it really isn’t. While water garden maintenance does require effort, it is not overly complicated.

So, let’s look at a few common steps for proper water garden maintenance.

Reducing the presence of algae is critical. As far as ecosystems go, algae are quite helpful. However, algae can seriously detract from the look of a water garden when they become overpopulated. So, reducing the presence of algae is of paramount importance. One way to go about this involves using algaecides. Unfortunately, some algaecides can be dangerous to fish and only offer a short term solution. This is why it may be best to utilize ultraviolet sterilizers ( for green water algae) and/or proper filtration to help remove the nutrients that algae feed on and create a balanced ecosystem that is not conducive to their growth.

Be prudent when populating a water garden with aquatic life. If the water garden is overloaded with fish and other wildlife, the look of the water garden can be hampered. Also, the higher the volume of aquatic life in the water garden, the more algae will grow due to organic waste created by them. So, maintaining prudent levels of fish and other animals will have the ancillary effect of reducing algae and keeping the water clear and healthy.

Maintaining proper water levels is also paramount. Proper water levels are needed in order for the water garden’s pump(s) to work properly. If there is not enough water in the pond, the pump cannot properly oxygenate the water garden. This is a critical point because low oxygen levels will cause fatalities in the fish.

Removing any obstructions to sunshine will maintain the health of the water garden’s plants. If the plants die from lack of sunshine, the water garden becomes little more than a tub of water. This is why it is of significant importance that plants receive adequate sunshine. To maintain plant life, four to six hours of sunshine is needed for most plants. Any obstructions in the way of the sun’s rays must be removed. This includes trimming tree branches, bushes, etc. Again, this is where filtration and nutrient control becomes important, because while the “good” plants need light to grow, so does algae. However a healthy population of “good” plants with good filtration will help with algae control, even in direct sunlight.

Make sure filters are maintained properly and replaced when necessary. Dirty water does not do a water garden good. That is why installing a proper filter is a must. Of course, one needs to keep a watchful eye on the filter(s) to make sure it/they operate properly. If not, then the filter must be replaced as soon as possible. Pond filters will remove organic debris and in some cases chemical pollutants such as ammonia and nitrite, which can be toxic to fish.

Add treatments when needed. The various items that comprise water garden treatments are vast. When the need arises for adding specific treatments (chlorine removers, colorants, foam removers, beneficial bacteria, etc) then they must be added. It will keep your water garden healthy.

Of course, there are many other ways to keep a water garden in great shape. Really, there is no limit to proper maintenance and the tips provided herein will keep you on the right track.

Casey Coke is a Marketing Manager for Natural Environmental Systems, LLC, a global supplier of microbial solutions for pond and lake management. The company markets their own brand of water garden supplies under the registered brand name of Pond Keeper.