Debbie, If he isn't I am. I love that rough look sphere in the next to the last post. But I will be waiting to see how you and Victor succeed, before trying to do one my self in my new Japanese maple bed. Patti
Pot fountain design
Oh, man. The keyboard is all wet - I drooled so much. They are lovely!!! I also like the millstone look. SOMEDAY...
Wow - I certainly am, Debbie! Love those tall blue ones.
Beautiful all. Those pots are all gorgeous. I have always loved those stone balls. There is a thread over in the Hypertufa Forum that tells how to make them. Interesting reading but I'm not ready to try it yet. Some good pics, instruction and ideas. Here is one of the threads, think there are more of them.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/918451/
Time for me to get my big blue egg out of winter storage.
The Springdale site gives an excellent overview of some of the possibilities with water features. One of the first things you want to consider -CHILDREN - not only yours or your grandchildren - but the neighborhood children!! As I'm sure you all know, children are fascinated by water, especially moving water. The disappearing fountains offers some safe choices. If the tall vase is your choice of styles, there are a couple of things to consider, weight and stability. Can it be tipped over? Is the top opening large enough so a small child could lean over and slip in? You may have the most attractive and enjoyable water feature in the world, but if it causes death or even a minor injury, you will never enjoy that beautiful water feature again!! So think liability, such as you would for a pool or other body of water. A small child can drown in only a few inches of water. A large fixture should be placed so it is not accessible to small children, but can still be appreciated by adults. A fixture that can be used that both adults and children can enjoy would be a flush to ground fountain. The egg shaped fountain is an excellent choice - no standing water! Another possibility is not even have a pot or container. Sink a tub into the ground (I use a heavy rubber livestock feeding/water tub) just to level with ground. A small pump with a bubbler head can be placed in the tub. The top of the head needs to extent several inches (or more, depending on your preference) above level. You will now be able to cover your submerged tub. I placed a large square of liner with about a saucer sized hole in the middle, this is to direct falling water back into the tub, let it sag a little. No soggy ground around the fixture!. Over this I place an iron (NOT barbecue) grill or some thing similar, larger than the tub, to insure that no one steps through and into the tub. On top of the grill I place an equal sized piece of screening to keep debris out of pump. At this point you can adjust the fountain head to it's desired level. I like bubbler heads, but any style of your choosing would work just as well. Now you place a layer of stones or rocks around the head and extent them out to your desired distance. The cord to pump should have been pulled out of tub and extended out from from area of fixture before placing the liner down. The pump with head should be centered in tub, through hole in liner! Fill tub with water, right through the rocks or pebbles. A water level indicator can be made by standing a tub depth piece of PVC pipe (with several holes drill in the side) between bottom of tub and bottom of grill and drop a fishing bobber into pipe. Clear stones away so tip of bobber can be seen through stones. Or you can just trust your memory to fill tub each day. I turn all pumps off at night unless I have a lighted fixture, those I set on a timer. You can also light your bubbler, keep source of light concealed as best you can . You only want to see the effect of the light, not source! Now you can place some plants around your water feature. Hostas work well or ferns. Do Not completely circle your fountain (not very natural looking). Place no more than a semi-circle of foliage plants on the opposite side of viewing position. Most important!!! DO NOT leave pump over winter if there is danger of freezing. A freeze will expand water in pump, blow out the gaskets, break the cord at the pump and totally ruin your pump. Just lift the grill, screening, and liner on side where cord exits. Lift pump and store until spring.
Wow, love the bobber idea, what a great one.
I never thought about a curious child tipping it over, possibly on themselves.
Anchoring it well or putting stones/bricks in the bottom to give it lots of ballast sounds prudent.
Great thread, I am learning a lot
pyromomma - I'm sure it would be obvious, but be sure the bobber is much smaller than the diameter of the PVC pipe, to eliminate possible binding and giving a false reading. The trick I use to eliminate a worry about running low on water and burning out a pump, is to go to a farm supply store and getting a water tank float that attaches to a garden hose to maintain water level. Most water gardening sources offer a very expensive water level regulator - brass with all the bells and whistles! If you have more money than good sense (we all know a few of those), then waste your money on the top of the line water level maintenance system. For a lot less (more money for plants) you can achieve the desired effect, for only a few bucks. The watering tank levellers are made of plastic with a foam float. Very easy to disguise - place a piece of liner on top of float valve assembly. I also should mention that I place the top of the bubbler just a shade below the level of the stones in your feature. Just like with landscape lighting, you do not want to see the source of the water, only the effect! A farm tank float should run less than $10. With that float in place, you can eliminate the bobber tube. The connector hose is very easy to disguise. I think the reason us humans enjoy the soothing sound of water is because it reminds us of the days before we were rudely introduced to this chaotic world! Just my opinion..
Yikes, zorba, I'm dizzy reading all of your notes! I haven't even taken the instructions, nor the vase, out of the van yet so I guess I'll know more when I do. I thought this was going to be an easy project, I sure hope it isn't as complicated as your notes suggest :( As soon as I get the project underway I'll be back with the results!
Zorba, Children falling in my Birdbath/fountain pond was one of the first things I thought of. The edge is very low to the ground, we have fish in it which the kids just loved and it's pretty deep for a small water feature, maybe 3ft. The first year I put weighted milk crates in the bottom so that it wouldn't be so deep. We don't have much in the way of neighborhood children, but I do have grandchildren. It was a big instant draw as you can see.
rcn48 creating water features for the yard is really not complicated. You just need a few basic things and lots of imagination.. Found objects can turn into really wonderful creations. All my notes just boil down to 2 words - Think Safety!! I prowl flea markets and look for items that I can add water to and have something interesting. The best part of water features is the inexpensive ease with which you can let your ideas take material form and then realize great pride in being able to say "I did that!!".