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If you've been dreaming about a backyard sanctuary, this weekend offers an opportunity for inspiration. Picturesque gardens with dramatic splashing waterfalls, burbling brooks, tranquil ponds, meandering streams, and melodious fountains can be seen on this year's Moonlight Pond Tour. Created by Eric Triplett the "PondDigger" of Exotic Waterscapes in Yucaipa, this event has become an annual tradition of awe-inspiring gardens with water features, all on display for a good cause.
This year eleven gardens in Redlands and Loma Linda will be open for viewing. Some feature magnificent ponds with state-of-the-art filtration and herds of specimen Japanese koi. One garden showcases a disappearing waterfall that spans a 16 foot wide sweep in a landscape of decorative rockwork and naturalized plantings, backdropped by canyon and mountain vistas. The historic Triplett residence is fronted by a lovely 7000 gallon pond with a multitude of streams and waterfalls, set in a sprawling naturalistic landscape shaded by cedars of considerable size and age. A charming Victorian gazebo is accessed by crossing the water via a rustic wooden bridge. Another Redlands home has a raised koi pond tucked up close for easy viewing while indoors.
Some of the gardens show off delightful do-it-yourself waterscapes built by the owners under the guidance of the PondDigger. One example is Humpty Dumpty House, where you'll find a series of picturesque gardens on a one third acre lot,
including the "Garden of Tears", an edible garden called the "Food Court", and the wickedly enchanting "Poison Apple (pond) Garden". The gardens are graced with art and sculpture by some of the area's most notable artists, intermingled with lush food plantings, treasures collected from trash cans and dumpsters, and of course, the PondDigger's breathtaking water features. The "Poison Apple Garden" features an amazing Christine Curry Coates mural, a forested terrace, and a series of ponds, streams, and waterfalls, one spilling into another. The PondDigger's original 900 gallon pond, built during a pond construction seminar, brought so much delight that it was soon followed by the PondDigger's eerie "Black Lagoon" and innovative "Straights of Gibralter", a unique koi passageway between the two ponds. Other water features followed, including a do-it-herself veggie filter pond, a mermaid marsh, and a series of giant gunnera leaf spillways along a winding stream crossed by wooden bridges and nestled in luxuriant plantings.
The Moonlight Pond and Garden Tour takes place Friday October 10th from 5:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., and Saturday, October 11th from 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, and children under 12 are free. All proceeds benefit ALS and Humpty Dumpty House Foundation.
For information and tickets contact Exotic Waterscapes at 800-522-5043.
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