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Health & Fitness

Cool your Garden Down by Adding a Water Feature!

How can you cool down in this hot weather without a pool or a pond? Add a water feature to your garden!

It’s July in St. Louis. You know what that means - hazy, hot and humid. You don’t have a pool to dip in. You don’t even have a pond. How can you cool off, chill out and do a little daydreaming all at the same time? I’ve got the answer - a water feature. There’s a size for every patio and one for every budget.

Water features run the gamut in price and ease of installation, operation and maintenance. As long as you have a power source, you can have some splashing and gurgling as close as your patio chair. I’ve done the shopping for you. All you need to do is figure out how much cash you intend to spend and how much work you want to put into your feature.

Summer Winds on Clarkson Road in Ellisville has lots and lots of different water features. There is an elegant tiered beauty, which is over 6 feet tall that produces soothing, rhythmic streams of water. The water is pumped up though the fountain, comes out the top and rolls smoothly over the divots in the basin. It tumbles down to the bottom bowl and recirculates to the top level only to do it all over again. This baby will set you back, but you can close your eyes and pretend you’re in Italy sipping on Campari and soda.

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A fountain on a smaller scale called the “Hurricane” can also be found at Summer Winds. It’s a beautiful light terra-cotta color, only about 3 feet tall and could fit into nearly any patio or landscape. Water bubbles from the center of the fountain, circling around and around, and then back down again. What resembles a winding staircase is actually the channel where the water runs inside the fountain. It reaches the center and spins around the fountain again. Get it? The name is “Hurricane!” It just keeps spinning and spinning. A bonus of this feature is the LED light that illuminates the water at night. This is a must-have for any contemporary homeowner. It will set you back about $550.

Do you want an easy-peasy addition to your patio? They have it at the Home Depot. The glazed ceramic fountain with base comes in a box and resembles a large vase. It’s a soothing earth tone and tall enough at over 3 feet to make a nice addition to your patio or garden. Water flows over the top of the vase, pooling down the sides. By merely placing your hands on the running water, you’ve dropped your body temperature by 5 degrees and blood pressure by 10 points. Isn’t that worth $120 to you? It is to me!

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A new source for purchasing fish, plants and all things connected to water gardening has opened up on Manchester Road in Manchester. It’s called Chalily Pond and has so many products for the homeowner looking to get into water gardening. When I was there for the Pond-a-Rama tour, I saw the most beautiful patio-sized water garden. It was a simple container filled with various water plants. The finishing touch was a lovely bamboo water fountain that circulates the water through the container. It takes care of itself - the water plants keep the water clean and clear. The whole shebang was a little over $100. Well worth it in my book!

The next water feature is in my back yard. I have been collecting grindstones for many years. I happened to get a gardening magazine a few years ago showing a gardener who turned his antique grindstones into fountains. The instructions were very easy, or at least they seemed easy in the instructions he gave in the magazine. I went out and purchased an inexpensive fountain kit. It had a heavyweight black plastic basin, pump and super-unattractive plastic sculpture as the water feature. I threw the sculpture in the trash. I began to dig the hole for my basin. It was smooth sailing until I hit the roots of an old maple tree. I spent the next three hours with an axe, chipping away at the roots. I was obsessed; I could see the finished product in my mind. Three hours and five blisters later, I was ready to set up my fountain. I brought out the level and the basin was dead-on. Dumb luck. I set the fountain on a cinder block and began to fill the basin. I got my grindstone, placing the square opening over the fountainhead. I arranged some decorative rock around the edge of the basin so that the plastic didn’t show, added my concrete rabbit for a little whimsy and plugged it in. The sound of the water pooling over the grindstone was soft and gentle; it turned out exactly the way I wanted it. I placed my blistered hands on the wet grindstone and as the water cooled my fingers I smiled - it was all worth it!

 

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