Tour Accents Water Gardens in New Hampshire

Tour Accents On-line
Take a tour of our yard and ponds...There's water gardens, fish ponds, fountains, streams, falls, cascades, nature ponds and surprises!

Enjoy your visit!

LL at atlantic.net says: The pond came out so well that my brothers want me to build one for each of them! Thanks for the help - I think

Build a Water Garden project show how we build our ponds - Only $7.50

Get started on YOUR pond!
More Pond Projects - FAQ's

Stroll around our yard - Water features are extremely flexible in design so we offer visitors the opportunity to view a variety of styles, sizes and features in a landscaped setting. While still in the planning stage, visitors can leisurely walk around, look at the options and then say: "I like that size, the stream over there, that falls, but that pump flow", etc. to customize a water garden to fit their yard, budget and desires. I have found that most people have an image in their mind of what they want and seeing the sample ponds makes it much easier for them to convey their ideas to me.

Note: Since we have cut down on reatial to concentrate on pond maintenance and installation, we have eliminated some of our smaller ponds (see* in list below), but have left the photos to show the variety of designs. We also recommend a look at our pond galleries for many more designs and ideas.

Thinking of a visit? Check HERE for upates to shop hours, location and contact info.

Click the cameras to see photos... 'BACK' on your browser to return

Our Pond Place CD offers over 300 pages of valuble water garden information and projects for only $29.95

More info - Order Now
FAQ's

Front Pond
Top: Primarily a plant/fountain pond (12' x 12' and 16" deep) with a "Foam Jet" fountain powered by a 1200 GPH (gallon per hour) pump with pumpsock prefilter. It's usually a shade green because customers use it to dispose of excess "baby fish" and it is always a bit overcrowded. Once the water hyacinths start growing it does stay relatively clear.
Middle: The current pond is a big change from our old 4' x 7' front pond with a small waterbell fountain which was big change from the Bottom picture when there was no pond at all!.

Down the Driveway
From the driveway you have a partial view of some of our aquatic plant bins, tub gardens, other display ponds and our original greenhouse. Come on down and take a look around, there's more to see!

Bird Pond to the right *This pond has been eliminated
Top: This small pond (4' x 3') has gradually sloping sides to a depth of 8" to 12". The bottom is covered with rocks and crushed stone so birds may wade and bathe. The small trickle falls at the rear is powered by an 80 GPH mag drive pump.

Bottom: We enlarged this pond, made it deeper at one end, added a pebble beach, improved the falls, bigger pump (250 GPH) and even added an island (made with a large pot) for interest. It requirs no filter and very little for plants because of the shade from the large pines overhead. Yes, the needles do drop in the pond as can be seen in the picture but it is a minor bother for such a well-behaved pond.

BH of Peabody, MA says: Finally my falls looks great and doesn't leak! Your project pages were a great help.

Leaking stream or ugly falls? Before you try again...

our Streams and Waterfalls packet will help! Only $7.50
More Pond Projects - FAQ's

	Straight ahead to the Middle Pond This is my own personal water garden. It's is about 7' x11' and has 16" planting areas for marginals and 30" deep area for wintering fish. The stream is powered by an energy efficient 1200 GPH pump (with in-pond filter) and there is a small "Waterbell" fountain powered by a 170 GPH pump. This pond is almost twenty years old (Bottom picture - my yard was a sand pit) and is still my favorite!
	Our Greenhouses behind the Middle Pond Top: A view into our old wood-framed greenhouse with the newer hoop greenhouse at the far end. When the weather is warm and the plants outside in bins, we use the greenhouses to display statuary, spouters, tubs and more. Bottom: The alley alongside the greenhouses leads to our tool sheds, more plant bins, fish bins, tub gardens, hardshell liners and other accessories.
	Buddha Pond next to the sheds This 8' x 12' pond (36" deep) is actually an additional display area for fish that we sell from the white bins (makes them easier to catch). The 3' wide trickle falls is powered by a 950 gallon per hour feature pump and a 250 GPH pump for the filter. The pond is filtered by an in-pond filter and a UV Sterilizer keeps the water clear for displaying fish (necessary because there are no plants other than oxygenators and Water Hyacinths). I recently tore out the fieldstone patio and changed it to pavers as shown in the second photo.

Shop for Projects

JL of Trenton NJ says: I couldn't get my husband off his a__ so I got the CD and put in my own pond. Thanks.

Build a Wetland Filter - imitate nature's perfect filtration and you only clean them once a year! Only $5.25

More Pond Projects - FAQ's

AL of Newbury MA says: I can't believe how quickly the water cleared... don't have to clean the filter twice a week any more!

Simple Arched Bridge project is attractive yet designed for those with very minimal woodworking skills - Only $7.50

More Pond Projects - FAQ's

	The Split Pond is gone and best forgotten... I created this 5' x 9' x 30" deep pond to show variations in style. There is a fence across the middle and one side has a falls and field stone and the other has more formal red patio blocks and planter/filter.I was a great idea, but it was a bit too bizarre and raised too many questions so it evolved into the Buddha Pond above.
	A Nature Pond is way down back *This pond has been eliminated This 12' x 18' pond has a liner but four or five inches of clay and sand mix is spread over the bottom and sloping sides so marginal plants grow right in the soil near the shore and the deeper (30") center area is for water lilies.There's no pump or filter, no maintenance and local wildlife loves this pond! The only negative is that the plants tend to take over and must be heavily thinned every few years.
	Tim's Pond is next *This pond has been eliminated Top: Made tenyears ago by Tim (my youngest son) when he was 8, this 3 1/2' x 7' pond has no pump or filter, uses plants to maintain excellent water quality and is a summer home for his Oranda's and Telescope Goldfish. Bottom: His first attempt a pond building when he was 6. It utilized a heavy duty trash bag (cut and folded open) as a liner His older brother Kevin kept poking holes in the bottom!

All of our ponds were built and are maintained by the techniques described in our Pond Place CD. Our ponds range from no pumps or filters to mechanical and a homemade wetlands filter with two pumps and yet they all stay clear and it takes about an hour a week to maintain them ALL! One Money-Saving Tip that may actually cut down on maintenance is that we avoid 'pond kit' construction and would rather fit the components and design to suit the pond we want - not the manufacturer! This usually results in a less expensive and more personalized feature.
Our Pond Place CD offers over 300 easy to use web pages of professional water garden experience, design, construction, maintenance, troubleshooting PLUS our entire collection of 50+ Water Garden projects.
Order now for only $29.95 and let's get started on YOUR pond!

customize the pond materials to suit what you want

I wish I knew that BEFORE I filled it!

A dry stream and bridge connect Tim's Pond to my Koi Pond
This 2250 gallon pond is 13' x 13' and has 24" and 36" deep areas with 16" deep planting shelves in the corners. It is powered by 700 GPH and 1650 GPH pumps and has a big external filter and UV Sterilizer behind the waterfalls. The sterilizer is not necessary for algae control because the pond is well planted, but we like it extremely clear to show off our 3 foot 'Big Boys' (Second photo).

Power Saving Tip: As mentioned with this pond, we usually prefer two pumps for large flows - one for maintenance that runs continually (and economically) and a larger pump for a big flow when we want it and then can be turned off at night or when everyone is at work! There's more money saving advice on our Pond Place CD plus ALL of our Pond Projects

The third photo show the Koi pond before the plants, Tim's pond and the bridge were installed.
Update: The Big Boys are gone (an offer we just couldn't refuse) and we are starting a new batch of Koi. They are growing quickly and it soon will be time to thin them out a bit. The Bottom two photos shows the latest changes...I built a big upper pool / wetlands filter, boosted the pumps to a 3600 gph and a 700 gph and removed the external box filter (A wetland filter is far superior to a manufactured filter, is low maintenance and adds more beautiful plants and water to the pond system rather than having a filter box that has to be hidden! If you are interested check out our wetland filter pond project).

Winter Pond Tip: As the weather cools, taking apart pond equipment for storage may become a challenge because colder weather causes water garden tubing to tighten on the fittings. A simple solution is to lightly heat tubing ends with a blowtorch (or hairdryer) to connect or disconnect them from fittings...Note: You must be especially careful with the spiral ribbed tubing because the webbing between the ribs will quickly melt.
Our Pond Place CD has more tips and information plus ALL of our Pond Projects.

	The Small Cascade is to the right *This pond has been eliminated A water garden for non-watergardeners! This small pond (2 1/2' x 3 1/2' x 16" deep) relied on a blue coloring in the water to keep it clear of algae, but I finally decided to plant it because the plants add so much to the pond! It has a six foot stream and 11" wide falls powered by a 1200 GPH pump. It is a perfect focal point and no-maintenance pond in an existing flower garden. The lower picture was the original, but the straight stream bothered me and I changed it to more of a meander.
	The Train Pond is across the bridge *This pond has been eliminated This is a recent picture of our train pond with the plants starting to fill out. Visit our Garden Railroad page for details and construction pictures.
	The Spa Pond surprised everyone! *This pond has been eliminated Top: Nothing better on a hot day! This 6' x 6' x 24" deep pond features a 2400 GPH pump and uses swimming pool chemicals for water clarity. The eight foot stream is 24" to 30" wide and warms the water as it flows over the rocks. The only thing I should have done differently is to dig the center 18" deeper so legs can bend into the deep area when sitting! I can hardly wait until the shrubs fill in again for privacy! Bottom: I have found that using swimming pool chemicals to keep a pond clear is a lot more work than just planting it properly so I changed it from spa to goldfish pond!

Although we still stock and can special order a huge variety of tub gardens, fish and aquatic plants PLUS supplies, treatments, filters and more, we have cut back on retail to concentrate on pond maintenance and installation. Check HERE for upates to shop hours, location and contact info.
Remember... we are not landscapers who do water gardens as a side-line. - Our focus is water features and all of our efforts are concentrated in that area.

I hope you enjoyed the visit!

Pond maintenance and installation have become our main focus and demand most of our time so
After June 30th Shop Hours will be
by appointment only!
If you need accessories and supplies or are seeking information, an estimate, installation, upgrade or maintenance, contact us on-line or call (603) 335-0043 and we will make arrangements for pickup or delivery of supplies or for assistance.