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September 29, 2010

In The Beginning.....

In the beginning, there was a pond..... then there was not!

In 1999 when we created the flagstone patio area, we installed a small pre-formed pond...which grew into a much larger area complete with a small creek and many plantings around it to naturalize it.....but it was a lot of maintenance so finally we decided to remove it.  The big hole is where it was.

~jump forward~
Spring 2009     The John Deere garden tractor with it's mini front end loader has paid for itself with all the projects it's done for us.  I am glad my husband is so handy with using it and makes my big projects happen with a great deal less back labor than it would have otherwise!
 Work, work, work, work, work...

Finally after much pushing dirt around the area is starting to be created for the new fountain....








  We poured a 5" thick cement pad to receive the new fountain... (It's somewhere in the 880 lb. range, in 4 pcs)
 I laid landscape fabric along the edges to keep it from eroding.....






 Now comes the fun, tricky part, bringing in the base of the fountain...

Dan calculated this out to the T...I stood by ready to aid whenever I could....
 Ahh, the base is in place and now the fun begins!






















All the pieces are in place and the electric is being set up....This fountain is made by Campania, it's called Palazzo Urn Fountain.. we lucked out at a garden center that had it carried over from the year before, we offered several hundred dollars less for cash and carry and they accepted!


Yay it works!
This is with the stone wall installed before the flagstones were set in place... The timeline of the project was May 1st thru July 2nd... My husband and I did all the work ourselves (and we aren't as young as we used to be....LOL) so we did a little bit of work every night, trying not to push our backs too hard...


Now the flagstones are in place and we brush what we call diamond dust (which is crushed stone into a very fine size) into the crevices.... sprinkle with water and after a while it firms up a bit....
And now it's done...and my newly stained and painted park benches are in place....

After a few months the plants have filled in nicely...

This was summer of 2009, a rather cool summer, but my transplanted Hostas appreciated the cool temperatures and didn't even act like they had been split up and transplanted!



All these hostas were larger plants I split up...I lined the edge of the wall with pink impatiens...they filled in nicely!
This is late in the summer....and things have settled in nicely...we are so happy with the changes we made
  
A collage of the original patio area
This is a collage of pictures of the original creation of the patio with pond.  The 2nd picture on the right reveals the area where it started- a previous location of an above ground pool.  We put a base of sand down then gravel to aid with moisture and frost heaving issues in the spring.  As you can see above a lot has changed since then.  I finally gave up on the grass path because it was difficult to maintain.  We installed more flagstone on the path after we did the new addition for the water fountain.  There are low voltage lights around the patio too and all the electrical for the pond/now fountain was run through a trench Dan dug with piping to protect it.

9 comments:

  1. What a wonderful large patio! It is fabulous!!! I think this calls for a party! Thanks so much for visiting and for all the nice comments!

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  2. Came here in search of inspiration.
    We've started - little by little (dear husband is dragging his feet ;)) - breaking the stone in the yards so we can plan, dream, fuss, whatever, over glorious future gardens (she says hopefully ahahahh).
    I think I need to draw a plan. Did you do that? I wish you were closer so you could guide me on site.
    Thank you for inspiring and sharing the beauty of yours.
    Love,
    Teresa

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  3. Liz.
    OMG!!!!! Congrats on the wonderful feature over at Bnotp!!! What a transformation!! Stunning! Grop dead gorgeous!!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  4. Absolutely gorgeous... makes my mind race for next summer, a possible project coming my way but on a much smaller scale. fondly ~lynne ~

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  5. Just came over from "Susan's Back Porch" and had to check this out...WONDERFUL!!! My hubby and I, too, are DIY's and this is just a "labour of love!!" We use "diamond dust" (granite dust) all the time! franki

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  6. Oh WOW. what a beautiful job. You and your husband must be so over the moon with the results of all of your hard work. The fountain is a lovely piece of art and beauty. Love it all, "everything" Just amazing!!

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  7. I am so glad I came over to see this. It is just gorgeous. I have patio envy:):)

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  8. You make it look so easy, but I know it's not! It really is a perfect place to sit and reflect...and just gaze at the beautiful plants.

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  9. Beautiful! If only I could persuade you to do your magic at my house! :D

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Thank you for your comments! I don’t always get a chance to reply but I do read them!




ABOUT ME



Welcome to Home and Gardening With Liz. I have combined my previous blogs “Infuse With Liz” and “Sit With Me In My Garden” into this new blog. I love interior decorating and gardening. I enjoy redefining interior spaces by moving things around and reusing decorative items already found in the home. I also enjoy creating tablescapes and an occasional crafting project. I'm so pleased you've stopped by. I invite you to follow me and I do hope you will keep coming back! Liz
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