Welcome! This pond was built in the backyard of my husband’s family home. His Dad, Grandfather, and Uncle where in the home building business, and built many homes in the Roseville and neighboring areas. The Husby homes have a certain “look” to them, and are well respected homes. My husband came home from the hospital to this house, and we are fortunate enough to have now moved into the family home, and have created this BIG pond in the once flat backyard. It was all hand dug by us! I like to say that Paul does the hard scape and I, Bethany, do the soft scape. It works for us.
Aerial view from our now cut down pine tree.
The main pond is a little more than 500 square feet and 5000 gallons. Most of it is 12-18″ deep, but there is a small deep area that reaches 42″. There are many water lilies and a large number of goldfish. (Repairs in fall 2003 required us to remove them, and we counted over 150!)
Our backyard came with only a slight slope, so we built our ‘hill’ out of the dirt excavated for the main pond. This was started in late August 2002, and required moving about 30 cubic yards of dirt, all done by hand. See more information on these topics in later blogs.
Almost all of the rocks you see were scrounged, mostly from a large sewer construction project, and hauled in with our car and trailer (more than 20 tons of them!). We did purchase 12 large boulders, 8 of which were used around the middle pond to form up the large waterfall.
The pond begins from the biofalls in the upper pond.
There are two streams that split and flow down the hill into the middle pond. One stream flows over three small waterfalls.
The other stream makes a short cut over the hill and sharply falls off a large waterfall rock. Both streams splash into the middle pond.
A wider falls carries water out of the middle pond and into the main pond. A path traverses this falls over a long piece of rock. (This rock is from Utah and is called ‘woodgrain’, because it looks like a wooden plank.)
We added a bog to the corner of the main pond. It helps with filtration and keeps the pond noticeable cleaner. See the BOG POST!!!
By July the water lilies are in full bloom and the pond is a very tranquil sight.
Over twenty hardy lilies bloom from June to August. My personal favorite is Mayla, a fuchsia colored lily that grows like crazy.
We put back around 50 goldfish each year and give away the 30 some babies they make every year. The goldfish literally “chill out” for winter in the 3-4 foot deep area and share living space with the water lilies that are sunk in their pots to the deep area.
The blue flagstone patio was laid by Paul. He had to cut many of the pieces to make it all fit together. Moss and a very small thyme are filling the cracks. It is lovely!
This laceleaf Japanese maple is a gorgeous tree. It turns crimson red in the fall.
The steps from the patio take you down this flagstone path.
In the springtime, the weeping “candy apple” crabapple tree is packed with beautiful blossoms.
Last year I missed the blooming of my daylilies. I did not make the same mistake this year.
The boys keep the grass neatly mowed. Paul edges the gardens.
Joseph is the reason we have this beautiful web site! He created it and helps maintain it. He also bought me my own domain name for a Mother’s Day present!!! Joe, named after his grandfather, just graduated from the University of Minnesota in the Institute of Technology Honors program. He is a Computer Science major with Math and Business Management minors. Additionally, he went 16 straight years with perfect attendance in school. He missed one day in Kindergarten to attend his Uncle Bill’s funeral, but subsequently never missed another day of school in 16 years!!!
The rest of the family. Erik on the left is an 11th grader at Roseville Area High School. David, on the right, just completed his second year at Cleveland Institute of Music and is pursing a bassoon performance degree. You can see and hear his performances on the music page.
Thanks for taking the time to view this site. We enjoy making our little slice of the world look nice. I hope you enjoyed viewing it.
Bethany is a member of the:
Please come visit in person, or send us e-mail!
Thanks,
Bethany & Paul
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Your garden is awesome. I recognize some of the pictures from what I marvelled at from Curtiss’s front yard. We used to have a pond but filled it in when the liner wore out. Didn’t have much luck with the goldfish. I am so anxious to show my husband your photos. Right now he is in the hospital recovering from surgery to repair a broken hip. He will be transferred to transition care tomorrow. Don’t know if I will get to Curves Tuesday. I wonder if your son Eric knows my grandson Nathan Barrtett who is in 10th grade at RAHS. His brothers Anthony and Matthew graduated in 2011 AND 2014. Thanks for the info on the nursery and the pictures. Hope to see you soon. Joan
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Youe garden is AWESOME! I am anxious to show my husband the pictures, but he is in the hospital right now recovering from hiip surgery. He will be transferred to transitional care tomorrow. Don’t know when I will get back to Curves. Also don’t know how to send this comment. This is a new computer and I don’t see a SEND option. I’m hoping “Post comment” works.
I wonder if your son Eric knows my grandson Nathan Barrett who is in 10th grade at RAHS. His brothers Anthony and Matthew graduated from RAHS in 2011 and 2014.
Hope to see you soon.
Just looked at your garden again. How many tons of rock did you haul? There is so much to notice. What might be a trimmed blue spruce is beautiful as is the Japanese maple. (can’t get the shift to work on the j). We have one of those that Gene bought many years ago for $5.00 that is now about 20 ft. tall. The Japanese beetles shared some of it two years ago, but most of the branches came back.
I’d like to hear David’s bassoon music. How do I get there? Was he in the symphonic orchestra at Ramsey? We must have been at many of the same concerts.
I will mention Eric to Matthew when I write to him later today. He is at Winona State pursuing materials science,
Gene was transferred to Langton Place Care Center yesterday. He’s making progress daily, but he has a long way to go. I want to be there for his therapy and lunch today but may take time off Thursday for Curves.
I can’t find a regular email address for you. This new computer is still a challenge. Joan
Can’t find a regular email address for you on this new computer. Using your website gave me the pleasure of viewing your lovely garden again. How many tons of rock did you haul? It was good to see your boys, too. I will be writing to Matthew later today and will mention Eric. Would like to hear David’s bassoon music. How do I get there? Joseph is the one I remember who helped with the hosta garden. You have a talented family.
Gene was transferred to Langton Place Care Center yesterday. He make progress daily, but has far to go. Don’t know how long he will be there.
Can’t find a regular email address for you, but using this gave me the pleasure of viewing your lovely garden again. How many tons of rock did you haul?
I liked reading about your boys and would enjoy David’s bassoon music. How do I get there? I will be writing to Matthew later today and will mention Eric.
We must have been at a lot of the same concerts. Ramsey’s music program is exceptional.
Gene was transferred to Langton Place Care Center yesterday. He’s making progress daily but has a long way to go. I’ll be going there this morning to observe his therapy and have lunch with him. May take time for Curves on Thursday. Anxious to talk more. Joan
We lived in Minnesota for 9 winters. That I do not miss. What I do miss is the extraordinary gardeners that live in Minnesota. I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Minnesota (Hennepin County) Master Gardener Program and loved all aspects of the program.
Your garden and water area are beautiful. I appreciate all the hard work to plan, execute and keep it looking beautiful.
Kathleen (Lucas, Texas)
Bethany this is Deb Fineman showing off your garden. The web site is beautiful. Hope all is well.
I’m so interested with a such beautiful garden you own my mum Bethany. May God give you a full of strength
Say hii to your lovely family!!
absolutely fascinating i wish i can visit you someday!
Hello!
I am amazed at this pond project!! What an inspiration for a fellow gardener ! I live in Arden Hills just across Snelling and we are considering a water feature in our backyard. We just dug out a basement and have some dirt we could use for that! I found your blog because I am a real estate agent in the process of listing my 2nd HUSBY house and I am so excited about it. This neighborhood is amazing and I am so impressed by the vision of the Husby neighborhood in Roseville. I would love to have as much information as possible about the neighborhood vision so I was doing some research and came upon your page. If you are open to having some conversation about the history of the neighborhood over a cup of coffee I would be so thankful for that opportunity to learn more about it.
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