By Frank Sloboda

The Water garden Tour, or how to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The excursion started with Judy Endsley picking up two air conditioned-less car people in Marion, and transporting them to the first stop in Vandalia, Ohio. The Bergman’s house sits on a hill, and the backyard also has a semi circular hill. This feature really maximizes landscape and water garden views. Welcome to Florida, as we stepped into the house. Tropical colors and décor, here I come. Ron and MaryAnn’s hospitality was outstanding. A zesty lunch was served in a beautiful white kitchen, to be enjoyed by all. As we entered the backyard, I did a double take. Not only was there a gazebo overlooking a mammoth waterfall, which ran into an upper and lower ponds, but some of my favorite evergreens surrounded these areas. I am light years from being a koi expert, but I did appreciate the beautiful colors and patterns of the fish, and I marveled at their size. Another interesting aspect of this water garden was lack of water plants, and still having an ultra clear pond by other filtration methods. The diversity of possibilities for different ponding methods, and workable small or large pond designs makes this hobby all the more interesting. Suddenly fishnets appeared, then some gorgeous koi were caught, plastic bagged, oxygenated, and expertly rubber band knotted by Larry Kelly. Thanks, Larry for keeping the bags secure for the trip home. We, as well as others, through the generosity of the Ron and MaryAnn, each received some beautiful koi (which we still have, despite the heron looking for it). Thank you, Ron and MaryAnn, for a delightful visit.

(Bergman waterfall pic)

The next stop was at John Gerber’s Zenkoi International in Dayton Ohio. This water garden was a real eye opener, as to location. In a nice suburban setting with a brick ranch, the first surprise was a garage full of very large fish tanks and filters. Surprise number two was to see a fenced in backyard with no turf, but gargantuan ponds with gigantic filters in back of them. John had a tremendous number of small koi that we could see, as he fed them in the various ponds. A lot of John’s business is with tropical fish (1,000 tanks) for sale to retailers, at a separate location. Each evening, however, John hurries home to his koi ponds. John had some inexpensively priced koi for sale, which I bought two of (I’m down to one, thanks Mr. HERON!!). John, we thank you for your helpful information, hospitality, and tour. Members, you can visit John’s website at www.zenkoi.com.

(Gerber many koi pic)

Our third tour site took us to Yellow Springs, Ohio, to visit Keith and Linda Kinney. The backyard area was rustic, relaxing and very peaceful, and it centers on cascading pools and a nice two story studio located towards the back. A very large pond and equally large filtering system was works in process, and I’m and other members are excited to see the results of this water garden and filtering design. Keith makes beautiful lumbar support rocking chairs and other bent hardwood products. Linda does copper sheet layouts and other artistic endeavors on the second floor of the studio. Thank you Keith and Linda for sharing your snacks love of water gardening, and your arts and crafts with us.

(Insert Kinney future pond construction site)

As Judy drove Sallie and myself home, the car veered off to the right, at an ice cream parlor, and lo and behold a light snack for me; Banana split time. What a fun Sunday for all of us. Thanks, Ohio Koi Club.