Aquascaping with Derek Fell

••• Water Gardening for Beginners •••

All life on earth began in water. Plants, animals and humans cannot live without it. Both the sight and the sound of sparkling water are uplifting. Water has many unique qualities beside refreshment. It can change from solid to liquid to vaporous form as a result of only slight changes in temperature. At 32F water turns from a liquid to ice and as the temperature rises above boiling point it evaporates as steam or mist, causing rainbows. Water also has a visual impact on everything it touches, making stonework shine, turning morning dew frosty, and helping plants maintain a lush, green appearance. Running water can be a powerful force, turning water wheels to create energy, causing erosion, and when water disappears from a landscape it turns soil dust dry, killing plants and creating deserts.
Water is also musical and no-one knows how to manipulate its music better than the Japanese who cascade it from a great height to produce a thunderous sound, accompanied by spray. They also tumble it in a series of naturalistic waterfalls and rock pools, regulating the flow and fall to produce a symphony of sounds as the water gurgles, murmurs, splashes and slaps against rocks. They ripple it over shallows where it glimmers and gleams in the sunlight, while still water can double the visual pleasure of a garden through reflections. On cloudy days when water turns opaque it can produce a mysterious, sinister quality.


••• About the Author •••

Derek Fell is an experienced water gardener and a prolific writer about water gardening, the author of the book ‘Water Gardening for Beginners’ and 100 other garden topics. He is also the designer of several water gardens both large and small. He is contributor to such prestigious publications as the International Water Garden website, Water Gardens magazine, Architectural Digest, the New York Times magazine, Fine Gardening, Hemispheres, Connoisseur Collections, Better Homes & Gardens, Horticulture and the Royal Horticultural Society’s magazine, The Garden. He cultivates two properties – one at Cedaridge Farm, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (a zone 6 garden that freezes in winter) and on Sanibel Island, Florida (a zone 10 frost-free garden suitable for tropical plants.) He has designed water gardens for both locations. Fell not only uses both properties as an outdoor studio to photograph plants and develop design ideas, the gardens serve as test plots to evaluate varieties and different gardening techniques, such as fertilizing, irrigation and pest control. As a consequenc


••• About Sutro Media •••

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