Didn't mean to leave anyone hanging.
Neither is a new pond. The big pond has always been here and has always had a couple of falls. Last year the plumbing started leaking. I had someone who supposedly fixed it, but he didn't really. He taped up some of the flexible tubing that was showing, but that not only didn't fix all the holes, it didn't even fix the ones he taped.
The guy who installed the pond used the wrong kind of flexible tubing. The strong sturdy stuff should have lasted forever. I got a permalon liner because it's supposed to last forever, and after 10 years, there are still no signs of wear. The tubing was supposed to be the same material, but it's not. It's literally disintigrating.
So most of last summer I couldn't run the water thru the falls because running it emptied the pond. It hasn't been turned on at all this season and I miss the sound of the running water.
The lily pond was built because the trees in my yard grew and the big pond got to be completely shady. That and the turtles chomped every lily I ever tried to grow. But the trees around the lily pond grew too and it became a completely shady pond as well. I still grow lilies in pots on the patio where I get a little sun, but they must be small lilies and they have to tolerate low amounts of sun . . . . shady ladies, as it were.
So, I found a guy to come clean out the big pond and redo all the plumbing and get it working again. He's also willing to tear out the small pond and fill it in, but that's apparently not going to happen. Guess I'll plant some shade loving water plants in it . . . .
And as an added bonus, DH has called a tree man who is coming out to remove a river birch that's too close to the house and trim all the bradford pears that are surrounding the driveway and covering up my pond. So it might get a little sunnier in parts of my backyard for a while (at least until the other trees fill the voids . . . .)
