Saturday, May 4, 2013 11:21 am

When the Southern Maine Garden Club met on April 17, the speaker was Booker Nevus from Wentworth Greenhouse in Rollinsford, N.H.; and the topic was “Plants for Ponds and Pools.”

Nevus painted an enticing picture of the wonder of a water garden – essentially a hole in the ground, covered with a good strong plastic. You can surround the hole with rocks and plants; add plants that grow in water. 

Fish can be added but he cautioned about how large Japanese koi can get after a year or two. Frogs and dragonflies (snakes too) will find your pond and – voila – you have created a microcosm that will delight you and your neighborhood for hours upon hours. Visitors to the lecture were Becky and John Silvia from Seven Elms Farm in Lebanon. 

They confessed they were serious devotees of the water garden and were happy to produce a photo of one of their many water gardens.  They also invited the club to tour their gardens at a later date.

SMGC meets throughout the year at the Springvale Library on the third Wednesday of every month beginning at 6:45 pm (unless otherwise noted).  The public is invited to attend to sample our meetings to see if you would like to join us. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 15, and the presenter will be Julie Spderbolm and the topic will be “Food from the Garden”.  FMI about future meetings, please contact in Maine – Sheryl Rothstein at 207-490-7147 or in N.H. – Donna Claveau at 603-332-4860.