Water feature centerpieces can be simple and fun to create. They need not be complicated, time-consuming or expensive. Below are a few easy, starter ideas, but don’t be afraid to let your own creativity take over to design your very own original showpiece.

A simple centerpiece: set votive candles in small glass votive holders in a shallow crystal or glass bowl. Add some red cranberries, which are easy to find in the grocery this time of year, to cover the bottom of the bowl and around the candle holders. Fill the bowl with water - enough to cover the cranberries but not over the top of the votive holders. Surround this water centerpiece with springs of artifical fall leaves for Thanksgiving or evergreen boughs for Christmas.

Variations to this simple centerpiece: Use colored, floating candles instead of votive candles. For Christmas, add twinkling lights entwined in the evergreen boughs and add a red bow or two. The traditional reds and greens and the twinkling lights of this holiday centerpiece will attract the ooohhhs and aaahhhs of your holiday guests.

Another variation would be to float a large football mum or one or two spider mums in a shallow glass bowl filled with water and colored gemstones. Set the bowl on a pedestal on a mirror square. Surround the pedestal base with evergreens or a ring of cranberries. Scatter colored votive candles that match your flower color around the centerpiece on the mirror base. This will add some coziness to the centerpiece and the mirror will reflect the candle light up toward the flower petals. A single, large poinsettia bloom works well at Christmas with matching red votives to accent this centerpiece.

Another easy yet elegant centerpiece is to place a single pillar candle in a hurricane vase. Add colored gemstones or other holiday baubles into the hurricane vase around the pillar candle. Then add water. Flank the hurricane vase with 2 other pillar candles of varying height. Scatter additional gemstones and/or holiday baubles around the bases of this trio of candles. Your centerpiece is complete! The area around the candle trio could also be adorned with greenery, cinnamon sticks, holiday berries, or pinecones.

Get creative this holiday season and show off your passion for water gardening. Design your own original fire and water holiday centerpiece!

If you live in a cold climate where your pond experiences long periods of ice cover, then some winter preparations are in order. A “Winter Ready Checklist” is posted on our company website - www.aquaparlifestyles.com. The main purpose of winter prep is to ensure the survival of your fish and to keep your pond ecosystem healthy. By taking a few steps now, your pond should make it through the coming long, cold winter months just fine.

We are often asked the following questions, “Can I run my pond all winter?” and “What should I do with my pond plants in the Winter?” Here’s some information that may help answer those questions.

“Can I run my pond all winter long?”

Here in Minnesota we are often asked this question. In some climates, it is possible to run your pond and waterfall all year long and avoid some of the winter preparations. However, keeping your system running in a colder climate requires some special attention.

You will have to be more aware of the water level of your pond in winter because ice will continually form and may divert water outside of the liner. Ice dams can become a problem in the colder northern climates. You will find ice dams mostly around your waterfall (if you choose to keep it running) and in shallow stream areas. One solution is to shutdown your waterfall, but keep the pond itself open. Attaching a skimmer de-icer to your pump will direct water through the skimmer opening and back into the pond itself. This will aerate the pond, and along with a floating heater, will keep the pond open so your fish will survive the winter.

Another technique is to pull the main pump, store it in a bucket of water in a warm, dry place and add a bubbler to your pond. Be sure to place the bubbler on an intermediate shelf in your pond, close to the pond heater. This will be more energy efficient and keep the pond open for your fish.

“What should I do with my plants in the Winter?”

That depends on what type of plants you have. Hardy marginal plants are, as the name suggests, winter hardy and can be treated like any perennials. Just cut them back to just above the water surface line. This prevents the dying plant material from falling into the pond and decaying throughout the winter.

Hardy water lilies will die back as the water temperature cools and the light diminishes. Remove the pads and blooms and trim the plants back to 2-3″ above the crown. Then moved them to the deepest portion of the pond to overwinter.

Tropical water lilies can be overwintered in a dormant state, but this process is difficult. Therefore, treat your tropical water lilies like a hanging basket and just replace each year. Their beauty, scent and unique night-blooming characteristics make them worth replacing annually.

Tropical marginal plants won’t survive in the pond during the winter. There are generally two ways of dealing with these type of plants. Many tropical marginal plants should be treated as annuals and simply discarded. Others, however, can be brought indoors and treated as houseplants during the winter months. Taros, bluebells and calla lilies are examples of plants that can overwinter well indoors. If in doubt as to whether a tropical marginal can be wintered indoors, give it a shot. It doesn’t hurt to try.

Floaters are tropical plants and die off with the first frost. They are impossible to overwinter due to their light and water temperature requirements. Remove and discard them into a compost pile.

Leaves can be a big problem for pond owners in the Fall. Doing your best to keep leaves out of the pond in the Fall will make for a cleaner and more clear pond next Spring. And cleaning out piles of wet, decaying leaves is not something I want to be doing when Spring arrives. Leaves will sink to the bottom where they decay and upset the balance of the pond’s ecosystem. They also release gasses that can be trapped in the water by surface ice and result in fish kill. Decaying leaves on the pond’s floor can release tannis into the water turning it a tea color as well. So my main goal in the Fall is to keep the leaves from getting into the pond in the first place.

Now, it’s almost an impossible task to keep all the leaves out of a pond, but there are some things that can be done to help minimize the amount of leaves that do collect in your pond. First I empty my skimmer basket often - at least once a day. And one helpful hint to remember: DON’T EMPTY YOUR SKIMMER BASKET/NET NEAR YOUR POND OR YOU’LL BE REMOVING THE SAME LEAVES OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!

Secondly, I use a long handled net on a regular basis to remove any leaves or debris floating in the pond or that have sunk to the bottom. Since I don’t have a lot of trees around my pond, this usually does the trick for me.

However, many people have lots of trees around their pond and that translates into lots of leaves at this time of the year. So here’s a suggestion if you fall into this category: Install protective netting over your pond. Stretch the netting across the surface of the pond and fasten the edges to the ground with long ground staples. BE CAREFUL THOUGH NOT TO PUNCTURE THE LINER!!!!! This protective layer of netting will keep the majority of leaves out of the pond and make it easier to gather up and dispose of the leaves. Keep the netting in place until the bulk of the leaves have fallen, but be sure to remove the netting before the pond freezes over for the winter. IT’S IMPORTANT TO REGULARLY CLEAN THE LEAVES FROM THE NETTING AND DISPOSE OF THEM. THIS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY USING A LEAF BLOWER OR PULLING THE NETTING AWAY FROM ONE SIDE OF THE POND AND REMOVING THE LEAVES. RE-ATTACH THE NET BACK OVER THE POND WHEN LEAVES HAVE BEEN REMOVED. After the netting has been removed before winter, use the long handled net to scoop out any additional leaves/debris that may get into the pond.

Don’t worry about leaving a few leaves behind…they will give frogs and insects a place to hibernate over the winter.

If anyone has been successful at keeping leaves and debris out of a pond using a different method that might be beneficial for others to know, please share it with us.

Aqua Par Lifestyles

Water Fountain

Water Fountains and Patio Water Gardens are among the newest decorative products in water gardening, making it possible for anyone to enjoy a water feature no matter what the size of your yard or budget! If you are new to water gardening or if you are just looking for the relaxing sounds and look of water, these features offer a great introduction to the magical water gardening world. Small water fountains and container water gardens are a perfect fit for patios, decks and tiny cottage gardens. Have your own “patio pond ecosystem” with water plants, bubbler pump, underwater lighting at a fraction of the cost of a pond! Adding fish is also an option!

Vacation at Home!

Water Features can transform any indoor or outdoor living space into a beautiful paradise where you can relax and enjoy quality time with family and friends. Whether it’s a small decorative fountain near the entrance of your home, or a pond and waterfall by your patio or deck, adding a waterscape can bring a peaceful escape from a hectic, stressful day.

Today with crowded schedules, higher travel costs and busy family lives, more people are spending time at home. They are expanding their outdoor living spaces and making them more inviting and attractive. High maintenance, boring expanses of lawn are being transformed with beautiful, low maintenance water features.

Outdoor living spaces can be as individualized as home interiors. A well designed and installed water feature adds aesthetic appeal and value to your home while becoming a focal point when you entertain family and friends. Bring nature’s garden to your back door! The soothing sounds and natural ability to attract a variety of wildlife make a water feature in your outdoor living space a place to relax and be comfortable giving you the feeling of being on vacation.

Our Passion!

Welcome to the Aqua Par Lifestyles blog! We are very excited to have our blog finally going live and to have YOU visiting our blog. It’s been in the planning stages since last March. Our company, Aqua Par Lifestyles, specializes in the artistic design, construction and professional installation of natural water garden features as well as synthetic golf practice systems. With our experience in the industry, we’d like to use our blog to share our knowledge of water gardening, water features and synthetic golf practice systems with you. We’d also like to share ideas, tips and information, and fun facts with everyone. We also welcome your input and questions on any water gardening topic or questions regarding the benefits of a synthetic green, so feel free to forward your questions and comments to us.

Water gardening and golf rank at the top of lifestyle hobbies for many of us. When our hobbies become our passions, we are eager to find out as much as we can on these topics. All of us have interesting stories and helpful hints to share with other like-minded hobbyists. So please join us in making our blog a good resource for all water gardening and golf enthusiasts.

Thank you for visiting our blog. Check us out often!

Aqua Par Lifestyles