It’s solar; it’s a fountain…what’s not love.  Ordinary garden sculpture just lies there doing nothing; even the more interesting ones eventually get to the point where I just don’t notice they are there anymore.  But fountains aren’t like that.  Something in our primitive programming attracts us to flowing water.  It’s a survival instinct that in one time encouraged us to find sources of fresh flowing water but just seems to soothe and calm us.  It seems to me it’s nature’s way of telling us we’re home.

 Not everyone can live near a waterfall, so we created fountains and since traditional fountains require an outside energy source mankind has progressed to solar. 

This solar fountain stands and consists of four bowls; each pouring continually into the next.  The fountain is made out of resin, plastic and aluminum.  Now you can plug it into the wall, if you need it to work in a dark area, but where’s the fun in that.

The Four-Tier Solar Fountain is available from Gardeners Supply for $139.00

We’ve been using solar energy to create electricity for ages.  My father has a solar powered AM radio that is probably older than I am…or at least it looks like it.  Now there really isn’t anything I want to listen to on AM anymore but the geek in me still finds it fascinating. 

So I’m working on converting my electric lawn mower to solar power and I come across this solar fountain.  I don’t have a pond in my back yard but I’m going to hand my kid a shovel when he gets home from school tomorrow; this thing is just cool.  It’s a floating lily pad made out of ABS plastic 9 inches in diameter.  It has a built in solar powered pump that moves 25 gallons an hour and an adjustable spray pattern.   Now I know that traditional fountains do not pull a huge amount of electricity anyway, but you have to run wires and then hide wires and all those kind of things that just take the fun out of something like this…for me anyway.  With this fountain, you just let it float around the pond and as long as there is sunlight you have a fountain; and if it’s dark you can’t see it anyway.  The Solar Lily Pond Island is available for $49.99 from SkyMall. 

If you want a classic water feature for indoors or in your garden, try out the Aquascape Silver Gazing Globe Fountain Container Water Garden. Water falls from all four sides of the pillar, which is adorned with a silver globe. At the base of the pillar is a pool.

The kit includes a filter to prevent calcium deposits and foam. It also prevents algal growth. Measures: 41 1/2 inches H x 22 1/2 inches x 22 1/2 inches L

Garden ponds are wonderful living works of art for your garden and landscaping. I’ve never been ambitious enough to install a garden pond, but I love visiting friends who have them.

I did some research on online sources of garden pond equipment and found the PondMarket.com. I was impressed by their collection of supplies and liked that they carry various kits for seasonal pond maintenance. Try out this Garden Pond Winterization Kit, which includes the following items:

• 2 de-icers
• The PondMarket Barley Bale ensures string algae will be non-existent or to a minimum
• Microbe Lift Autumn Winter Prep (qt) maintains fish health and keeps organic build-up to a minimum
• Pond Netting comes in several sizes to keep out leaves and debris
• Master Test Kit includes 5 tests to ensure maximum water quality
• Cool Weather Food ensures optimal digestability, necessary for koi
• Muck Vac works off the garden hose to suck all debris out of the pond (does not add tap water to pond)

Please see this website for more information on building and maintaining a garden pond.