About the Book
The guru of earth ponds explains how to site, design, shape, and plant these beloved fixtures of rural landscapes--and make them fit your property and your life. In the decades since he wrote his acclaimed Earth Ponds, Tim Matson has designed scores of ponds, each unique to its site and its owners. In Landscaping Earth Ponds, he shares what he has learned to make these captivating ponds truly fit into their landscapes and into the lives and lifestyles of their owners.
Ponds have long been valued for their charm and utility: how else can you simultaneously enliven your landscape, create recreational opportunities, help the environment, and increase your property value? Earth ponds are increasingly recognized for the full range of gardening, landscaping, and ecological promise they hold. As pond-building methods have been perfected, more homeowners are restoring existing ponds or digging new ones.
With dozens of color photographs, Matson shows you how to site a pond in right relation to your house, offering surprisingly simple ways to visually link the two. His proven methods and designs reflect the many moods water evokes. Screen your pond for privacy, create a sandy beach and natural diving platform, encourage wetland gardens, line the shores with moisture-loving perennials, or design your gardens and paths to create a sense of mystery and adventure.
About the Author :
Tim Matson is an award winning writer, photographer, and author of the best selling Earth Ponds series of books and videos. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, and worked as an editor at a major publishing house in New York before moving to Vermont in the early Seventies. Mountain Brew, his first book, was one of the first to pioneer the craft beer movement, and his collection of dance photographs of the Pilobolus Dance Theatre, published by Random House, received two awards from the American Institute for Graphic Arts. Other books include Country Planet, and Round Trip to Deadsville.
His fascination with ponds began not long after moving to Vermont and taking charge of an old farm with a leaky fish pond in need of restoration. Later he bought fifty acres of forestland to start a tree farm, and taught himself how to build both a house and a pond. His book about that design and excavation project, Earth Ponds, triggered an enthusiastic response, and the pond series was born. His series of pond building books and videos have sold over 100,000 copies, and his consulting service offers design and restoration services, and seminars, across the country."Pond building is a rural art, and you have to learn it in the field." Matson says. "That's what makes these books unique." The newest book, Landscaping Earth Ponds, features more than sixty of the author's color photographs, in addition to drawings and color plant photos. Matson is the father of two teenage girls, and lives in Strafford, Vermont. Visit his website at www.earthponds.com.
Review :
Peter Bane, for The Permaculture Activist-This is Tim Matson's fourth book on ponds and perhaps the most beautiful yet. Showcasing a range of natural features that might enhance the aesthetic of a country pond, he nonetheless manages to include a lot of useful information for pond builders. Handsome color photos throughout illustrate stone embankments, edge vegetation, specimen trees, benches, and mountain backdrops, while including a few buildings, docks, and other bits of built infrastructure. A handful of nicely executed line drawings show design features, plans, bridge variations, underground connections, and other elements not easily photographed.The style is understated but very informative. The author has made so many ponds he knows the full range of vagaries, opportunities, and problems you may encounter in the process, and shares much of that insight. He explains excavated versus embankment ponds, and how to site the pond. There is a review of pond structure so that the reader understands safe and functional construction, plus discussion of water quality and sources.
As his earlier books dealt at greater length with the basic elements of pond construction, this one emphasizes the planting, though this section of the book also addresses environmental conditions, water flows, etc. An extensive list of suppliers, and a catalog of potential pond plants illustrated with color photos rounds out the offering. One caveat - the ponds shown are all from New England, and while the information is broadly applicable, special conditions not discussed may apply in other areas. As the title implies, only earth-sealed, not lined ponds are covered.
An optional DVD is available with the book, and I found it to be an unexpected gem. Visual quality was only so-so, but Matson narrates an excellent script and he does it well. The editing is crisp and the film shows great attention to detail. Pond building can be a messy business, but we get to see the machines and
"Aside from some particularly thoughtful frogs and phragmites, no one on earth knows more about ponds than Tim Matson."--Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food
"Very few people with acreage in the country have not created a pond, or thought about it. A body of water has practical value for swimming and fishing and as a fire pond, but it also brings a placid contrast to the surrounding property and draws wonderful wildlife. There are a number of books about the engineering aspects of building and maintaining ponds, but few about the value of landscaping them. And yet, an artfully planted pond environment is one of the most powerful landscapes you can effect. I can think of public gardens where this has been done well: The trusty New York Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Chanticleer in Wayne, Pa., and Stonecrop in Cold Spring, N.Y., come to mind. But Matson's softbound book offers great insights into what to do (and not; invasive plants can soon consume your feature). It includes an illustrated section on suitable trees, shrubs, perennials and bog plants that will make your pond something beyond the ordinary. It also lists suppliers, nurseries and other resources you will need."--Washington Post
Bookwatch-A pond adds value to a property, but many books which extol its virtues are mysteriously silent on just how to install and landscape for maximum benefit - until Landscaping Earth Ponds: The Complete Guide. Tim Matson's proven methods and designs come from his background as an aquaculture consultant: he's been designing and restoring such ponds for over twenty-five years, and his tips update his prior Earth Ponds with new details on everything from assessing and maintaining water quality to considering types of fill and handling embankments. Color photos throughout enhance the presentation.
Midwest Book Review-Tim Watson draws upon more than 25 years of experience and expertise building ponds and developing wetlands in Landscaping Earth Ponds: The Complete Guide. Here is a informative, step-by-step, profusely illustrated reference for creating a more lively and beautifying diverse landscapes and home-area garden areas with ponds. Providing "user friendly" information on how ponds work to enhance a landscape, create recreational opportunities, help the environment, and increase property values, Landscaping Earth Ponds offers a complete and readily accessible account of a variety of methods and techniques to employ in the creation of a pond. An important addition to any personal, professional, or community library reference collection, Landscaping Earth Ponds is very strongly recommended for anyone searching for an all-inclusive instructional guide to pond building and encouraging natural beauty through the development of a customized pond appropriate to the rest of the landscaping environment.
