Portage Backyard Ponds
Friday, July 11, 6:00pm to 8:00pm
This is an open-house style tour. The garden owners will be at home between 6:00 and 8:00. Stop by in any order you wish.
The gardeners’ stories:
704 Prosperity Drive
We have transformed our backyard from a typical turf yard into a wildlife garden with native plants. This is still a work in progress and a trial-and-error project. The focus is our wildlife pond, which we installed in 2023, and it has dramatically changed the dynamics.
Our garden is now brimming with life – frogs, dragonflies, and many birds visiting for a drink and bath. The number of insects has increased as well, most notably dragonflies and damselflies. Our pond has become a nursery for amphibians and insects, and we regularly see nymphs transforming into beautiful adults. We paired the pond with a 6-foot bee hotel, creating a triple ecosystem impact: the bees provide an early spring protein source for the frogs, the bees can drink at the pond and find perfect mud at the pond’s edge for their tunnels.
We spend many hours simply observing all the activity in and around the pond. We encourage everyone to build their own pond, as we’re losing more and more wetlands to human activity, pollution, and climate change. We’re happy to share our experience and our joy with you! Just walk around to the back! -Bart
7814 Julie Drive
My native plant garden began in 2018 when I heard a monarch waystation presentation given by Ilse Gebhard. I became the steward of the Portage District Library garden and began to plant natives at my own home. In the past 6 years, I have learned a lot. I have transitioned my home landscaping from grass, rose of sharon, hostas, and vinca to mostly native.
On May 7, 2024, an EF-2 Tornado (with maximum winds of 130 mph), went right over my home in Portage. We lost our beautiful old black oak tree along with my shade garden. Trees landed in many of the beds and our destroyed privacy fence smothered many plants in the backyard. I’ve learned to turn lemons into lemonade. With the help of many friends, we cut down trees, dug a wildlife pond, killed most of the grass in the front yard, and are still in the process of replanting.
Come see what a wildlife pond looks like when it’s less than a year old and view a full sun yarden filled with over 30 species of trees and shrubs and almost 100 varieties of native forbs, grasses, and sedges. -Quyen
