Anthony Archer-Wills is in the house!
I met Anthony and his lovely wife Pauline last year at the IWGS symposium in Pennsylvania. I sat next to them at dinner, and I went out on a limb and asked him if he would be willing to write an article for us. To my delight, his answer was yes. Yay!
If you’ve heard anything about Anthony, you know he really knows his stuff when it comes to pond design and water gardening. If you’re somehow not familiar with Animal Planet’s “The Pool Master” or the contractor whom The Telegraph once called “the man who gave us pond life,” well, Anthony is a bit of a celebrity when it comes to the water gardening industry.
[box style=”rounded”]>> The Anthony Archer-Wills July/August Article, click here! [/box]
That’s why I was honored when Anthony agreed to write for us, and boy, he didn’t disappoint. If the beautiful photo on the cover didn’t already lure you into the point of skipping ahead, make sure you check out his article, “Building on the Pond’s Edge with Anthony Archer-Wills.”
Below is an excerpt from his feature article:
The plants were the saving grace. I had a passion for water plants and loved their habits — the way a waterlily bud would rise closer to the surface each day, or how a candelabra primula would unfurl its unblemished, bright green leaves out of the blackest ooze.
A very simple observation taught me that the nature of a body of water is entirely defined by its edges. Without seeing the shoreline, it could be almost any shape — a formal pool, a natural pond or even a sewage plant. Despite visible aquatics or reflections to give us clues, one still cannot be sure. The edge is the key.
He has a way of explaining his evolved vision of pond building in a captivating way, and it certainly made me think outside the pond when it comes to how to treat the water’s edge.
That’s not the only fascinating article in this jam-packed summer issue. On pg. 58, Ken Rust provides an update on aquaponics technology, which is the combination of aquaculture (raising aquatic animals in tanks) and hydroponics (growing plants in water). If you haven’t heard of this before, you’ll be pretty surprised at the latest developments in this space.
As promised, Ben Plonski is back this issue with part two of his Language of Koi feature, “Mixing Koi Populations, Part Two, Preventive Quarantine Protocol,” about safely integrating new koi populations (see part one, “Preventive Treatment for Koi Health”).
For our pond plant lovers, and especially those who like to tread close to the water, Kelly Billing introduces some of her favorite plant species that don’t mind a little foot traffic.
Happy PONDering!
