From the moment she moved into her home, Lake Highlands resident Judy Fender had a vision of what she wanted in her back yard.
“When I started this, I told my friends I was going to build a Garden of Eden,” says Fender, whose creative efforts were featured on a recent North Texas Water Garden Society’s summer tour.
She is the first to ruefully admit, though, that the saying, “build it and they will come” was very true when two big snakes showed up – one swimming happily in the pond and the other heading straight for her workshop. Though the slithery visitors made her momentarily question her Eden endeavors, Fender remained undeterred.
An artist by trade, Fender designed the three ponds, complete with waterfalls, connecting deck and a 46-foot stream. Next came the physical labor, which Fender was determined to do herself.
“I started this project last summer and started digging the (first) hole in July,” Fender says. “I sawed the wood and nailed it down. The people on the pond tour couldn’t believe I had done all the work myself.”
A friend’s Waxahachie farm yielded the limestone that Fender hauled home one carload at a time until she had edged the ponds and the winding stream. Close to 70 goldfish now live happily in the ponds, responding readily to the call for supper when Fender stomps on the deck.
Birdhouses, hand-painted by Fender, are scattered alongside the ponds keeping company with native plants, herbs and roses in raised beds.
“I think it is great,” says Laura Adams, who saw Fender’s pond on the tour. “She has done a wonderful job.”
Certified by the Dallas Horticultural Center as a Butterfly Habitat, the garden also boasts larval and nectar plants.
“All of my ponds are totally natural,” Fender says. “I don’t spray or use insecticides. I try to get a lot of plants that don’t require a lot of care. Many of my plants are pass along plants.”
“She is such an enthusiast for plants, and I think she has tried to buy every kind of plant there is,” Adams says.
This approach has repaid Fender back with visiting birds (including hummers), butterflies, lizards, dragonflies…and the occasional snake. A small price to pay, Fender says, for everything her ponds and gardens offer.
“I love being in the yard. You can just get lost in the garden. If you just open your eyes, there is so much to see.”
