Pond, with Water-Lilies, in the Garden
Would you like to have a little pond near the house, with white water-lilies floating on its surface and wee cattails growing here and there in and near the water's edge?
| Fig.131 - Cat-tail for little pond made of Timothy-Grass. | Fig.132 - Cat-tail held upright by Burdock-burrs. |
You can easily make such a pond. Sink a shallow pan in the ground, a hole must be dug to fit it, you know, and fill the pan with water. Cover the edges with moss or earth and plant short-stemmed heads of timothy-grass ([Fig. 131]) and slender, stiff grass-blades in scattered groups near the water. It is timothy-grass that looks so much like cattails, and also the grass called foxtail.
Fig.133 - The play Water-Lily made of a White Clover floating on water.
Some of the cattails can be made to look as if they were growing in the pond if you make a flat-bottomed ball of burrs around the ends of the stems to hold them upright ([Fig. 132]), and put some small stones on top of the ball to weight it down in the water.
Fig.134 - Cut leaves for the water lilies from a Maple leaf as shown here.
For the little water-lilies select perfect white clover-blossoms ([Fig. 133]), and for the leaves, or lily-pads, use any rather small, smooth, round leaves. The marsh-marigold leaf will answer, or you can cut out water-lily leaves from oak or maple. Make them the shape of the pattern [Fig. 134]. The pattern here is laid on a maple-leaf ready to cut out a leaf for the water-lily. Make a number of lilies and float them and the leaves on top of the water.