News from hughes water gardens

toms picture fall leave

Oregon's Premier Water Gardening Nursery
November Newsletter 2010

Hughes Last Class of the Season
Saturday, October 30th @ 10 am
Winterizing Your Pond

Learn proper winter care for Urns, Pottery, Pumps, Plants and other elements involved in your small water feature.

At the nursery - all are welcome!

All classes are free - Approximately. 1 hour long

Happy Water Gardening Volume 3 Issue 11

Happy Halloween

In This Issue

Fountain Covers

Mailing address

Winterizing Pondless Water Features

Ice on the Pond

Pond De-Icers

All Fish On Sale

Buy 1 Get 1 Free

koi

Extended Sale

Expires Nov. 08, 2010

or as long as they last

Tinkerbelle's
Pond Tips

Tinkerbelle Hughes

Fountain Covers

Prevent ice and weather damage to your fountain. Heavy duty UV resistant material with draw string keeps water and debris from collecting in your fountain. Makes Spring set up a breeze!

To shop on-line click here

Quick Links...

Hughes Water Gardens Classes

We are taking a break for the winter. Classes will start up again in March 2011.

Our Mailing Address

25289 SW Stafford Rd, Tualatin, OR 97062

Winter Hours
(November - December)

Monday - Friday
10 to 5
Saturday
10 to 3

Sunday

closed

Our Telephone
503-638-1709

Click Here for Directions

Winterizing
Pondless Water Features

Over the last few years pondless water features (bubbling urns or bubbling rocks flowing into a reservoir) have become extremely popular. Below are some fAQ's about overwintering your pondless water feature.

Common Questions:

Should I turn off the feature in the winter?
The Portland area has pretty mild weather in the winter and usually it is fine to leave it running. If we have a period of unusually cold weather as we
had last year I would recommend turning the feature off.

Should I empty the urn?
If the water freezes inside it can expand
and crack the urn. So either empty the urn or keep
it going (moving water is harder to freeze) but please keep an eye on it. If you decide to empty it and the urn has a pipe in the middle which acts as a backflow device, you can usually unscrew it and let the water drain out through the bottom. Another way is to carefully attach a hose to the top of the pipe and redirect the water out of the urn. If you turn the feature off you can also take the urn to a protected area, turn it upside down, or wrap it in bubble wrap.

Should I take the pump out?
If you have emptied the urn you should take the pump indoors in case there is any residual water inside the pump that may freeze and crack it. If your pump is in a reservoir below 6" of water it should be fine.
toms picture

Should I put anti-freeze in the feature?
NO!!!

Note: if you do leave the feature running and it does start to form ice be careful that your reservoir does not run dry as your pump will then burn out.

Click below for more information on
winterizing your pond

Ice on the pond

Pond water receives its oxygen from the air. During periods of prolonged ice cover on the water, harmful gases released by decaying organic debris on the pond bottom can accumulate beneath the ice and prevent oxygen getting into the water. You need to keep a hole in the ice open so that these harmful gases can escape or it could kill your fish.

We are lucky in the Pacific Northwest in that we rarely get complete ice cover for more than a few days. If the ice remains for more than a week, you should take measures to increase the gas exchange. Do not use a hammer to break up the ice. The shock waves can harm your fish. Once every few days you can pour some boiling water in a couple of spots and melt holes in the ice. If you want to take care of it automatically, purchase a pond de-icer unit which will keep an open hole in the ice.

For more information on winterizing your pond click here .

toms picture

The Koi in Hughes Water Gardens large pond under a 2" sheet of ice during the December freeze of 2009.

Pond De-Icers

Pond de-icers keep an area of pond surface open for vital gas exchange. Hughes has many styles in stock.

Get them before the ice comes and we run out of stock.

To shop online for pond de-icers click here

Hughes Water Gardens Coupon $5.00 Off Regular priced items over $25.00
Offer Expires: 12/25/2010 coupon valid in store only