Where Good Things Grow
Brandy Goodman, Permian Basin Master Gardener Intern
At first, our pond began as something we created for ourselves. We wanted a place to sit in the evenings and listen to the waterfall. We stamped out the shape with sharp shovels and sliced out the outline. It ended up looking like the letter “b” (for Brandy, I thought). Our neighbor used his Bobcat to clear the dirt at a gradient with a shallow, rocky side and a deeper level at the far end. As we filled it with about 7,000 gallons of water, I imagined the evening ambiance. Living in West Texas my whole life, I stood there daydreaming of daisies, ducks, and fireflies. It soon became clear that we weren’t the only ones interested in hanging around under the Pecan trees. A water turtle found its way to our backyard. The pond became a watering hole, a nursery, a hunting ground, a playground, and depending on the day, a very busy little neighborhood.
The pond is 9 years old now. Some of this grassy bank’s residents have been here from the very beginning, and others continue to accumulate. Our goldfish are 5 years old now, having lived underneath the surface and bunking down in the rocks through Midland’s 111-degree summers, freaky freezes, sudden storms, and changing seasons, while an entire little ecosystem has developed around them.
Around the B-shaped waterscape, grow the Blue Gramma, Winecups, and Skullcap. Rosemoss, Lavender, Rosemary, and first-year Hollyhocks are all new to the yard since the start of the Native Agenda. The foliage is home to dragonflies and damselflies who skim the surface of the pond like skiers across the water. The nearby grasses are a nursery for mosquito larvae and other insect eggs that will soon debut in the gardens. The butterflies, bees, and other pollinators move amongst the flowers and herbs, tracking pollen with their feet and depositing eggs to secure these beautiful creatures’ future.
The birds dance and hop along the rocks for a sip of water or a bath. Some dive for a refreshing swallow of water or tiny goldfish. High in the Afghan pine tree, just outside my bedroom door, lives a great horned owl. She makes her night flight pattern in a triangular shape along the skyline over Coyote Trail. Then there are the visitors. One of the most impressive is the great Blue heron. There is something so prehistoric when seeing such a large bird standing quietly at the edge of the pond. Of course, when you have 5-year-old goldfish, you wouldn't necessarily greet a fishing heron with quite the enthusiasm another birdwatcher might. Still, seeing this majestic creature at our pond is a remarkable reminder of the diverse ecosystem that exists near our home in the playas of West Texas.
A trio of brother ducks dropped in the Gardens. They didn't seem to notice the audience and were caught up in the young ducks’ desire to splash around and feed. I even managed to capture video of the three of them somersaulting around the yard. They were juvenile and jolly.
In the evenings, the pond glows with soft solar lights, and the symphony of frogs brings a soundtrack no photograph could capture. I see them leap across the yard to the water’s edge and realize that the water is only part of their story.
It isn't a perfectly manicured landscape, and increasingly that is intentional. We've begun leaving some areas unmowed and relatively undisturbed for pollinators, prairie dogs, rabbits, and more. It's amazing what happens when you resist the urge to mow down everything you didn't personally plant.
One of my favorite examples began with an American Basketflower. We simply let it grow. It eventually reached 3 ft 7 inches tall. As it continued blooming, we kept counting. By the time the West Texas heat finally took it, in early July, that single plant had put on 62 beautifully woven purple basketblower blooms! Had we mowed the patch because it looked a little wild, we never would have known what was growing there. Those flowers were the hub for so many insects that pollinate our vegetable garden near the pond.
As far as I'm concerned, there will ALWAYS be tomatoes. New this year: eggplant, summer squash, luffas for fun, and honeydew melon, along with cucumbers, beans, watermelons, and pumpkins. The vegetables add another layer to the pond, depending on the season. It's a beautiful relationship among not only pollinators and native plants and trees, but also mesquite, Turks cap, Yucca, Echinacea, Sunflowers, Zinnias, marigolds, vitex, datura,and Honeysuckle. There is something particularly meaningful about watching this flourish in Midland. We live in an arid part of Texas where water is as precious as the people are.
Providing water, flowering plants, trees, food sources, and wild spaces can make any backyard inviting to wildlife. At Goodman Gardens, homeschool kids and their families come regularly to learn and explore outdoors. The pond has become one of our favorite classrooms. Surprisingly, the pond has attracted something else too: a beautiful community of humans, each in awe of Mother Nature. We come together to observe, research, nurture the property, expand our outreach, and reinforce our lesson plans. We are part of this ecosystem, too. For the 5th year, we've cultivated a culture of respect for true community in this wild space. I love that this began with a simple seed. Perhaps the most unexpected thing we've cultivated at Goodman Gardens is the one with the deepest roots: community.
If you have questions, call the AgriLife office in Odessa at 432-498-4071 or Midland at 432-686-4700. Additional information and our blog, with access to past articles, are available at westtexasgardening.org. Click on “Resources.”
