Fill your senses during Wichita’s annual Water Garden Tour

A 30,000-gallon pond, which was once an in-ground swimming pool, is just one of the many water features you can visit during a water garden and pond tour in Wichita next weekend.

Park on the street and take a walk through the woods on a winding stone walkway and you will stumble across what Tim and Barbara McKee call their secret garden. Tucked away in the woods, and covered by natural shade, you’ll find her favorite spot to enjoy a glass of wine or iced tea and — if you’re lucky — dragonflies flying around the garden and the 30,000-gallon pond.

“Dragonflies mean it’s a happy pond,” Barbara said as she pointed to a dragonfly landing on a lilypad. “When I see them here, I take that as a compliment.”

Listen and you’ll hear water from the fountains pouring into the reconstructed in-ground swimming pool, which is now home to goldfish and lily pads.

“It’s one of my favorite sounds,” she said. “I can sit and listen out here all day.”

You won’t be able to see the fish, though. The water is dyed a dark green, which inhibits algae growth by reducing the amount of sunlight that can reach the pond.

The McKee’s pond, along with 11 other fish ponds and water gardens, is part of the Kansas Pond Society’s two-day water garden tour in Wichita and the surrounding area June 17-18.

The booklet — which is the $10 ticket for the self-guided tour — includes addresses, directions and descriptions for each pond. The booklet provides entry for one carload into nine home gardens, Botanica, Hong’s Landscape and Nursery and Scenic Landscapes Water Garden Nursery. Both nurseries are open for viewing on Saturday only.

The booklets can be purchased in advance at Hong’s, Scenic Landscape, Johnson’s Garden Center and at Tails and Scales in Derby. You can also purchase one on Saturday and Sunday of the tour at the McKee’s home at 1515 Willow Lane in Wichita.

Mike Kandt, president of the Kansas Pond Society, said he expects about 500 people to take the tour, which he said provides the community with the opportunity to view ponds and water gardens.

“The boundaries blend between ponds and water gardens, and we use them interchangeably,” Kandt said. “The primary difference is water gardens are plant dominated and ponds are fish dominated.”

The water features on the tour may be as small as a bathtub to as big as a 30,000-gallon swimming pool.

“We like them all,” Kandt said. “They all have different purposes, and every place has their own character.”

Hong’s Landscape and Nursery has a koi pond with a red, wooden bridge.

“We specialize in koi ponds and help others build and maintain their ponds,” said Lori Hong, retail and office manager of the nursery.

The opportunity to show off water attractions is one reason the society hosts the tour each year, Kandt said.

“We want to help people understand the relationship between a pond and outdoor living,” he said. “It’s something to see, to hear, to enjoy. We develop our own small ecoystem that replicates a natural ecosystem.”

The tour is also beneficial for the hosts of the tour, Barbara McKee said.

“It gives us the opportunity to clean up and do the work we’ve been saying we are going to do,” she said.

McKee said the tour helps those who already have a water garden get new ideas to implement into their ponds.

“We are not masters,” she said. “Nature is the boss, and we’re always learning new ways to do things. This club gives us the courage to keep going and try new things.”

And there is always something new to learn and new styles gardeners can adapt, Kandt said.

“This whole water garden thing covers a lot of ground,” he said. “Do you want to attract wildlife? Do you want to mask the sound of the highway with a fountain? Do you want something peaceful? Do you want a project where the kids can get involved? There are a lot of variables you can see and learn about on the tour from others who are doing it.”

This story was originally published June 9, 2017 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Fill your senses during Wichita’s annual Water Garden Tour."