Though the water feature looks decorative in its own right, initially embellished with ornamental grasses and water irises to make it look part of the natural landscape, subsequent plantings of trees and shrubs produce a lush, wilderness effect. For example, I obtained from a local tree nursery three large weeping white pines and a weeping spruce to form a background curtain of evergreen leaves. I have also strategically planted creeping ground cover plants like 'Blue Rug' juniper, dragon's blood Sedum, many kinds of Hosta, and a bronze-leaf bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) to crawl over boulders and soften their hard lines.

However, predominantly around the pool, are mostly plants with golden or yellow leaves. This includes gold variegated Yucca, golden creeping Euonymus, and 'Bowles Golden' grass (Carex elata). A type of hardy perennial sedge grass, it grows with its roots permanently submerged in shallow water. These not only contrast well with the dark greens of indigenous oak and juniper trees in the background, but also help to create exquisite golden water reflections, for in all of nature there are few more uplifting sights than golden leaves reflected in company with a blue-sky reflection.

The Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, alerted the world to the charm of a pond with plantings deliberately placed to create sensational water reflections. Toward the end of his life, it was the pond surface that he most liked to paint. What he accomplished with paint, I emulate with photography.

My dipping pool not only has high, well-drained areas for planting trees and shrubs, but also several low boggy areas for bog-loving plants like Japanese Primula and ostrich ferns. I also have a collection of bog-loving insectivorous plants like pitcher plants and sundews. 

Along the feeder stream, there is a colony of watercress for harvesting fresh edible greens year round, and the tree plantings include a grove of 'Heritage' river birch with decorative, honey-colored, flaking bark. I have also planted around the pool a group of a dozen winterberry shrubs, a favorite winter food of bluebirds, plus azaleas and Rhododendrons that love the environment of a pool, and drifts of daffodils that have naturalized freely for flowering early in the season. Strategically placed Japanese thread-leaf maples extend their fleecy branches to the water's edge and ensure vibrant orange leaf coloration in fall in harmony with the amber blades of the ornamental grasses.

A nature trail surrounds the entire area, with wood chip paths winding in and out of adjacent woodland, with a small bridge to cross a boggy section. Thriving already are colonies of Virginia bluebells, Trillium, English primroses and blue woodland Phlox.