Nedra Crow
Fenton, Missouri USA
1930-2007
By Nedra Crow - Click images to enlarge
Since the 1950s I had wanted a pond but I could not get my
husband involved in it…. He had NO interest at all. In the
60s I bought a patio book - in the pages it showed a beautiful
pond with ferns and all sorts of shady plants around it. I folded
the page and stuck it in my wallet. After I retired in 1991,
I 
unfolded
my dream and started thinking seriously about having a pond dug.
Nothing large - just a little something for beautiful lilies
… maybe two of them. This pond was dug by a fellow who had
destroyed my park-like backyard. He had put in a new septic system.
My new pond was all of 125 gallons! And I thought I owned the
world. All that summer I played with the pond - got wonderful
blooms on my lilies … but something was missing.
One day at Best Of Nature, I spied gorgeous koi … two of them … swimming around in Connie's tanks. She told me all about the hobby of koi keeping - and I became an enthusiast right off the bat. I collected two more koi (4 inches each) and 3 goldfish. All for a 125 gallon pond!! I stumbled across the newsgroup rec.ponds and started reading and researching. To my horror I realized that I had stuffed 4 small koi and 3 goldfish in a tiny pond big enough for maybe two goldfish.
In
October of 1995 a fellow came over to do some yard work …
I talked him into digging a big pond for me. It measures 15'
x 13' and varies in depth from 2.5 feet to about 3 feet. He built
some shelves into the pond for me too. I didn't move my koi right
away…. I was afraid to! In March the following year I moved
the koi and goldfish into the big pond…. Oh how they frolicked
and laughed and played! I had 5 lilies that were so pretty …
they got moved over to the 
big
pond as well. Well… you know the koi were so delighted with
the lilies they would show off in front of me by pulling them
out of their pots and racing across the pond with them dangling
in their mouths. Naturally the lilies took offense at this treatment
and decided they would not show up the next year for such untoward
treatment. Only three have survived and they grow and bloom in
spite of the attentions of the koi.
Time has a way of getting past folk who are content in what
they are doing. I discovered I was in love (again) with lotus.
I shopped around the net and finally decided to check the local
pond shops. There I found a BUY! I could not believe the price
the lady was asking so I scooped up four of them. I bought Ben
Gibson, Mrs. Perry D. Slocum, 
Chawan Basu and Momo Botan.
I planted them in round pots in whiskey barrels… the Mrs.
Perry D. Slocum got planted in the 125 gallon pond. It bloomed
like crazy. There are more pictures of them on my first web site.
In September I started worrying about how I was going to winter
them over in my zone 6 climate. I came up blank and decided to
have a lotus pond dug. This was in 1998/1999. The lotus really
love this pond and prove it year after year with bumper crops
of gorgeous blossoms. That brings me up to this summer. I added
a web page for lotuses. As you can see, I adore my koi and lotuses.
I have 2 sons, 2 daughters-in law and 4 grandchildren. All live close to me, lucky gal that I am. I still live in the house my husband and I bought in 1957. It's small but big enough for me and my vast collection of beautiful memories of ponds and lilies and, now, fish! And I'm a proud member of the St. Louis Water Gardening Society.
Nedra Crow passed away suddenly October 13, 2007, and will be greatly missed.