A Fish Pond Fable

A little work (and money) can create the water feature you want.

- By Chaz Muth

THE VIEW FROM THE kitchen window into Kirsch Jones’ backyard is not what you’d expect in Charles Village, where rowhouses typically have postage-stamp-sized yards. His vista reveals a lush sanctuary anchored by a water garden teeming with colorful fish.

It’s a vision Jones had when he moved into the neighborhood in the 1980s—a peaceful refuge from the concrete urban jungle, with the sounds of water babbling in a fragrant, floral setting.

So, he began digging up the tiny yard to create a 1,600-gallon fish pond with stone waterways, a biological filter, a stream, a waterfall, and a mixture of perennials and tropical annuals.