About a year after we moved in, I phoned the local conservation department. I explained how I’d like to restore the pond in our backyard, but felt like I was in over my head. Seriously. My former garden had been a postage stamp, easy to keep healthy. Here, things were much bigger, and our new town had a very respectable conservation department. Among other things, I wanted to make sure it was okay to plant things like willows and Clethra, which brought the response, “Well, that certainly sounds reasonable!”
I mentioned how we were aware, when we purchased the house the year before, that we’d have to renovate the entire thing, including its precariously-built exterior deck (a large i-beam held up one whole side of it)! We’d knew we’d have to deal with “the yard,” a sloping area between the house and pond, and a large infestation of knotweed. And the tall, invasive grasses taking over the pond were downright scary. I didn’t even know what they were. My years of “gardening” had not prepared me for this.
I needed advice, opinions, any help I could get. The conservation department responded quickly, in less than a week. Two people, the Director of the Department of Conservation and a Board Member/Co-Chair, stopped by to look at it that Friday at 1 pm.
