Creating Serenity Spokane Company Helps Homeowners Discover The Pleasure Of Pond Gardening By Tom Sowa Staff Writer

The gardening market has gushed with profits in recent years, and a large part of that growth comes from customers crazy about ponds, water features and fish.

Some homeowners say they find pleasure gazing quietly into a pond edged with water lilies or lotuses.

And some of the interest comes from people totally lacking a green thumb who still want to turn a patch of yard into something serene.

In any event, open the Yellow Pages and you’ll find nearly a dozen specialty dealers focusing almost exclusively on the pond and water gardening craze.

Cindy and Jeff Dearing are part of that group, operating Koi Gardens at 6903 E. Weile, just off Bigelow-Gulch Road.

Five years ago, both had full-time jobs, working 40- to 50-hour weeks. Both discovered the pleasures of pond gardening while traveling to Hawaii several years ago. “What started as a hobby became our business,” said Cindy Dearing. They started the business five years ago, trying their hands first as a wholesale supplier.

Four years ago they switched to retail pond supplies, pond plants and fish.

“We still work hard, but doing this kind of work - water gardening - is a lot more relaxing than the job I had as a retail manager,” she said.

The business fills a shop built next door to their neatly landscaped front yard.

Several ponds in their yard serve as demos for customers - whose interests range from simple ponds in a converted whiskey barrel to elaborate designs with cascading pools and exotic plants.

In addition to pond kits for do-it-yourselfers, the Dearings sell about 100 types of water plants and a wide assortment of koi — vegetarian Japanese carp that are traditionally used in residential ponds.

They keep about 500 koi. In Japan, the fish, considered sacred pets, have been raised for centuries.

“They help people relax,” said Jeff Dearing. “They are incredibly calming fish. People can teach them to come up to you and let you pet them.”

Unlike other pond garden specialists in this area, the Dearings don’t install. “Our focus is to assist the customer to build a clean, clear and healthy pond,” said Jeff Dearing.

He said part of his trade comes from victims of “green-water” disasters, people who buy a starter pond kit and discover a clean pool doesn’t happen without effort.

“You can buy pond kits almost anywhere these days. If you don’t get the right filtration and follow other guidelines, the results can be a smelly mess,” said Jeff Dearing.

Good service invites customers to return and leads to new clients, the Dearings say.

They offer once-a-month classes on pond building or caring for water plants and koi.

Other area garden shops take similar approaches. Blue Iris Water Gardens in the Valley, for instance, sells similar products, but offers customers the help of a certified water master gardener and a “fish health consultant.”

Koi, though a hardy breed of fish, face an assortment of risks. Improper pool design opens the door to invasion by area predators, said Jeff Dearing. “I had to research how to build the walls of pools, because of raccoons in our area,” he said.

Not keeping ponds clean increases the chances that bacteria will thrive, creating problems for either the plants or the koi, added Jeff Dearing.

That concern rises with the amount of money a customer spends on koi. Said Cindy Dearing: “You can spend anywhere from $9 per koi, up to $1,000 a fish.”

The Dearings keep their business open Wednesdays through Sundays from April to September.