The Leaside Public Library played host to the Leaside Garden Society for a spring meeting on water features. The gathering attracted an enthusiastic crowd eager to learn from Peter Gill, president of the Ontario Water Garden Society.

Gill used his skills from Ontario Hydro to share his expertise on pumps and motors, water gardening safety and how to use water features as aesthetic décor.

“It makes it attractive. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, you can have a small little pond and just by throwing a little boat or something in, it changes the whole look of it,” Gill said.

City Councillor John Parker, Ward 26, attended the meeting. Parker is a former member of the club and while he can’t make it to all its meetings, he occasionally does, which he describes as “time-well spent.”

“Tonight we got a sense of what’s involved in getting into it. I never thought that it could be done in a small scale. It got me interested,” Parker said.

Gill noted any small feature enhances a garden, such as adding decorative statues or water lilies to a small pond. He stressed that features added to gardens do not have to be ‘mammoth projects.’

“It’s the other things that go around it. It’s the stones, the choice of stone colour and everything else that makes it up. It’s your imagination. You do it because you like it,” Gill said.

Parker shared that he and his wife have never done any water gardening, but said he’s always happy to learn from expert commentators.

“I have always found that the meetings here are worth attending. The information here are always top quality, always useful and the spirit in this club is very positive. There’s a common sense of purpose to the members of this club, which is very enriching and encouraging,” he said.