The photo above is of the St.Joseph Hospital fish pond garden designed by Wolfgang Oehme in 1974.
While taking
a walk with my family today I suddenly realized that water, or more
specifically, fish ponds in gardens, played an important role in my dad’s life. I remarked that fish pond gardens were Wolfgang Oehme's legacy that is now the Oehme family's legacy.
You see, my dad grew up observing, playing with, and maintaining a fish pond where he lived in Germany. As a young adult he worked in gardens that had fish ponds in Germany and elsewhere. I know he worked in the large park in Hamburg called Planten en Blomen that has extensive water gardens. After he moved to the US and he was designing gardens, he always designed fish ponds if the client was open to the idea. An example is the Japanese style garden he designed in the early 1970’s for St. Joseph Hospital which had a fish pond and waterfall. I played there as a young child. I think there is still a plaque there about his role. And, the water garden became the hallmark of the many Oehme, van Sweden designs. Finally, in his own gardens he always designed and built a fish pond.
You see, my dad grew up observing, playing with, and maintaining a fish pond where he lived in Germany. As a young adult he worked in gardens that had fish ponds in Germany and elsewhere. I know he worked in the large park in Hamburg called Planten en Blomen that has extensive water gardens. After he moved to the US and he was designing gardens, he always designed fish ponds if the client was open to the idea. An example is the Japanese style garden he designed in the early 1970’s for St. Joseph Hospital which had a fish pond and waterfall. I played there as a young child. I think there is still a plaque there about his role. And, the water garden became the hallmark of the many Oehme, van Sweden designs. Finally, in his own gardens he always designed and built a fish pond.
I experienced the
joy of observing and playing with the water and animals in our fish pond as I grew up. And, I
helped my dad maintain our fish pond. An interesting story is when I was maybe
eight or nine years, I caught crayfish in the stream near our home and released
some in our fish pond. Well they loved it there so much that they were
multiplying greatly. Strangely our fish were decreasing in numbers. And, then I
realized that the crayfish were eating our fish. So, the crayfish had to go
since we wanted to see beautiful fish, not creepy crayfish, which you don’t really
see anyways since they hide most of the time. I remember after we drained the
pond for a cleaning, I was catching all of the crayfish and I found a pregnant
female with a mass of eggs under her tail. I caught her just in time. After
that, we had no more crayfish and our fish came back. Such fond memories last a
lifetime.
And, that interest
and caring for nature is the legacy my dad taught me, and is what I am teaching
my son. I wish all children had the opportunity to grow up with an appreciation
for the natural world. If this were so, then there would be no environmental
destruction since when the children grow up and become adults, they would always
remember there connection to nature and would never destroy it. That is why I
think there should be a national program to create schoolyard flower and
vegetable gardens where children learn about plants and animals of the natural
world, and learn how to be farmers by growing their own food. Gardens can
easily be used in the teaching curriculum and such lessons would create better
educated, more emotionally aware, and more intelligent adults.
For me, I would never consider harming the environment; I only think of how I can help foster the natural world and help wildlife. And I realize that my father’s love of nature runs through me and has created a foundation in my life that guides and inspires me every day. Someday I will create a water garden for my family.
For me, I would never consider harming the environment; I only think of how I can help foster the natural world and help wildlife. And I realize that my father’s love of nature runs through me and has created a foundation in my life that guides and inspires me every day. Someday I will create a water garden for my family.
