Green Vista Water Gardens
230 W. Main St. - Enon, OH 45323 - Tel: 937-864-7681

Wholesale, Retail, Landscape Installation; specializing in water gardens

Written comments prepared by: Lynette Overholser. Additional comments at the end of this document prepared by Robert Thurman.

The organization that was visited that I found to be the most interesting was Green Vista Water Gardens. It is an aquatic plant nursery, open to the public, that was located in Enon, Ohio. They provide plants for the backyard waterscape to the public as well as the materials to maintain those plants and ponds. Green Vista also does some installation of small ponds for the public and even some companies. They also subcontract to other landscape companies when those companies have clients that want a pond or other water feature in their yard. They do not offer any wholesale to other nurseries.

Fig 1. Steve Blessing, proprietor for Green Vista presented an overview of the company.

The size of Green Vista is not too great. The business is only two years old. There is a small amount of seasonal staff and two full time employees that work under the owner. There are also some volunteers who take care of a few of the areas of plants, so that's is why some of the plants have escaped their pots or have become quite over grown. Green Vista has about one half of an acre full of plant areas and display ponds.

The plant material grown is aquatic plants. Both tropical and hardy plants are offered for sale. There are no greenhouses to over-winter the tropical plants, so the complete stock must be sold before frost or else there will be money lost. For a two-year old operation one would think that greenhouses would be a necessity to help keep stock. More money would have to be invested in buying the plants again that one could already have had from the previous year. They have a good selection of aquatic plants, having much to offer, but not as much as compared to other aquatic plant nurseries in Ohio. There were a few oddities in the plant selection that are hard to find around this area, like a two-leaved water clover and the miniature water clover. There are also some water lily cultivars that are not as easily available in the other aquatic nurseries in this area.

Our host at Green Vista was the owner, Steve Blessing. His educational background consisted of graduating from Ohio State and Purdue University. He had obtained his masters in business instead of in extension as he had almost done.

Fig 2. Students examined the different kinds of goldfish that can be used in water gardens in Ohio.

The way the nursery was set up is unique to the style of gardens that the plants are suited for. Aquatic plants must be grown in water that covers the crowns by about two to four inches. If the plants are not in those conditions for longer than about a day they will dry out and die. At Green Vista one does not find the typical flats of plants offered on makeshift tables. Instead there are box-like structures built of wood, lined with 30 mil black plastic liners. They are made to suit the depth of the particular plant being grown therein. Most of the aquatic plants that are offered at Green Vista are known as marginal plants, which are grown in the shallow parts of ponds usually around the edges. The boxes those plants are in are only about eight inches to a foot deep. The other types of plants prefer to be about a foot or two deep in the water, which includes the water lilies and the lotus. The boxes that they are located in must be deeper than the marginals.

Also offered at Green Vista are various fish and other animals to live in the pond. Fish in the water garden are not only nice to look at, but they keep the water clean and free of mosquito larvae. Offered for sale at Green Vista are goldfish in many different forms and sizes, for instance there are all red goldfish, white goldfish, and the shubunkin or mottled form. There are Japanese koi for sale as well, which are similar to goldfish, but much larger and need more care and water filters. They come in practically any color in the rainbow, including silver and gold. The one other type of fish that one can purchase at Green Vista is the Golden Orfe. This is not as well known even in the water garden industry. This fish has a golden-orange color, lighter than a goldfish, and they are better suited to larger ponds, for they swim more rapidly than do koi or goldfish and they tend to jump out of the water frequently. Aside from fish Green Vista sells snails to help filter the pond and cut down on the amount of algae in the pond.

Fig 3. The company produces and sells a variety of aquatic plants.

As far as the plants that Green Vista has to offer, there is a fairly good variety. Some of the plants that are offered are the classic, well known, aquatic plants, such as; water lilies, lotus, cattails, and rushes. Other plants that people who are unfamiliar to aquatic plants will see for the first time which are native to the United States are; Pontedera cordata; pickerel rush, Saggiteria latifolia; arrowhead, and Caltha palustris, marsh marigold. Other plants that are to be offered at Green Vista include such things as tropical; pennywort, umbrella palms, thalia, floating water clover. Also Steve has a good array of tropical water lilies that are not as common in the home waterscape due to the hard time most customers have in over-wintering the plants.

Along with the plant material, there is advise written by the plant on how to grow the plant. Many larger nurseries will not care to do this for their customers, because that way they will come back to buy new plants, and they are large enough to not worry about a few disappointed customers. At a nursery such as Green Vista they care enough to help their customers as much as they can. They are after all a specialty nursery and business with unique clientele. They really can not afford to hurt their customers in any way, due to the small size of the company as well.

The other feature that one can purchase at Green Vista is the components to build a pond. They offer prefabricated ponds that are ready to be put in the ground. These are very difficult to work with in the private back yard. They have to be dug to the perfect size and leveled perfectly, there is no room for error when installing them. Steve will recommend using a plastic liner instead. They will drape into any hole that has been dug in the private yard. The private home owner can have more flexibility on their pond design using a liner, than if they used a prefabricated pond. Also if the customer has a small backyard or does not own their property, one can buy a tub, for a water garden, in almost any size. The tubs are molded plastic, like the prefabricated ponds. Unlike the prefab ponds they have more strength to them because they are not dug into the ground. Green Vista provides tubs in 2 foot diameter and in three foot diameter. The tubs come in either a terra cotta color or a black color. They can be purchased with shelves molded into the sides of the tub, to make it easier to place the marginals.

Green Vista has for purchase the finishing touches to water gardens as well. They have different rocks and bricks to go around the pond, as a aesthetic quality, as well as having the function of holding the liner in place. They also have the pumps and filters for a pond if one wants to keep the water clear. Steve recommends them to his customers, but does not stress them; for a water garden, if done right, should be able to maintain a balance on its own. The last thing that Green Vista offers are fountains and statuary for the pond. Many waterscapes have whimsical fountains in the shape of a maiden or frogs to spout water. The soothing sounds of running water are enough to calm the most stressed nerves.

Fig 4. Adjacent to the company's offices, an attractive water garden was installed and is maintained by the employees.

Green Vista has a few small display ponds on their grounds to show people different styles of water gardens. One such pond that has been installed on the Green Vista property has a waterfall made from a recirculating pump and rocks built up in a dome. It shows the proper planting depths of the plants, as well as displaying what they will look like once they are placed in the pond in a residential setting. That particular pond is only about three feet wide and four or five feet long. Many people coming to but plants are small home owners and do not have the space to do anything very large in their backyards. One other display pond of note is located at the restaurant, the Dock, next door to Green Vista. The pond is about four or five feet wide and eight feet long. It was put in with a plastic liner and has a few very nice water lilies displaying the beautiful blooms that the plants have until frost. The idea behind display ponds is for the customer to dream and have ideas on what they will want in their own yard.

Over all Green Vista is a wonderful nursery. The fact that it is still a young business does not harm the quality services that are coming out of the nursery. The market for water gardens still is thin, but when done well, as Green Vista does, one can make a nice living for themselves.

Other impressions by Robert Thurman:

Green Vista Water Gardens is a small company located in Enon, Ohio. Green Vista specializes in the wholesale and retail sale of aquatic plants and supplies though an onsite aquatic plant nursery, as well as designing and installing water features for commercial and residential clients. . The nursery offers many tropical and native water plants as well as fish, with most of the plant material consisting of 50 different cultivars of water lilies.
The company, which started in 1995, is very small. It employs up to 6 people during peak times, and is run by the owner/operator, Steve Blessing, the remainder of the year. This can be accomplished partly because of the unorthodox business hours. Green Vista is open regular hours on Saturday and Sunday, but is open by appointment only during the week. This allows Mr. Blessing to work in the nursery during the week without interuptions, and if someone were to need his assistance he doesn't have to worry about missing them because he is working away from the store.
Steve Blessing has a degree from The Ohio State University, and a Masters from Purdue University. He has worked for over 20 years in the industry, and now offers his services though his nursery, as well as through consulting, staff training, and public seminars. He seems to be committed to his trade and was enthusiastic when discussing the company with the group. Even with this enthusiasm, Green Vista, in my opinion, is too specialized to be highly successful. Although I do not know if a large successful company is what Mr. Blessing is looking for, I feel that growth is important for a company's survival, and I don't see Green Vista growing very much based on its current situation.