DVWGS Social and Garden Visit
Saturday June 17, 1:30 to 6:00 PM
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DVWGS Members are invited to an open house and dinner at the home and beautiful pond of Joe Marino and Jim Perkowski at 11 Barbieri Court, Princeton, NJ 08540 (Click for a map and directions).
Joe and Jim will provide dinner with an Italian flair, and drinks. Guests are asked to bring an appetizer or a dessert to this fabulous gathering. Dinner will be served at about 4:30 PM. Please RSVP to Victor Barsky (petfoodboy@aol.com) with the number of people and the side dish you will bring. |
Note: The home is in the"Princeton Place" community right off of Route 27 just north of Route 518. It is the 6th house on the left with a white mailbox. PLEASE PARK ON ONE SIDE OF THE ROAD ONLY. IF NECESSARY, drive to the end of the road and turn around at the cul-de-sac to make it easier to park on one side of the road.
More about Joe and Jim's Pond and Garden...
Joe Marino and Jim Perkowski have been koi pond owners and enthusiasts for almost 25 years. Since they have been visiting pond owners on the DVWGS pond tours for years and years they now feel it is their turn to return the favor to their fellow DVWGS enthusiasts. The plan is to spend some time together sharing the water features, gardens and stories that come with maintaining crystal clear water without chemicals and keeping away the blue and green heron. There are plenty of other stories to share during a relaxing afternoon of walking around the gardens, sitting down and eating good food.
These pond owners have graduated from a self-built 3,000 gallon pond that took over 3 years to build and that was home to about 25 koi to an 18,000 gallon pond that took a contractor 3 days to build that houses over 500 koi.
A 2.5 foot deep circular pond that is 18 feet in diameter is the home to water lilies, lotus plants, frogs that sit on plant leaves as well as hundreds of koi eggs that were gathered from the main pond to protect them from the bad parenting skills of the adult koi. Not to worry, the baby koi are returned to their parents who live in the main pond when they are harvested in October.
Joe Marino and Jim Perkowski have been koi pond owners and enthusiasts for almost 25 years. Since they have been visiting pond owners on the DVWGS pond tours for years and years they now feel it is their turn to return the favor to their fellow DVWGS enthusiasts. The plan is to spend some time together sharing the water features, gardens and stories that come with maintaining crystal clear water without chemicals and keeping away the blue and green heron. There are plenty of other stories to share during a relaxing afternoon of walking around the gardens, sitting down and eating good food.
These pond owners have graduated from a self-built 3,000 gallon pond that took over 3 years to build and that was home to about 25 koi to an 18,000 gallon pond that took a contractor 3 days to build that houses over 500 koi.
A 2.5 foot deep circular pond that is 18 feet in diameter is the home to water lilies, lotus plants, frogs that sit on plant leaves as well as hundreds of koi eggs that were gathered from the main pond to protect them from the bad parenting skills of the adult koi. Not to worry, the baby koi are returned to their parents who live in the main pond when they are harvested in October.
A gentle waterfalls flows from the circular "plant" pond to the main pond that houses only koi. The exact number of koi that are swimming around in the 45 foot long by 20 foot wide by 4.5 foot deep main pond is not exactly known, but it has been estimated to be close to 500 koi. What is for certain is that the resident koi consume well over 200 lbs of koi food per season. Most of the koi are offspring of one male and two females that have been part of this koi family for almost 20 years. It is amazing to see so many koi gather together under the main waterfalls and then quickly line up and swim to the other end of the pond near the other water falls. It is simply mesmerizing to watch such a large number of koi in orderly motion.
The owners of this pond are boasting of a crystal clear and chemical free water quality. They owe it all to a recent super upgrade to the filtering system. ( See picture attached) Four bottom drains and a skimmer feed into three carbon copies of a 3 component system. Each system consists of an integrated pre-filter, ultra-violet lamp, and a bead filter. Gone are the days of the messy, clog prone gravity fed system that took 10 hours to clean every 3 weeks. The owners will demo the 5 minute feature of backwashing ... and claim that they can completely clean their filters and do a major water change wearing a good suit and tie.
Jim, Joe and their two puppies Tapi and Oca are waiting to have some fun and share the afternoon with their DVWGS friends.
Jim, Joe and their two puppies Tapi and Oca are waiting to have some fun and share the afternoon with their DVWGS friends.