The Overflowing Urn

Here is a quick photo journey through the overflowing urn. I finally found my urn, basin and grate at Wakoola Water Gardens in Cumming, GA. I suggest anyone who wants a pond, overflowing urn, yard art, fun afternoon take a trip to this place. My mother and I went, and I am shocked we ever left!

I realized that I was never going to be able to dig a deep or wide enough hole where I wanted it due to the roots of this tree, so I had to get creative. I decided it would be neat to nestle the pot against the tree and roots.

I built two retaining walls with the Pavestone Windsor block you see in this picture. I had a few pieces left over, so I decided to put them to good use. That is the basin that will house the pump and water reservoir, with a heavy duty grate on top. The silver line is duct tape were a hole to access the pump has been cut in the grate.

Here is the urn I picked. it is by Le Beau, and is frost proof. This is crucial because in the winter, if the water freezes the pot could crack. I have buried part of the wall I created, and am packing dirt behind the blocks to ensure everything stays in place.

This is the inside of the pot. I ran a flexible vinyl 1/2 inch tube through one of the holes in the base, and used silicon outdoor waterproof caulk to seal around the tube and to plug the other hole. The hardest part about the process was waiting 8 hours for the silicon to dry before I could fill it with water!

Here I took landscape fabric and duct tape to cover any gaps where the square grate did not fit the round basin. (I could have purchased a basin and grate kit for $300, but I decided to create my own for $50... so I had to get a little creative). the pot is being supported by the grate, and by a cinder block I found in my yard.

It took 8 bags of top soil to fill in around the basin. Here you can see where I have planted (counter clockwise) an upside down fern, some moss, an impatiens, a succulent ground cover, another impatiens and a Japanese painted fern. I had to place large rocks in strategic places to help hold the dirt in place.

The next step is to place the rock down on the grate. Before I did that, I ensure that the pump worked. I decided to purchase 3 .5 cubic foot bags of egg rock from Lowes ($3.99 a bag) instead of buying 3 $39.99 bags of rock from the pond section.

Ta-da! I also used a big rock from my yard as a decorative accent on the left side of the fountain.

I used the leftover egg rock on the steps that are next to the fountain to tie the two areas in to each other. There is a drain pipe that dumps out on the rock next to the steps, so the rock helps reduce erosion.

Here it is with water in the pot. The waterflow sounds fantastic and is very pretty. I am going to work on where the tube is placed to hopefully achieve a more dramatic waterflow from the urn. All in all it was a fun project and really adds a lot to my yard. Here is the view from my swing, a drastic improvement from where it was before!