Goodrich – Heading south on M-15, EZ Ponds is barely visible before rounding the bend to cross the bridge out of town.
Turn into the drive, and you’ll be rewarded with an oasis of information to build or maintain your own water garden, along with soothing scenery, home to deer, Canada geese, and other wildlife.
‘People are always saying it’s such a nice place,? said co-owner Brandy Zdenek . ‘There’s lots to look at, it’s part of the reason people come back to us once they find us.?
For the past five years, owners Bill Burrows and his daughter Brandy have expanded VG Greenhouse to include pond supplies and fish. The greenhouse construction company was started by Burrows, with the name stemming from a former florist shop, Village Greenery.
Due to Burrows? love for ponds, he gradually began adding fish and pond supplies.
‘It never had its own separate name,? said Brandy, who runs EZ Ponds with her husband Chad Zdenek. As of this spring, the name EZ Ponds was added, named for the couple’s young son.
The sound of a fountain is quiet music to customers? ears as they walk through a greenhouse holding tanks of water plants. Inside the store, a second room has been added to house 160 new products the store carries, including fish, supplies and nearly everything needed for your waterscape, including barrel kits for waterfalls.
The products aren’t what you’ll find at the big-box building stores.
‘We test the products,? says Brandy. ‘We try everything we have.?
Product lines include Beckett, Nursery Pro, Easy Pro filters and skimmers, Pondmaster, Microbe-lift, Algae Fix, and Accu-clear.
EZ Ponds also carries supplies for large ponds and fountains covering up to approximately two acres, such as aerators and bacteria products to reduce sludge, keeping water clean and algae controlled. The store is also a favorite source for golf courses and housing complexes that maintain waterscapes.
A variety of domestic and imported goldfish and koi are available. Look for Sarasa, Shubunkins, fantail and comet goldfish. Snails and tadpoles are also sold in season.
The store carries approximately 40 types of plants and surface covering plants such as water lilies, water hyacinths, and horsetail rush, along with oxygenators’clumps of inexpensive bottom-dwelling plants that enhance a pond’s health and provide a medium in which fish can spawn.
Along with an extensive and reliable product line, EZ Pond’s most unique feature is the help they provide customers.
Although young, Brandy and Chad are well-versed in building and maintaining ecologically-sound waterscapes.
Whether stopping into the shop, calling, or sending an e-mail, customers find the pair genuinely friendly and willing to find solutions to their pond situations.
In addition to one-to-one help, EZ Ponds offers an online monthly newsletter.
Two pond seminars, held from 11 a.m. to noon Aug. 7 and Aug. 14 will be conducted at the store, with information about planning a water feature, preparing a site, and installing and maintaining a pond.
For a nominal fee, EZ Ponds also offers on-site consultations to help a customer visualize where to place a new waterscape and offer design inspiration, or work through maintenance solutions and problem-solve.
With increasingly busy lifestyles, customers are looking for ‘relatively inexpensive? ways to relax, said Brandy.
‘It’s nice to unplug from the TV, cell phones’a great way for family to be together, and enjoy their time together.?
With waterfalls and fountains providing a particularly soothing sound, it’s becoming more common to locate one near a bedroom window, Brandy said.
Although water plants have different requirements than earth gardens, many water-gardeners enjoy working with the plants, which protect the water from algae by blocking sunlight and absorbing the extra nutrients that algae feed on.
The surface coverage provided by plants also protects fish from predators.
Fish become like pets, says Brandy, who offers advice to prepare ponds to keep fish over the winter. With their unique colorful markings, many pond-owners recognize and name individual fish, and can train fish to greet them at feeding time.
To learn more, call (810) 636-2600 or go to www.ezponds.net.