Although the previous owners had filled in the frog pond, we easily unearthed an intact concrete hole. The design added a waterfall to the existing pond requiring an intensive clearing of Japanese knotweed. Two frogs populated the pond within hours of filling it with water. We still don’t know how they heard about the “grand opening,” but the owner loves to sit on the newly stoned coping and watch the frogs hang out. Sasa veitchii, a 2′-5′ bamboo, graces one edge of the pond to direct visitors away from the deeper end of the pond and to invite them to sit around the shallow end. One side of the gentle slope is planted with a grove of birch trees and shade tolerant groundcovers Heuchera villosa, ‘Autumn Bride’, and Bleeding Hearts, along with ferns, mini-iris and other spring and fall bulbs. The other side is sprinkled with yellow and blue hosta varieties under-planted with a vigorous Lamiastrum galeobdolon for slope stabilization.