St. Joseph may one day be known as the city of water gardens — that is if the St. Joseph Water Garden Society continues its present course.

The non-profit group is observing its 10th anniversary this year of encouraging and building ponds and water gardens throughout the area. To celebrate, they will be hosting a 10-pond tour at members’ homes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 6. The tour is free and open to the public.

Richard and Carolyn Woods’ home in Carriage Hills will be one of the stops. They have been members for two years.

“We really enjoy the camaraderie, sharing plants, ideas and helping each other,” Mr. Woods says.

They have a 12-foot-by-12-foot pond in the front of their house filled with dozens of goldfish and a variety of plants, including water iris, black taro, purple alligator tail and blooming yellow canna. Limestone rocks, which they got from a friend, surround the pond. Normally shade-loving impatiens are planted in between the rocks and grow without soil and in full sun.

“Just make sure the ends of the roots touch the water,” Mrs. Woods says.

One of the pond’s four water features includes a great blue heron fountain that sprays water back into the pond. On some days, he is joined by real blue herons, who make regular appearances in the neighborhood, most likely on the hunt for the goldfish swimming deep in the pond.

It’s a joy every day coming home to a water garden, the Woods say, but you can get involved with the club even if you don’t have a pond of your own. The group is involved in numerous community projects. One of its first projects was rehabbing the pond at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. A former member continues to take care of the pond, says Jan Reed, the group’s publicity chairman.

“It was an old, original fishpond that was grown over,” Mrs. Reed says. “The Boy Scouts found it and started digging it out, but didn’t have the resources to set it up. That’s when the water garden society came in.”

In 2002, the group built a complete water garden at the LaVerna Village Nursing Home in Savannah, Mo., for the residents. And in 2006, members built a water garden and butterfly garden at the United Cerebral Palsy building. The group’s current project is the most ambitious to date — a pond-less waterfall in the front of Hillyard Technical School.

The goal is to “energize the community about water gardens,” says Don Sams, president of the club, “to encourage involvement with water rain gardens, conserve water runoff and to educate students and business on the importance of water and soil conservation.”

Everyone is invited to help with the project.

“Come out and enjoy a day with nature,” Mr. Sams says. “ And watch our garden grow.”

To get more information on joining the St. Joseph Water Garden Society, call Rita Wardlow, membership chairman, at 364-3730. For more information on the tour, call Jan Reed at 233-4312.

10th Anniversary Water Garden Tour

Take a free, self-guided tour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 6 at any of these locations (a tour sign will be in the yard):

2801 S. 42nd St.

1013 Ashland Court

2692 Fairleigh Terrace

3026 Miller Ave.

3607 Robin Lane

3605 Robin Lane

4001 N. 39th Court

13386 Jackie Lane

4910 Aegean Terrace

407 N. Fifth St.

Lifestyles reporter Sylvia Anderson may be reached at sylviaanderson@npgco.com