Pond Keeper

By Andrea Appleton
POSTED September 1, 2007

Early each weekday morning, a man wearing hip waders and wielding a fishnet can be seen sloshing through the lily pond at the end of Vesey Street in Battery Park City. Accompanied by the soothing white noise of the pond’s waterfall, he methodically weaves through the submerged planters, plucking a dead leaf here, skimming the surface for debris there.

His name is James de Padua, and this is his kingdom.

“It’s like my hobby, my therapy,” says de Padua, 40, as he looks out over the bushy papyrus stalks, the bright orange canna blooms, the spiky flowers of water lilies floating on the surface like delicate origami. “I love it.”

De Padua is a senior horticulturist for the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, overseeing the lush landscape of Rockefeller Park (or “Rocky,” as he calls it). Trained as both an agronomist and a mechanic in his native Philippines, he chooses what to plant in the pond each spring, and every fall he rescues most of the tropical varieties before the first frost, tending them indoors through the winter. He is constantly experimenting with new species, arrangements, and especially, ways of keeping the water transparent.

“I’m just a little bit picky about that,” de Padua says.

Every morning de Padua turns off the waterfall and sweeps all of the mud that has escaped from the planters to the center, letting it settle. (It takes a day for it to disperse and cloud the water once more.) Once a week, he paces methodically back and forth across the pool, checking each and every plant for dying leaves. He cleans the filter daily and vacuums the pond once a month. De Padua designed the pond’s filter system and even invented a syringe to inject fertilizer cubes into the planters so he doesn’t muck up the water by digging with a trowel.

“I just want to make the water clear, so people can see the fish. But whatever I do,” he sighs, “it always gets dirty.”

De Padua, a 17-year veteran of the Parks Conservancy, honed his aquatic skills at his home in New Jersey, where he has three large aquariums—one a saltwater tank with live coral—and his own little pond in the basement. Eight years ago, he started stocking the pond in Rockefeller Park with koi that he bought with his own money. (One he jokingly named King James, after himself.)

About 30 koi, of various colors and sizes, now live in the pond, surviving solely on algae and the roots of the plants. In winter, they huddle together under a plywood shelter that de Padua constructs for them underwater. De Padua says this is to give them refuge from rock-throwing kids.

He’s less protective of other pond inhabitants. Hordes of bluegill, common goldfish, and even a menacing looking catfish prowl the waters, crowding the koi. “People just throw them in,” says de Padua. He also often finds frogs and turtles that have been set free, only to be sucked into the filter and die. “This pond is not designed for them,” says de Padua. “I feel bad.”

This peaceful oasis also has seasonal visitors, including wild ducks. One pair has returning every fall since the mid-1990s. (They arrived at the height of the O.J. Simpson trial, so de Padua dubbed them Bill and Marcia, after two lawyers from the prosecution.) When food is scarce, they tend to dig around in the planters and eat the lotus. But that’s not what really gets to de Padua.

“I put in so many plants here, so much work,” he says, laughing. “And the first thing people ask is ‘Where’s the duck?’”

[Home][Back][Search] [Advertise][Contact]
The Tribeca Trib · 401 Broadway, 5th Floor · New York, NY · 10013 · 212.219.9709