 | Using a life-giving element like water to enhance landscape and garden design can turn your yard into an oasis of tranquility. It can increase the value of your property by as much as 12-percent.
Reasons for establishing an outside water feature are as varied as there are designs for one. Regardless of the reason, a water feature can transform an ordinarily drab yard into a relaxing retreat, enticing to everyone. A well-designed pond, fountain, or waterfall has the power to relieve stress, stimulate the senses, attract wildlife, provide an educational experience, or be so visually alluring persons are inclined to spend more time outside.
A water feature design can be romantic, natural, elaborate, used to connect the landscaping to the house, or used as the focal point of the yard. It can enhance the natural contour of nearby landscaping, used to create a new one, or used to resolve a blemished area.
A wealth of possibilities is available to persons considering constructing one. Choices range from simple to extravagant, small or large. Imagine a pond filled with ornamental fish, frogs, and aquatic plants, with a cascading waterfall at one end. Watch the fish dart back and forth, listen to the relaxing music at twilight as frogs serenade each other.
Envision a still pond with delicate pink and ivory water lilies, edged with reeds and ornamental grasses, with a wooden dock or pebble beach at one end. Enabling both people and wildlife to draw near, or even wade in the water.
What about enhancing a gently sloping terrain with a cascading waterfall? The soothing sound made by the water is sure to capture the attention of visitors to the yard even before they see it.
The addition of a water feature can also offer new gardening opportunities, providing a real sense of accomplishment. Depending upon location and design, the site can offer flora growing possibilities previously unsupported by the soil type.
As loved and coveted as water features are, many persons hesitate to construct their own. They feel intimidated by perceived complexities of the undertaking. Simplify the task by first deciding the main reason “why” you want to add a water feature. Once that is done, sort out your type and design choices. This will make the process less overwhelming and confusing.
More and more the moving trend is to select a water feature design that will enhance an environmentally friendly landscape and imitate nature. The design should be kept simple. Make the most natural-looking pond, stream, waterfall, bog, or other water feature possible.
Determine what you want in a water feature. Will it be for visual or environmental purposes, or to correct a landscaping flaw? Do you want a pond to enhance a garden area at one end of the yard, a small stream meandering through plants and bushes to attract wildlife, or an eye-catching fountain near the patio that will bring balance to the yard and enhance your home?
One great idea is to build a water garden in the middle of a wooden deck. As elaborate as that sounds, it is relatively simple to accomplish. Filled with aquatic plants, and surrounded by potted flora, it can add a stunning element sure to increase enjoyment by those lounging around the patio. The addition of floating candles in the water and soft music adds elegance to an evening dinner party on the patio.
Creating a bog garden can put you on the cutting edge of landscape designs. A Bog garden not only duplicates swampy, natural habitat, but provides a way to turn a poorly draining area of the yard into a lovely garden teeming with plants and wildlife.
Vast arrays of native plants are included in a bog garden. Marginal plants that thrive in wet or moist soil and that grow best when roots are kept damp will do especially well.
By incorporating a bog as part of a pond with fish, the bog acts as a filter, enhancing the water’s quality. Without some type of filtration system, fish can die from the toxicity of their own waste. With the addition of a bog, fish waste in the pond re-circulates through the bog, carrying nutrients to plants and beneficial bacteria, while making the water in the pond cleaner.
A raised or partially raised pond can be constructed on a rocky site or on low ground level where water habitually collects.
If a large water feature is planned as a means to improve a neglected yard or poor landscape design, excavate the yard first before constructing the pond, waterfall, or stream, then sod and plant trees and shrubs.
Use concrete blocks instead of poured concrete when constructing a formal water feature in a small courtyard where it would be impossible for a cement truck to reach the site. The blocks can be positioned so that the tops are at or just below ground level, then capped with slabs of slate or decorative stone to hide the blocks and pond liner.
Adding a shallow pond with a river rock bottom to a stone patio would be perfect in a region with a desert climate. Utilize simple plantings to compliment and naturalize the scene.
Check with a local building inspector to determine whether or not you are required to obtain a permit before constructing a water feature. After that, only financial considerations, region, yard size, and personal preferences need restrict the many water feature types, shapes, and size options available.
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