Ponds to Waterfeatures- Design Through Implementation (First in a Series)

Small and large ponds to trickling, low-flow water features add amazing dynamics to any landscape.   They can be created in small spaces with the “what’s around the corner” atmosphere to wide expanses where space is not a factor and you can encourage local fauna to make this area their home. 

There are many facets of a healthy water feature and the next few blogs will discuss many of the ebbs and flows of creating your “live water” water feature, your piece of paradise that melds with nature and your surroundings.  Over my years as a landscape designer and contractor, I have created water features and ponds of varying sizes and dynamics, from grotto to small lakes and I have gained immense knowledge from my failures, and a few reinforcements from my successes.  I hope this series will supply significant knowledge to provide the confidence to design and implement your creation and at the same time, minimize, if not eliminate frustration and costly re-dos.

Design implementation should begin with considering what size and where to locate your creation, open water versus pond-less.  Oxygen and water movement are two main key areas in developing live water.  Live water is best described as non-stagnant, oxygen filled healthy water that can sustain life in your pond / water feature.  To successfully create a water feature that will sustain live water, especially small ones, there must be a supply of dissolved oxygen in the water.

Since sunlight is the driving factor in photosynthesis which sustains plant life which releases oxygen into the water, a pond should be sunlit.  If your water feature will be small in scale and shallow, it will be important to study and understand your proposed site, considering seasonal sun angles, shading and passive solar techniques along with vegetation layering around the edges and how to utilize aquatic plants such as large leaved water lilies.  In your design process, consider what type of tree will be utilized for shading, since leaves deplete oxygen levels with bacteria that are created when the leaves enter and sink to the bottom of a pond, plants such as weeping spruce and phormium species make good sense (depending where you live, what planting zone).  Other possibilities of creating shade include structures; from a simple walkway bridge to decking can be effective and eliminate leaf litter dilemmas.

Once location has been determined, the next step is to finalize the style of your aquatic retreat you wish to incorporate into your landscape.  One that has an open body of water, complete with waterfalls, rills and creeks or a more subdued, yet impacting architectural element, with softly bubbling water cascading over the lip of a ceramic vessel and returning into the below surface sump that is pondless.  At this point, design sense (your boulder-based water feature does not appear to be coming out of the side of your stucco garage for instance) should take a back seat as it is very important to fully understand what style, what dynamics will best fit your lifestyle, to successfully maintain, and sustain years of enjoyment from.

Ideally, you want to create your feature to be in scale with its surroundings, for water features that are too small in scale will be ineffective and you want the dynamics of your creation to be manageable yet impacting.  If you are creating an open water feature with exposed static water regardless of size, depth is critical.  A pond with 2’ of depth will be sufficient and easy to maintain proper water temperatures (if you have inhabitants) in summer and winter and it is the proper depth to create live water; through a small fountain acting as an aerator or a driven by a larger pump recirculating water though rills over ledges of stone and boulders back into the pool below.

In the upcoming blogs as part of this series, we will continue to discuss the dynamics of designing your water feature including creating movement and sound, pump sizing and configuration, filtration techniques, water levels and overflows and choosing the proper plants for your creation.