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.
