Want to improve your outdoor living space? Outdoor Water features offer some exciting backyard makeover ideas and landscaping designs. You can go BIG with an elegant landscape design from a professional Landscaper that specializes in Water Features or keep it simple with a DIY garden project. Outdoor water features like ponds, fountains, and waterfalls are an easy way to upgrade the landscape of your yard. The benefits of hiring a professional landscaper to design and install your water feature are many. They know your climate, what types of water features work best, along with the best species of plants and aquatic wildlife to use. Let’s check out some backyard water feature ideas to learn how to transform your outdoor area into a beautiful oasis!
Adding an Outdoor Water Feature Space creates Tranquility and Peace in your landscape design. There are many options of water features to choose from including Waterfalls, Fountains, Ponds, and Streams. Or you can become extremely adventurous and build an outdoor water wall that is
both eye-catching and stylish and makes a great addition to your outdoor living room. Let’s review some of these basic water feature types:
The Pond Water Feature is broken into several different types. There are reflecting pools, water gardens, fish ponds, and ornamental pools. Each Water Feature type can be designed in a variety of sizes, shapes, or depths.
Reflective Water Pool Feature:
So what is a Reflecting Pool Water Feature? They are a decorative feature that creates a scenic reflection. Reflecting pools exude serene and peaceful charm in your landscaping. Their purpose is to reflect key features of your landscape, like a tree line, a small structure, your garden, or maybe even a mountain backdrop. They can also be designed to create curb appeal reflecting the grandeur of your home. These types of pools generally do not have plants, fish, fountains, or waterfalls in them. The purpose of this is to create very still water in your water feature. They can be designed to look more Formal with either a square or rectangular shape. Naturally reflecting pools are designed to look like they were naturally occurring ponds and so are irregularly shaped.
The architecture of a reflective pool water feature does not need to be more than 6-12 inches deep to create a nice reflection. Professional Landscape Designers will utilize black pebbles at the bottom of the pool to create a dark bottom. Dark dyes are also added to increase the reflectiveness of the pool.
Before adding the construction of a reflecting pool to your landscape you need to take into consideration a few things:
1- What do you want the pool to reflect? Look at your landscape and study the lines such as trees, your garden, the front of your home, or flower beds.
2- The pool needs to be built on a flat surface. So wherever you choose to place your reflective water feature, it may be best to consult with a Professional Landscaper about properly leveling that area.
3- Because fallen leaves can fill up your reflective pool and be a nuisance to continually clean you will want to choose an area of your property away from deciduous trees. 4- You want to control the algae growth in your reflective pool, plus the breeding of insects like mosquitoes. A Professional Reflecting Pool Installer will have the knowledge of products that help control the growth of algae and insect larvae populations and are safe for visiting animals.
A Naturally Reflecting pool is a great option if you are a beginner. Where a Formal Reflecting Pool may be more challenging and a project to consult a Professional Landscaper. If you are set on doing a DIY of the project yourself, there are basic steps you will need to perform:
1- Dig out and level the area where you want to design your reflecting pool. 2- Next you will want to cover the underlayment with a pond liner.
3- To hide the edges of the pond liner you can use stones or boulders.
4- Then fill the pool with water. Since the pool liners are black you don’t need to add any dies or pebbles.
5- You may have visiting animals to your reflective pool, so researching products that cannot harm them it’s helpful.
Ornamental Pool Feature:
Let’s discuss ornamental pool features and where you may want to install one. This type of pool construction is generally found near decks and patios. Ornamental pieces, like spouting statues or a vertically cascading fountain are the center focus of this type of pool design. They are usually designed around this one geometric-shaped object. It’s all about your personality and creating a theme because the ornamental pool features are endless.
Water Garden Feature:
So what is the difference between a natural reflecting pool and a water garden? Well, a water garden’s primary purpose is to house, display, or breed species of various aquatic plants and sometimes ornamental fish. They are living water features. You can create a water garden feature in any size or depth, but typically they are small and relatively shallow with a depth of only 20 inches. The Aquatic plants generally require a more shallow depth in order to thrive. So depending on the species that inhabit a water garden feature, will determine the surface area and depth needed. To create an aquatic ecosystem the aquatic flora or fauna need to be balanced. To integrate your water garden with the local landscape and overall environment you can add elements such as water and bank-side planting, underwater lighting, boulders and rocks, statues, and fountains.
Fish Pond Feature:
Adding a Water Feature like a Fish Pond can add value to the homeowner’s property. And how relaxing to be able to unwind after a long day next to a small pond in your backyard! Similar to a reflective water feature, Ponds can be constructed in various sizes and geometrical shapes. The best water flow is from rounded edges versus corners. Unlike Reflective Water Features if you plan on adding fish to your aquatics then the depth of your pond needs to be somewhere between 3-5 feet deep. Utilize landscaping elements like flowering plants, trees, ferns, stones, and pebbles. There are many Landscaper Professionals that are very creative at designing and installing a fish pond feature. Or if you are just looking for something very simple you can literally build a pond or watering hole with a kit from your local hardware store and DIY it over a weekend.
Here are a few things you need to know about a DIY backyard pond:
1- Placement of your pond is very important. Sun or Shade? If you plan on having water lilies your pond will need to have at least 5 hours of sunlight daily. There are some negatives to having your pond in direct sunlight. One may be algae that will flourish in direct sunlight. You can prevent this by having water lilies and a UV Clarifier. Two is a big one! If you have no shade how likely are you to sit by your pond in the direct sunlight for very long? You also want to look at the run-off of your pond. If you get heavy rain the runoff can get between your pond wall and the liner. This can be a time-consuming repair as you will have to remove all the water, plants, gravel, etc… to repair the pond liner. Also, water runoff from your neighbor’s property may have harmful fertilizers in it that can be poisonous to both your plants and fish. Also, make sure it is easy to drain for cleaning and winterizations.
2- We already discussed that the depth of the pond should be anywhere from 3-5 feet. You need to place your bottom drain at the deepest end of the pond and the furthest away from the water return. Also, any water feature that exceeds 1-foot is a drowning hazard for small children, animals, and adults. So you need to put steps around the pond feature so if someone slips and falls or if an animal crawls into the pond they have a way out.
3- The bigger the better when it comes to a pond. This way your pond can support a good amount of fish and plants. Proper maintenance of your pond will prevent it from getting overgrown and fish from multiplying. If you let your pond go without proper maintenance not only is it an eyesore it also is time-consuming to fix.
4- Before digging in your yard know where your power lines are. You are legally required in the US to call DIG LINE at 811 before beginning any digging project. All sides of the hole you are digging for your pond should be level. The edges should have a slight rise to keep the rain run-off out.
5- You will need to install a pump for proper recirculation and to maintain good hygiene and oxygenation of your pond. You are required to have a State Licensed electrical contractor install safe electrical connections to the pump. And the lines need maintenance regularly.
6- You should install education jets and a skimmer. The jets avoid areas of stagnation and the skimmer is a safe way to remove fallen leaves and debris from the top of the water without hurting your fish.
7- You can help keep your pond water clean by installing rocks and gravel. Also, you can install a UV Clarifier to get rid of the algae blooms. While a bead filter traps sand and debris and houses the good bacteria for optimal health of your pond and fish.
There are endless designs for creating a water feature pond. The more elaborate you want to go will depend on if you have the time and resources to build it. Contact a Landscape Professional to build more luxurious water feature ponds that include waterfalls, maybe a backyard pond that is used as a pool, a lily pad deck pond, a rectangular Zen Pond, a deck pond, or maybe you want a trailing stone pond.
Foutains Water Feature:
There are so many different types of fountains to choose from to make the biggest impact on your home depending on the style, materials, and features. They can range from simple and
elegant fountains to very ornate works of art. A running water feature whether indoor or out provides a really nice sense of calm.
Here are some examples of the different types of fountains you can choose from:
-Indoor Fountains
-Garden Fountains
-Spouting Fountains
-Japanese Fountains
-Swimming Pool Fountains
-Endless/Disappearing Fountains
-Cascading Fountains
-Wall Fountains
-Self Contained Fountains
And there are various Styles of Landscaping Fountains:
-Tabletop Fountains
-LED Fountains
-Waterfall Fountains
-Birdbath Fountains
-Decorative Statue Fountains
-Solar Fountains
-Classic Greek Fountains
Just to list a few.
The materials used in fountains range is price:
-Cast Stone is the most sought-after material, but also very pricey.
-Metal is the most common material and is a very sturdy material to stand up to the test of time. -Indoor Fountains are made of fiberglass and can be found in many interesting designs -Plastic and Resin are also utilized for indoor fountains and fountains that are designed to hang.
Waterwall Feature:
Most people think you need to have a body of water, like a pond in your yard, to have a waterfall feature added. Pondless waterfalls are a great option for both small and large yard areas. A Pondless Waterfall is simply a recirculating waterfall or stream without the presence of a pond. Waterfalls are extremely low maintenance, energy-efficient and they attract a variety of wildlife.
Streams:
One form of a Water Feature for your landscape is a Pondless Waterfall Stream. Creating a pondless waterfall stream eliminates the filtering and cleaning maintenance that a pond requires. You achieve this by utilizing natural layers of gravel and stone to filter the water. Utilizing a sump at the lower end to catch the filtered water which pumps the water back up to the stream. Natural rainfall may replenish the stream, but you may have to occasionally replace the water that evaporates.
There are a few planning elements to consider prior to installing a waterfall feature. First is your Foundation. Are you going to dig or build your stream above ground with stone and backdrops? The second is your slope. The slope can be as little as a 2-inch drop per 10 feet of stream. The steeper the grade the faster the water, which adds more sound. Third, you need to figure the size of your stream to determine how much water the lower basin and upper pool must hold. The next step is to figure out how much noise or sound you want from your stream. If you are just wanting a babbling brook a 2-4 inch waterfall height is all that is needed. But if you want to drown out loud noises near your property you will want a height of about 10 inches and greater waterfall drops. The location of your stream is the last consideration. Do you want to hear the sound of the stream while you sleep? Then build the waterfall close to your bedroom window. Your pump location needs to be near an electrical source and close enough to your garden hose to fill the water if needed. Next, you will want to design your stream. Outline the design with the stone and boulders you want to utilize. You can also use a garden hose to outline the stream. When getting started you want to create the lower basin of the stream first. Then you will start the digging or build of your staircase. Some required materials needed are a large waterfall pump, ball valve and claps, underlayment fabric and an EPDM rubber pond liner, some spill stones, PVC Primer and Cement, sewage basin and lid, two-hole saw bits (2” and 1”), waterfall foam sealant for gaps, small and decorative boulders, Field Boulders, Hose kit and connections, stepping stones and gravel. You will also need tools such as a level, rubber mallet, spade, a
utility knife, and a wheelbarrow. For moving boulders you will need a hand tamper, scissors, and a ball cart.
If DIY projects are not your thing or building a water feature isn’t something you can physically do. There are several highly qualified landscape designers and landscape water feature installers to choose from in your local area. Browse through the list we have created or fill out the form for us to get some professionals to reach out to schedule an appointment with you.