Design Ideas
Waterfall Design
Pond Design
Streams
Edge Treatments
Wood and Logs
Benches
Lights
Bridges
Stone Type
Under Water World
Caves
Fire Effects
Landscaping
Fountains
Rain Water Collection
How to layout a pond
Pond Filtration
Auto fill valves
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jeff@
Berkshire
WaterGardens.com
Jeff Mansen
904-333-7785
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 551220
Jacksonville, Fl 32255
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The purpose of this page.
This page, and it's links on the left are for you, the homeowner looking for ideas, the contractor honing their skills, and everybody else just looking for design information pertaining to water gardens, and overall backyard design.
Everybody in the backyard design business and the backyard design hobby has a set of design skills that have been grown from experience, formal education, and/or watching a lot of HGTV.
Our design information will give you a slice of our expertise that has been grown from over a dozen years of experience in business in the Jacksonville area, ambitiously studying other gifted designer's work and mother nature, countless more years helping my landscaping inclined German grandmother who had beautiful gardens ( she had heirloom roses that were passed down from her grandmother that she brought from Germany when she came here back in the 40's that are close to 200 years old ), working in my several family member's yards as a young landscaper/lawn mower ( ages 7 - 17 ), and an extreme amount of time playing in the streams and rivers where I grew up.
I have honed a very intuitive backyard and water feature design sense that I hope to share through this content. I hope to not add any salesy goobly gock, but if some slides in there I apologize. Also, if you are looking for perfect grammar.....you've come to the wrong place.
Let me know if any of this helps you. :)
Jeff@berkshirewatergardens.com
Water Garden Design
So you are considering adding a water feature to your space, but are looking to educate yourself a little bit with the possibilities? Well let's get started.
When people talk about water feature design my thought process instantly goes to either pond or pondless waterfall built with a rubber liner and rock to look very natural. But there are formal ponds, Koi ponds, rain water systems, fountains, spitter fountains, bubbling pots, bubblers, scupper bowls, concrete water features, swim pools, to name a few.
My focus here is to start with my experience of creating very natural looking ponds and pondless waterfalls, and will touch on all of the other water feature options later.
Where to begin??
I think that when you begin to talk about water features, you have to envision them only as a component of the "big picture" of what you are trying to accomplish.
Sometimes we have situations where clients have been adding to their space for years, and have had a water feature location picked out for years. That's where we don't have to do much except work on the water garden design.
Other clients have nothing but a blank slate. If you are in the blank slate mode, then that's where the "where to begin" starts to overwhelm. Budget is a huge factor in everything, but with proper planning, things can be done in phases. You have to figure out what you want to have in your dream backyard space. The links to the left will give you some ideas about what is possible.
A great tool that I use that works well with ideas is Google's Image Search Engine. It quickly turns up many pictures for whatever you may be looking for. These pictures are the most relevant on a given term across the web, so the results will be very unbiased. For example, if you're interested in pergolas, do an image search and see what I'm talking about. You can try variations like backyard pergolas, or pergolas in the garden.
From these image searches, you can follow the image to the site that the image resides on, gaining more insight and information on your topic.
Also a very good resource for water gardens and water features is Aquascape, Inc. They are the industry leaders that manufacture some of the products that we install. They also have a very successful construction crew that acts as an R & D department.
Bringing water features back into it.
It's been my experience that water features are usually the focus of a design, and the other components of the design are blended seamlessly together to create a comfortable backyard living space. The water feature should be viewed from most areas, if not all areas. Especially the main seating areas, and main viewing areas from within the house.
It is always cool to have the patio come right up to the pond's edge, or a for a path to meander through the stream or pond to another destination within the design.
Elevation changes are always fun to work with, but in the Jacksonville area there aren't very many opportunities that call for anything like a 8' or 10' high waterfall. Usually our limit (while still looking natural), is 3'-4'. And even that height requires a substantial effort to keep it looking good. The last thing you want (and us) is a waterfall that looks like a pyramid in your backyard (unless you really like Egypt).
With the proper location, and a willing client, we can work magic when it comes to creating multiple elevation changes in a flat backyard. We just may have to bring in a few dozen (or few hundred) cubic yards of fill dirt.
But for the most part, our average sized water features are generally in the neighborhood of 2' high at the high point. This is a very common elevation that allows for some good waterfall action, while not looking unnatural or out of place.
It is my opinion that a patio complimented with a water feature, and blended with the proper choice of landscaping and lighting is a core combination that enhances any area for your enjoyment and aesthetics.
The other things like summer kitchens, pergolas, outdoor sound systems, fire features, furniture, etc., are add ons to the core design. They may not be totally needed initially, but planning for them in the future needs to be done in the beginning, and any infrastructure for future additions to the space should be incorporated from the start. If at a minimum sleeves are installed for any water, electric, gas, etc that will be added down the road.
Once you have a "big picture" figured out, and you know where things are going, then you can begin to design the water garden.
So are you a "pond" or a "pondless waterfall"? There are obviously 2 different ways to tackle these when it comes to design.
Pond Design
With a pond your main concerns are size and shape of the pond, along with where the waterfall will enter the pond, and where the skimmer and biofalls filters will be located.
The best way that I have found to lay a pond design out is to use a garden hose. You can use a tape measure or walk off your pond dimensions (W x L), and then use the hose to create the perimeter of the pond based on your pond dimensions.
Once you have the pond dimensions worked out with the hose, you can use upside down spray paint, and/or flags to mark the area.
Next you have to figure out where the waterfall or stream will enter the pond, and where the top or end of the waterfall will be. With a pond you usually will have the waterfall start as either a biofalls filter or maybe a pool of water that is a wetland filter.
Then along the way, depending on the length of the waterfall or stream, you can create twists, turns, pools, waterfall drops that are tall and short, boulder falls, vertical drops, etc., leading to the pond's edge.
The next component that you need to think about is the skimmer box. The skimmer box is where the pump is located in a traditional watergarden. The skimmer box will pull water to it drawing leaves and debris that might be on top of the water, and put into a basket.
You have to really pay attention to allow your pond good circulation. So the waterfall, and the skimmer location need to be in opposite locations. You can't have the waterfall right next to the skimmer and expect to have good circulation.
Also when it comes to the skimmer, you have to consider that you don't want to have the skimmer box sticking out like a sore thumb. So some consideration needs to be applied to putting the skimmer slightly out of the way where it won't be as prevalent. Or where you can easily hid it from the main viewing area with a plant maybe.
A traditional watergarden pond is dug using a stair down effect. You start with ground level, then certain parts of the pond have a shallow shelf. Then other parts of the pond are slightly deeper. And then you get to your deepest point which is usually 24" or less.
It is always a good idea to add a fish cave, and in the excavation process you should plan in advance where it will be located. We will usually use a large black drain pipe as our caves, and then cover it with rock to hide it.
Within the pond, rock that is 6" x 6" or slightly smaller, up to 2' x 3' or larger is put along the verticle edges of the pond's interior.
Remember there is a "stair down" effect, leaving vertical and horizontal parts of the pond's interior. So if the vertical walls have the larger stone, then the horizontal parts of the pond will get gravel (small rock), and a mixture of some larger rock to blend the look.
Another big design consideration is creating a deep point of the pond that is near the main viewing area when you walk up to the pond, or near a bench or sitting stone. That way your fish can easily swim right up to you, and it gives the pond a better "feel".
Water plants are key to a balanced ecosystem, so you must figure out where you will be putting marginal plants, and your water lilies so you can create a plant pocket for them.
Large rock and character rock placement is also something to plan for. You don't want all of the large rock and character rock only in the waterfall or only in the pond. The big rocks should be placed in a balanced fashion throughout the feature.
Pondless Waterfall Design
Pondless waterfalls need a different approach than a pond. Your focus is overall height, length of stream, pump size (water flow), pools within the stream, how many waterfall "drops", splits in the stream, boulder waterfalls or "drops" or both, starting point, and finishing point.
So what is that 8 or 9 things? There's more. How do you achieve your overall height? Do you have an existing incline to work off of? Do you bring in a bunch of fill dirt? Do you create a wall (paver block, stone, boulder, wood, railroad ties, etc.)?
Which one do you do? Well cost is a major factor, as is what is behind the wall? Also your space has a lot to do with what is done. And this wall behind the waterfall only really becomes a big issue when dealing with waterfalls that are taller, and where there isn't much space.
If it backs up to a fence or hedge line that no one will see then use paver blocks. These are usually a lot less expensive than your stone options, and bringing in bunch of fill dirt.
So really with keeping the whole project in mind, the wall is one of the first things figured out. Then is gets fun from there.
The wall is build to a high point (or fill dirt pile) where the waterfall will start. Then fill dirt from the basin hole will help to create the mound of dirt which we carve out the waterfalls.
Usually we, on average bring in anywhere from 5-10 cubic yards of fill dirt per job. This allows us to craft a more natural waterfall, while creating plant pockets, and terraces that help with getting to our high point without looking weird.
Now for some of the good stuff.
We will usually have a set number of really large boulders that we incorporate within every design. It will almost always be an odd number of stone, like 1 or 3 or 5 or 7, etc., depending on the size of the feature. Then it is also important to blend medium and small rock in, along with the right mix of gravel.
These boulders will be the frame by which the waterfall is designed. They need to be spaced out in a way that looks random and natural. For example we would one near the first waterfall, near any major turns, and especially near the end.
Another thing to think about with the boulders is to get some that are big and square / irregular shape(Tennessee field stone). Also maybe big but smooth and round. And don't forget about large, but flat (5-6" thick by 2' x 3' to much bigger). Sometimes we will use Florida field stone if we can find some with good character.
The variation in large stone will really give a good twist to the water feature making it more natural looking. Nothing is worse to me than all one type of rock.
Thinking ahead to the landscaping, you should always try to pre-plan areas that will have plants growing over the edges. Care should be taken to not cover up the big boulders. Soften the feature by covering smaller rock if possible.
Budget will dictate how big to go with the stone, and I guess the size of the feature will too, but not as much. For example, at my house I have a 4300 lb boulder next to a small waterfall (that is part of a big waterfall), but it still looks good next to the little waterfall. (Really good actually. Large stone really gives the space some good character. And they also act as cool places to sit.)
How to design a waterfall for a water garden.
Really I've mentioned a lot so far, but it can be explained very simply. The things that I've touched on are important (essential), but it comes down to this simple explanation:
What is your maximum height, and your maximum stream length??
That's it. Those answers are all you need.
Let's start with the height. Let's say you have 2' to work with. I would usually do an initial large waterfall drop of 12-18" high. This leaves 6-12 more inches to work with that can be designed in many ways. The first waterfall drop is our "shock and awe".
The final 6-12" is where we can do some more subtle things with the waterfall. Maybe just 1 second 6-12" waterfall drop. Or 1 6-12" boulder waterfall. Or split it, and have one boulder waterfall, and a waterfall drop. Or 2 boulder waterfalls or 2 waterfall drops.
Also it's good to narrow the waterfall's passage between 2 rocks, or widen the waterfall to change it up.
What about a slight incline that gradually reaches the bottom. Or many small little waterfall drops.
Really there are no limits to what can be done. There are not 2 identical settings. There are no identical rocks (there are none with the type we use). There are no identical designs. So the possibilities and designs are infinite.
So now for the length of the stream. If you have a 100' stream, then there are so many things that you can do that it gets me fired up even thinking about having the opportunity to work with something like that.
If you have a 5-8' stream, then obviously it isn't as much.
One final thing about pondless waterfalls, and waterfalls in general. You want a minimum of 4000 gallons per hour flow. Ideally it would be at least 8000 gallons per hour. I have gotten to where we have almost exclusively started using only 8000 gallon per hour pumps. My preference is for the raging river look, but we will let the client choose their preference (My ideal is definitely not everyone's, that's why this is a major consideration in the planning phase).
The bottom line - Conclusion
Water features are a great addition to people's lives. I very much enjoy mine, and know a lot of people with similar feelings.
There are just so many possibilities to consider, that the best thing is to have us come out and talk with you and come up with a design. Especially if you have that "blank slate" backyard. The possibilities and variation of those possibilities are endless.
With the waterfall business, and my landscaping and lawn maintenance business, I have literally been in thousands of backyards all over Jacksonville, Florida since about 1995 when I first entered the field in Jacksonville (I actually went in business in 1997).
Because of this I have a very honed and intuitive design sense that carries over from the water gardens to all aspects of an outdoor space.
If you made it through this design rant, please call us if you would like to take your "blank slate" to the next level. We charge a nominal fee for our design consultations, and will be well worth finding out what could be possible.
Also use the links to the top / left to get to more detailed information regarding water garden design, and backyard design in general.
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