Landscape Ponds
Add beauty to your backyard
Few things bring more beauty and a sense of calmness to a backyard than landscape ponds. You can build one yourself or hire someone to install it, fill it with fish and water plants (or not). You can choose from a variety of styles, sizes, shapes and materials. Landscape ponds are all about your style and taste, so take the time to decide exactly what you want before you spend any money.
Landscape Pond Designs
Landscape pond designs range from small ponds to large, and can be rounded, squared or made into irregular shapes and more. They can be surrounded by a variety of materials such as brick, stone or other natural materials, and they can also vary in depth. Landscape timber ponds, for instance, can be built partially above ground or completely above ground beautifying your yard without the hassle of digging. Landscape ponds and waterfall designs offer an especially beautiful and elegant touch. There are many possibilities, so it pays to browse through some home and garden magazines, brochures from gardening centers and even other people's yards.
Do it Yourself or Call a Professional?
If you want a landscape designer to design the area, make sure they have done other home landscape ponds successfully and that you like their portfolio. The designer will help you determine what kind of pond you want. Once you've chosen your designer, your builder and the type of pond, just sit back and wait until it's finished.
But if you're a do-it-yourselfer or you want to save some cash, landscape ponds aren't difficult to create. You'll need sand, a carpenter's level, and of course the components of your pond. Instructions on locating landscape ponds, digging for them and installing them are available where you purchase your components, but there are some things you should consider before doing this to help make it a successful landscaping project.
Koi Pond or Water Garden?
First, decide if you want a koi pond or a water garden. Koi eat plants, so having a koi pond limits the amount of plants you'll have in your pond at one time. Once you decide what type of pond you want, you need to select a pond liner in the size and shape you're looking for. These are plastic shapes that are preformed and ready to go into the ground. While you might feel a bit conservative if you've never done this before, don't choose a pond that's too small to hold many fish or water plants. You can't expand it later (you can only add more landscape ponds), so choose one the first time that's a size you'll be able to fully enjoy.
Next, you need a small water pump. Your pump will need to be able to turn half to all of the water in your pond per hour, so choose one with the capacity to handle that amount of water. Now comes the fun part: once your pond is installed, you get to choose the plants, beautiful stones and statuary to decorate your new backyard oasis.