Garden water features add movement and noise to your garden and create a dramatic or subtle focal point depending on the style you’re going for. The sight and sound of water attracts all sorts of wildlife and makes spending more time in the garden irresistible.
A bold water feature is a great alternative to a pond
A stand alone water feature such as a water statue, modern stainless steel cascade or tiered fountain creates a focal point, adds style to your lawn or patio and is a great alternative to a pond if you’re a little short of space.
Alternatively, you can style your garden around a particular theme, setting aside a section of the garden to build into your dream water garden.
Japanese gardens are a perfect example of this. They are abundant with water features that replicate the natural elements found in nature; a stone or pebble representing a mountain and a still pond representing a lake. If you’re short of space, this style is easily replicated on even the smallest of garden areas.
Key features of a Japanese water garden are rocks, water and plants:
- Create framed pebble and rock gardens
- Use bonsais or miniature plants (the idea is to capture a mini-landscape)
- Use pebble water features which replicate natural shapes and textures
- Build a mini still pond with floating flowers such as water lilies
- Create meandering streams, cascades and bridges
- Use raked white sand as a feature in between rocks and plants
- Add water basins and natural stone-effect bird baths
Combined with water garden plants such as colourful water lilies, submerged plants and marginal plants, you’ll create a tranquil mini landscape.
Water feature care
All Dobbies outdoor and indoor water features come with the necessary equipment for easy set up such as a water pumps and low voltage lights. Most water features require very little maintenance and you can simply keep an eye on them as part of your overall garden care. Here are a few water feature care tips. Stick to these and you’ll not go wrong:
- Keep fountains topped up with clean water
- Rainwater is the most natural water source to use and it helps prevent the build-up of limescale
- Remove leaves and debris
- Use anti-algae treatments if you see a build up of algae
- Try to keep shallow still water basins and bird baths away from direct sunlight to minimise evaporation
Indoor water features
Who said water features are only for outdoors? Adding a statement water feature to your conservatory or balcony creates an exotic hot-house look and the ripples and trickles of water create a soothing and tranquil ambiance to relax in, bringing the feeling of outdoors in.
As an ‘outdoor’ room, the conservatory makes a perfect home for water features, fish tanks and aquariums and moody, subtly lit fountains help create a cosy atmosphere at night. Simply gazing at water falling over smooth stones can prove to be quite therapeutic.
How to Build a Garden Pond
There are massive environmental and social benefits of having a pond. Not only will your garden become a social hotspot for new species of wildlife such as frogs and birds, a pond also adds charm and helps distinguish your garden by creating a focal point.
Charles Darwin said all life may have started in a ‘warm little pond’ so create your own thriving wildlife habitat with a little help from Dobbies:
Step 1
Decide where to put your garden pond and mark out the spot bearing in mind you want to be able to see it from the house. It needs to be in a sunny spot away from too many trees and on a flat horizontal. Remember to leave space around the side of the pond to grow plants and make it as big as you can.
Step 2
It’s pond building time! Dig a hole for your pond. It should be about 2 feet deep (at least18 “) and layered to include at least 3 depth levels: a shallow area for birds to bathe and drink and for baby frogs to jump out, a mid-level area and a deeper level where frogs and fish can shelter and for deep growing pond plants.
Step 3
Make sure the hole is clear of any roots or stones and line it with a layer of damp sand, a fabric underlay and finally the pond liner. There are 2 types of pond liners, flexible pond liners and pre-formed pond liners.
Using a flexible pond liner is probably the easiest option, just make sure you lay it horizontally across the hole and weigh down with stones. Slowly fill up the pond with water and move the stones away as it fills.
Step 4
Leave the water to settle, ensure the surface is horizontal and peg the sides down into the ground leaving room for planting marginals such as rushes, marigolds and irises.
Tip: If your neighbour has a pond ask them for a bucket full of water to get your pond started; existing pond water is full of the healthy nutrients and hopefully a tadpole or two.
Use pond lighting to create a beautiful night time feature and don’t forget to add a garden bench, grab a book and enjoy your pond watching.
Get involved
Find out more about the importance of pond preservation at UK charity Pond Conservation. They’ve set up a new Million Ponds project to build new, healthy ponds across the UK countryside to restore the number of ponds to over 1 million.
To find out how you can help visit www.pondconservation.org.uk/millionponds
