Just imagine, sitting outside on a cool spring morning, a warm mug steaming in your hands. Everything is the pale green of new beginnings and growing as fast as it can. On the breeze, you can hear the dancing laughter of the nearby stream. You are at peace.
However, as bubbling brooks are in short supply, most of us have to be a little more creative to recreate that morning serenity.
Water features can benefit many gardens and lifestyles. In this garden, a small area is transformed into an outdoor oasis that is both practical and low maintenance.
A dry creek bed is always a simple way to break up a landscape and add some zen to a garden. Using rocks of different sizes and colors creates a vibrant and textured backdrop for your plants. Dry creek beds are also a beautiful way to control drainage.
The fountain is a pondless water feature. This means that the water is collected in a large basin dug into the ground, instead of above it. This creates a more natural flow with the fountain’s surroundings and requires less maintenance. A pondless water feature does not have the hassle of caring for fish or water plants and no skimming for leaves.
At Art of Stone Gardening, we have over 15 years experience designing and installing Water Gardens. We work with you to build the perfect Water Garden for your space and lifestyle. We also know what causes a Water Garden to fail and how to avoid those costly mistakes.
If not built and arraigned correctly, especially in pondless water features, water will splash and land outside the fountain’s basin. This can cause a number of problems including overly wet flower beds that cause plants to rot and wet pathways that become dangerous to walk on. It can also lead to water replenishment problems.
Keeping a consistent amount of water in your fountain is important, otherwise your water pump can burn out. Excessive splashing or leaks in the fountain’s liner can cause a detrimental amount of water loss. The best way to prevent splashing or leaks is with experienced installation.
For this particular fountain, Art of Stone pulled out all the stops. To combat natural evaporation, we installed an auto fill. An auto fill keeps tabs on the water levels in the fountain so you don’t have to. If the water levels drop too low, the auto fill will add the exact amount of water needed. This takes a little more work, in the form of buried pipes as seen above, but an auto fill is well worth it if you don’t want to keep track of water levels yourself.
We also installed a remote controlled pump. If you need to turn the fountain off for whatever reason, going out of town etc., you wouldn’t have to go searching under rocks for the power button.
When done properly, a Water Garden is a thing of beauty that will thrive for years to come. In this particular garden, you can see the ferns behind the water feature sprawled happily in the shade and enjoying the humidity that the fountain provides. The creeping jenny has exploded, even growing between the flagstone steps, it’s bright yellow providing a stunning contrast. And while lavender is normally tricky to grow, the dry creek bed provides the perfect mix of drainage and reflected heat to cause the lavender to flourish.
The only thing missing is a steaming cup of coffee.
Clermont, GA
If you are interested in an Art of Stone Gardening water garden design for your north Georgia property please Contact Us.
