Pond Landscape Design

Pond landscape design can work as a style in its own respect or function as part of a more complex landscaping design such as a Japanese garden or tropical garden. In either instance, pond landscape design occupies a central position to all or part of the yard. Centrism helps contribute to the feeling that one is looking at a natural scene instead of something merely manmade. Ponds in the wild lie in the center of clearings or high in the mountains between peaks. Centrally locating a pond in the middle of your yard gives it this same sense of convergence and isolation.

The water should be surrounded by ledges and greenery in order to draw attention to it. This is often overlooked by amateur landscapers who attempt pond design without the proper awareness needed to correctly build such a deceptively simple structure. Any body of water that is merely a depression in the ground not only looks unnatural, but it also looks depressing. You have to add a vertical element and some lush, green vegetation transforms to give it a sense of life and vitality.

An even more powerful sense of vitality can be added by constructing a waterfall that runs into the pond. Running water carries with it a powerful calming influence on the human mind. Waterfalls are constructed using special silent pumps and all natural materials (such as small boulders or limestone) to make them look identical to those found in the mountains.

A pond should either have an earth bottom or a gunite bottom covered in a layer of earth that makes it look natural. Since most residential pond landscape design deals with a limited amount of space, the earth bottom ponds we normally find in municipal parks and large corporate campuses are impractical for a back yard element. They tend to silt up too quickly and present serious flood threats when heavy rains suddenly strike.

A concrete bottom covered with a natural substance like earth or rock works much better for residential landscaping. It is more reliable from a functional and emergency drainage perspective, but it is concealed behind all natural materials.

Landscape lighting is absolutely vital to pond landscape design. At night, no one can see the water or the greenery surrounding it without some sort of lighting. Special down lights can be mounted all around the bank to ensure that the surface of the water is clearly visible from all vantage points. If a waterfall is present, we typically install underwater lights behind the falls to illuminate the flowing water from within and create a prism of colors as the light refracts outward in all directions.