Landscaping Ponds

Where should I have my pond built?
A landscaping pond should be built in full sunlight so that aquatic plants will get enough light to flower. It is also best to have it built in an area of the yard that, from any vantage point, appears equidistant from major points of interest. By this we mean that if you are standing in the doorway of your summer kitchen located at the back of the yard looking at your landscaping pond located more toward the center of the yard, that your pond will appear proportionally related to nearby gardens, trees, fountains, your swimming pool, and your home in the far background of the scene.

What you do NOT want is a pond that appears to be crowded up against another landscape element or outdoor building. If a pond is part of a larger garden design, then an exception to this rule applies, but you will need a professional landscape designer to develop it in order to make it work with the surrounding landscape.

Does the shape and design of the pond matter?
Yes. A landscaping pond is part of a master landscape plan that is based on several things. The most important factor in the creation of this plan is the style of your home architecture. Since the intent of professional landscape design (not to be confused with rudimentary basic lawn services) is to create an outdoor living space equivalent in the quality of life to the interior comforts of a home, there must be a sense of reflection and congruence between the two realms these two realms blend into a singular expression of personal lifestyle.

You should therefore be aware that a pond can be a beautiful addition to your landscape regardless of the size of your home and your property. However, the size and shape of that pond will need to be designed proportionally as one of many elements in order to create the feeling of harmony and freedom you seek in Houston outdoor living.

Should I have lighting installed in my landscaping pond?
Yes. Without lighting, your pond can only be enjoyed during the daytime. Special lighting fixtures will transform it from a dull shadow on the nighttime Houston landscape into a magical realm of color and dancing shadow. Both general lighting for visibility and special effects lighting are now possible with underwater, low-voltage LED lights that are very cheap to operate and safe to use in submerged locations. They will not harm fish or aquatic plants and pose no threat to humans and pets when installed correctly by a licensed professional.

If you plan to stock your pond with fish, the most important kind of plant to install is oxygenator plants. You must be cautious not to install any plants that are toxic to fish. The list is too long to enumerate here, but just a few of these include amaryllis, bottlebrush, boxwood, caladium, dapne, hydrangea, and bird of paradise. If you have any questions about what should or should not be planted in your landscaping pond, it is best to confer with your landscape designer and let him or her recommend aquatic species with aesthetic value that will also be good for your fish.

What species of fish can I have in my pond?
That depends on the size and depth of your landscaping pond. Koi are a favorite fish, but they may not do well in just any type of pond. You may need a more formal koi pond like we often build in order to give them an appropriate environment. Goldfish and other species of carp will live in almost any type of water. If your property is big enough for a large landscaping pond of significant depth, you can even have it stocked with sun perch, catfish, or bass.

Houston Masonry

Hardscapes typically represent 60%-80% of any landscape. Masonry is an key component to hardscape design because it makes lifts the hardscape off the horizontal plane of the ground and adds a vertical dimension to the yard. You need masonry to create a truly superior outdoor living environment that conveys a sense of curb appeal to neighbors and possible future home buyers. The otherwise flat terrain of the Houston landscape will become transformed in your yard into realms of ascending and descending realities where ornamental stonework, custom patios, and special stepping stone blend harmoniously into the sculpted vegetation of your landscape design.

Some materials used in Houston masonry have been used for centuries. Stone and brick have been around since ancient of times. Today, the list of materials has also been expanded to include blocks, concrete cast materials, poured concrete, colored concrete, and textured concrete.

People routinely ask us if they can do their own masonry work. This depends completely on the individual’s level of skill and personal time. It is not easy for today’s working professional to find the time to build the many complex forms that a truly impeccable landscape requires. It is more practical to hire a professional firm like Exterior Worlds that can get a clear picture of what you want and do it for you.

Just a few of the many things we can add to your front yard landscape or backyard landscape include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

Concrete Masonry
The great thing about concrete is it doesn’t have to look like it’s just concrete. New finishing methods can make it any number of colors and polish to a level of refinement equivalent to polished stones like granite.

Rock and Slate
If you love Nature and want a natural swimming pool or miniature tropical stream added to your property, rock and slate can be used to create masonry forms that look so natural they could just have easily been carved out of a wilderness landscape.

Fired Clay Bricks
This is one of our more popular Houston masonry materials used in the construction of courtyards and outdoor fireplaces.

Quarried and Cut Stone
These are ideal for developing both contemporary and Mediterranean landscape themes.

Mortarless concrete blocks
Concrete blocks can be used to build multi-level planters around structures, adding a vertical dimension to the otherwise flat Houston landscape.

While it is a fact that Houston landscaping design occurs on a completely flat floodplain that offers no natural change in elevation, the skilled landscape developer is never held back by the constraints of local topography. Artificial earthworks and masonry forms can always be added to any Houston property and be developed in such a way as to mirror much more varied and interesting terrain in other parts of the country.

Keep this in mind if you are a new resident to our city and have recently found yourself homesick for forests, streams, or rolling hills. Call Exterior Worlds now and let our experts come build your home into the home you have always wanted that is both close to work and close to heart.

Contemporary Koi Ponds

Contemporary koi ponds are deliberately manmade forms that follow established rules of geometric order. The landscape does not so much determine what size or shape the koi pond takes, but rather the architecture of the home and to a certain extent surrounding hardscape elements. Contemporary koi ponds have been built throughout River Oaks, Rice Village, Memorial, and Hedwig Village near homes that feature all sorts of architectural themes, but have one thing in common.

The traditional koi pond is built in a more freeform style that mimics natural ponds and lakes. Typically these ponds are built near trees or gardens to create a park like or even wilderness theme within the landscape design. It is not so with contemporary koi ponds. As with all contemporary styles, organic presence is minimized and abstract conceptualization is elevated through the forms of geometry. Rectangles, squares, triangles, and radiuses (semicircles or half circles) are the preferred shapes that landscape architects tend to work with.

The minimal organic presence does not mean that the contemporary koi pond lacks all feeling of life. Quite the opposite is true. Life is simply more subdued within the form. Vegetation being minimized, it is the water that creates the dimension and the sense of life. The combination of the hard absolutes of straight lines and angles and the soft fluidity of clear essence adds a calming aesthetic to the abstract element of mind. Instead of trees and shrubs lining its banks, you see ornamental copings made from high grade materials. Instead of colorful flowers hanging into the water, you see colorful fish rising up to the surface. The fish bring movement to the pond, and sometimes gifts of attention. Koi have been known to let people feed them by hand.

Contemporary koi ponds are sometimes built like swimming pools as separate elements in the landscape design. When we build them in this fashion, we normally place them along a trail or walkway that guests will stroll down and pause for a moment to look at the forms and the water and the fish. At other locations we may build a pond as part of a modern garden. A rectangular or square design works best in this environment with a radius arc that moves the water and the fish partly into the perimeter of the garden. This works exceptionally well in modern tropical garden design, where the minimalist planting of vegetation is offset first by the use of exotic plants, and second by the introduction of geometric abstracts into hardscape design and semi-organic space.

Other clients of Exterior Worlds simply love water and fish so much that they want their contemporary koi pond to be the center of attention and activity. For these clients, we can design the pool as a quadrilateral element with a radius arc on one side. This will in turn allow us to wrap a custom patio or high-grade wooden deck around its perimeter, softening the contemporary design just enough to make it comfortable and peaceful to sit by. A waterfall can be added at the opposite end to enhance the calming effect that water has on the mind, and lighting can be placed under the waterfall to convey a sense of living presence and vitality in what originally began as a simple, and rather sterile, geometric form.