Water. We’re all drawn to it, whether it’s at the seaside, in the woods or in a friend’s yard. Whether you choose a waterfall, stream, fountain or pond, the benefits of having a water feature on your own property are many. It can cover unwanted sounds like traffic. It’s aesthetically appealing. It increases your home’s value. But perhaps the biggest benefit is relaxation.
“It’s a good de-stressor,” says Adrian Kapp of C. E. Pontz Sons Inc. (www.cepontzsons.com) in Lancaster. He recalls a client who was a busy company owner looking to relax after work, but whose wife was adamantly opposed to a water feature. C. E. Pontz Sons was hired to install one anyway. Soon they got a call. “I had no idea how relaxing it would be to listen to the water,” the client’s wife said. “It has positively affected my husband’s health and lowered his stress level. He sits out there a lot.” Eventually, C. E. Pontz Sons built the couple an even larger pond.
A popular garden element, water makes being in your yard more enjoyable. Jeff Inch of Inch’s Landscaping (www.inchslandscaping.com) in York believes, “Water features are about the atmosphere of your backyard and drawing you outside. The visual is huge.” He positions waterfalls and other features so they’re visible from inside, increasing year-round enjoyment. He’s also a big fan of aquatic life.
“Without this, it’s just a pond without a life. Once you add fish, the colors and movement give it that natural feeling,” says Inch.
Koi are popular pond fish and can create a deeper connection with a pond. “Goldfish are all gold,” explains Inch, “but with koi, people refer to ‘the speckled black one’ or ‘the white one.’ They get really attached to their fish, noticing different personalities, and they even name them.”
Other add-ins include frogs and aquatic plants. One caution: before adding pond life, check with a specialist to see what will work well in your pond and which plants need to be removed in the winter.
Where to Start
If the thought of a pond is overwhelming, Jeff Bollinger of Hively Landscapes (www.hivelylandscapes.com) in Dover points to the wide variety of water forms: “There are so many ways to bring water into the garden. It could be as simple as an urn fountain or stone columns that are drilled so that water bubbles up over them.”
Kapp says, “A really cool option is a ‘patio pond.’ It’s basically a small, ceramic-looking urn with a little bubbling fountain, a few fish and a few aquatic plants. It doesn’t take up much room, it attracts birds and butterflies, and it gives you a similar feel to a pond.”
Another trend is the pondless or disappearing waterfall, which is essentially a waterfall without the pond. These models don’t present the hazards or maintenance of standing water, since the water just cycles back underground, where the water reservoir is located.
“This is where I would start,” Kapp advises. “You can always turn it into a ponded waterfall, but it’s hard to go the other way. If people travel a lot, they might want to go with this option. It’s much lower maintenance, and you don’t have to worry about safety or leaves and debris. If you want the sound of water near a bedroom or kitchen window, it’s a nice way to do that.”
Bollinger says, “A water feature can create its own area or can be part of a larger outdoor living area, like a patio. It’s great for entertaining or just personal or family enjoyment. It’s soothing, and for some people it can be a hobby.”
What’s Right for You?
This begs the question: Do you want a hobby or just a nice water sound? How much time do you want to devote to it? Do you want a small stream or a large body of water?
If you enjoy puttering, a full-blown pond might be what you want. To reduce maintenance, hire a pond company to do the spring and fall clean-ups. But when choosing a water feature, make sure it’s right for your yard.
Bollinger says, “Water features need to look really natural, not forced onto a site. So a sloped property, rather than a flat one, would lend itself much more easily to a stream.” He recommends having “someone with an artistic eye” evaluate the site and install the pond or stream, and stresses the use of native stones in various shapes, sizes and colors.
The Finishing Touch
Once you have your water feature, a great way to enhance it is with lighting. Inch says, “It adds hours onto the length of time the feature is visible. It’s great for nighttime entertainment, and you get a lot of visual contrast.”
When lighting a pool or a more formal “sheer descent waterfall,” colored lighting definitely increases the drama. But with most water features, Bollinger says less is more and recommends just a few small white LED lights to highlight a waterfall or a stream. “In the evening, lighting a water feature really brings it to life,” he says.
Need to see it to believe it?
Get ideas from the water feature experts at York’s Splash Supply Co. (www.splashsupplyco.com) during one of their upcoming pond tours and classes: May 10, natural ponds and lakes class May 24, community pond tour June 7, pond fish and plants class June 21, community pond tour July 26, the pond experience