How To Maintain A Water Garden

Naturalistic pools
A 'natural' pool should nestle into the neighboring landscape as though nature always intended it to be there. Although they are usually a bit bare immediately after construction, ponds start to blend into their environment surprisingly quickly. From the moment that the pond is full, the nearby trees, shrubs, buildings and sky are reflected in the water, linking it visually with its surroundings. Both marginal and aquatic plants establish themselves rapidly, and the feature looks settled in no time.

The easy availability of powerful excavating machinery and flexible liners makes the installation of a pond very tempting. Be careful, though, not to hurry the planning stage or the final result could be an artificial-looking pond that is difficult to alter.

For large-scale ponds you must first look carefully at the setting, Consider the shape of hills or valleys, wooded mounds or flat plains. Think about how your natural-looking pond can be sympathetically placed amid these features. Take particular note of any trees that you want to keep in situ, especially the elevation of their root balls, for there is little room for adjustment in soil levels around a tree. If you are working in a bog or marsh, be very careful not to raise or lower the water table, as this could be highly detrimental: flooding might well result in the loss of precious wild plants. Nevertheless, far from being restrictive, the constraints of local topography and flora often help the designer to reach a decision, by limiting the number of options available.

Having decided on the form of your feature, take note of the main structural features in the garden — mature trees, for example. The ultimate style of your scheme, whatever its function or type, will be influenced by the existing buildings and surrounding landscape. Obviously the list will vary considerably, but you might include the garage, the wall around the kitchen garden, the woodland dell with its carpet of bluebells and orchids, and the specimen beech tree on the lawn. Half-close your eyes and imagine that everything else has disappeared: the little pathways, the shrubs, the old leaking fish pond. Now you have a clean canvas on which to create your new composition.

Smaller gardens which are part woodland and part lawn will also benefit from a pond. Reflecting the trees, a small pond can make a delightful focal point to walk to or just to sit beside. It may be completely surrounded by lawn, with thick clumps of emergent plants to provide a reflective backdrop. Alternatively, it may emulate a woodland pond in a rocky area with the stony margins reflected in the water.

The base of a bank is a natural setting for a pond. If the ground outside a house has been cut into to form a level patio, the resulting bank is an ideal spot for a small pond. The high ground behind the pond can be retained by rocks rising out of the water and there is great scope for a waterfall here. It is possible in this situation to have timber decking or paving coming up to the front edge of the pool without spoiling the natural effect.

Whereas the construction of large ponds and lakes is made significantly more difficult by steeply sloping sites, level and sloping sites alike provide ample opportunity for small naturalistic ponds. Town gardens, though tending to favor more formal water features, can also play host to natural- looking pools. Not all urban spaces are rigidly hemmed in by straight walls and fences, and even those that are can be softened by strategically planted trees and evergreen shrubs.

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