Some Garden Pond Ideas and Water Features
The colour, scent and visual pleasure of a garden can all be enhanced by the sensual nature of water. If properly used, water in a garden gives light, life and will always be eye catching. No matter what the space, water can be incorporated into some sort of garden design. Here are some garden pond ideas for your garden – if you want to make just one addition to attract wildlife into the garden, make it water!
Wildlife in the garden
Even a small birdbath or tiny pond will be a mecca for birds, insects, frogs and newts.
If you decide to add a water feature into your garden, first and foremost be clear about what you are going to achieve. Water features broadly fall into two categories, formal and informal. The size and style of the house and garden will largely determine your choice.
Formal garden pond ideas
A formal, obviously designed water feature, is best incorporated into the architecture of the property, are often geometric, and can stand alone to make a powerful statement or compliment a piece of sculpture.
In contrast, informal water features are more relaxed and work by emulating natural features, whether streams, waterfalls or wildlife ponds and are usually best some distance from the house as part of a natural design.
Water usually plays a role in most Japanese style gardens with the water reflecting the beautiful tones, textures and colours of the acer foliage trees.
A natural-looking pond, although looking apparently artless, can actually be tricky to get right. Informal ponds look best in the sort of spot water in the wild might occur – a hollow or dip. The pond is dug with gently sloping sides, lined to make water proof, the base and sides overlaid with topsoil and planted with native plants. Shrubs can be planted closer to the water to make to provide cover for amphibians, although it is not a good idea to plant trees near a pond because of leaf fall.
We designed and built this gorgeous cottage garden, complete with a wildlife pond, for a natural look in keeping with the character of the property.
Where there is open water in a garden there is always some degree of danger but a wall fountain, or overflowing pitcher or a jet bubbling through shingle, will give the sound and sense of tranquillity, especially in a small space. It is perhaps in the very smallest gardens that water is most appreciated. A Bird bath or a container pool planted with a miniature water lily will enliven the space and reflect light. Life comes easily to water and the creatures who depend on it are often beneficial to a garden. It’s largely thanks to people who have ponds in urban settings that many aquatic dwellers can thrive!