Ponds, Streams & Waterfalls
With some watershaping projects, homeowners enter the process with a very specific vision in mind. This can, of course, be problematic if their thinking doesn't align with the character of the site or the extent of the available budget. With this project, however, the clients' deep-seated desires were never an issue. In fact, the space the clients envisioned had a source of inspiration so sublime - and the property was so well suited to the desired look - that there was no reason even to question how things would turn out. The clients live in a large home in San Marino, Calif., just a couple blocks away from
In a well-balanced pond, the oxygen content of the water is seldom an issue. But if things move off course, notes Mike Gannon, it's essential to find the cause -- and then apply one of three possible remedies tailored to the urgency of the need and the extent of the budget.
As I've suggested a couple times in the brief texts that have introduced the videos in this series on the spring cleaning of ponds, the process we pursue at Pond Digger Waterscape Design & Construction (Yucaipa, Calif.) is filled with opportunities - for minor adjustments, for new additions or, in this particular case, for completely changing directions and rethinking which forms of wildlife should occupy the ecosystem. Frankly, I doubt the
The way I see it, the substantial amount of time and energy involved in a good, annual pond cleaning is definitely well spent. For one thing, it gives us at The Pond Digger Waterscape Design & Construction a chance to address any issues the homeowner may have noticed with the way the pond operates - everything from practical concerns about splashing in certain areas, for example, through to aesthetic
With the huge pond and a moat that wraps itself around the house, it's a variety of watershaping you'd ordinarily associate with a medieval French castle. But actually, it's part of a contemporary estate in Brentwood, Calif., in the backyard of a couple with an amazing desire for an aquatic kingdom they could call their own. The couple had recently moved from the eastern United States and decided to take the fullest possible advantage of
On an emotional level, one of the toughest things to do in giving an ecosystem pond a good spring cleaning is thinning out the plants. After all, these plants are a big part of the pond's aesthetic appeal, and reducing them as dramatically as we usually do tends to set the watershape's good looks back a notch or two. But we do so knowing it's a
Koi ponds can be watershapes of great beauty in which sizeable populations of large, gorgeous fish thrive through the long lives these creatures often experience. With the pond that appears at the start of the video linked below, however, there were key features that were missing from the existing pond that put the big fish at risk in a number of ways. I don't know the full history of the pond, but it's clear it
Of all the tasks involved in giving a good-size pond a thorough spring cleaning, taking care of the fish is the biggest concern and, frankly, the riskiest part of the operation. It's not simply a matter of chasing them around the pond and cramming them into a net before unceremoniously dumping them in a garbage can: If the job is approached with that cruel and misguided spirit, it's fully possible that the fish and other aquatic wildlife will show their appreciation by
Many of our clients enter into pond ownership with every intention of being actively and intimately involved in upkeep and maintenance. What this often means is that, for the first year or maybe two, they'll net out leaves, clear the skimmer basket and, maybe once a year, will hold their noses (literally or figuratively) and muck out the filter. But what we've found with our clients
The current generation of pond designers and installers tends to think big - often very big - and enjoy pursuing projects on large properties in which the basin and its accompanying streams and waterfalls create spaces so naturalistic that it seems like the water's been there forever. That's a noble goal - and one I pursue frequently in my projects for
