Ponds, Streams & Waterfalls

Koi Pond, Revisited
As is noted right at the start of the video linked below, pond designers and installers are learning that homeowners who get into the hobby tend to commission the system they really want after a couple of preliminary attempts. That’s what happened in this case, where a
Working with Rainwater
Back in January 2009, WaterShapes ran a big article on the team effort involved in installing the first-generation rainwater-harvesting system developed by the folks at Aquascape (St. Charles, Ill.). Ed Beaulieu’s article (linked below) went into great detail on how everything came together, so I won’t duplicate that information here. But I feel obliged to stress the point that a
Starting Fresh
We’ve been in the pond business long enough that we’ve seen just about everything – the good, the bad and the ugly. But even we were bowled over by the pond we found in the yard on display in the four videos listed below: We ran up against so many problems all in one place that it made sense to us to record our efforts in renovating the watershape and
A Window Into Nature
Take the world’s most prolific consumer technology company on one hand and, on the other, its desire to augment its corporate headquarters with a natural exterior environment intended to capture geological processes that span millions of years: It’s a collision of
Softening Edges
By Steve Sandalis We recently completed a project that truly thrilled a pair of well-traveled,…
Home, Sweet Home
  From postage-stamp miniatures to lake-scale behemoths, it’s no stretch to say that ponds come in all sizes.  While it’s certainly true that big ones give their owners boundless options when it comes to creating large ecosystems that support plenty of fish and plants, we’ve learned 
Rethinking a Pond?
It’s accepted wisdom in the pond business that most homeowners who get bitten by the watergardening bug will commonly own three ponds before they’re truly satisfied.  They’ll start with a simple, small pond and work up through an intermediate stage before acquiring a large, full-featured pond that reflects their growing confidence and competence in 
When Ponds Leak
It’s a simple fact: When it comes to ponds and watergardens, leaks happen – and they can be devilishly hard to find and repair. To do right by the plants and fish that inhabit these watershapes, you need to understand a few basic principles of leak detection and be well versed in the sorts of fixes that may be required. Before we get there, however, it’s important to recognize that leaks
Getting into Aquatic Plants
At the start, a large number of ponds are all about the fish. From the planning stages through to completion, the goal is to create an environment in which koi and other beautiful specimens will thrive in an environment that is both balanced and self-sustaining. There’s a lot that goes into making these miniature ecosystems work, from good circulation and filtration systems to including places where the fish can retreat from the sun and predators. But when all is said and done, the key to achieving ongoing, sustainable balance has less to do with technology than it does with Mother Nature and
The Right Moves
Building a pond is a relatively simple task – so much so that many people start the process without having given it enough thought. The problems that arise from this hastiness are so common (and in some cases so devastating) that we at Aquascape now refer to them as the “Ten Blunders that Get in the Way of Pond Success.” Before putting spade to soil – and no matter whether this is your first pond or your fiftieth – run through