Ponds, Streams & Waterfalls Archives - Page 24 of 28

He came to the profession by an unusual path, but pond, waterfall and stream specialist Steve Sandalis has taken to his work with rare passion, turning a one-time hobby into a thriving business. Here, he describes what he’s after in working with his clients, the openness with which he operates and the approaches he takes to offer his clients watershapes that bring peace, tranquity, beauty and a generous dash of romance to their backyards.

A Fine Romance

I believe it's fair to say that many of us who are now in the business of creating naturalistic watershapes have been intensely influenced and inspired by experiences we had as children playing near streams, waterfalls and ponds. That was certainly true for me as a kid growing up on Long Island, N.Y., where I was constantly exposed to beautiful natural bodies of water. When I grew up, I found myself in the entertainment industry for several years. It was exciting at times, but no matter where I went, I always felt myself being drawn back to

A range of issues can conspire to make any good, man-made pond or lake head in the wrong direction. Addressing those factors and remediating poor water quality is a real specialty, says pond/lake expert George Forni – one that calls for an understanding of biology and chemistry as well as hydraulics. Here, he details the variety of techniques his firm employs when faced with a body of water that has taken a turn toward the foul and fetid.

When Ponds Go Bad

It's a fact: A great many of the ponds and lakes in the western United States are simply not part of nature's scheme. Whether used for water retention, landscape beautification, fishing or swimming, these artificial, man-made bodies of water are inclined (and in some cases doomed) to be troubled, usually because of fertilizer- and pesticide-laced runoff from surrounding developed areas. Indeed, some of these problem watershapes are filled with just about the worst water the environment has to offer. As our business has developed, a large portion of what we do has focused on setting things right in these troubled watershapes and

Tucked into a canyon within easy walking distance of the Pacific Ocean, the the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Los Angeles is an oasis of water, plants and spiritual imagery. At a time when exterior designers are often being asked to develop “tranquility gardens,” it’s a model space of beauty and serenity – and, for landscape designer Stephanie Rose, has become a place to fine tune her skills in plant selection and placement.

Sea of Tranquility

During a lifetime of driving up and down the part of Sunset Boulevard where it finally meets the Pacific Ocean, I'd often noticed the sign pointing to "Lake Shrine" but had never taken the time to stop and have a look. I suppose the "shrine" part of it made me think it was the exclusive preserve of adherents or members of the Self-Realization Fellowship - an organization I knew nothing about other than that their facility was in one of Los Angeles' most beautiful locations. I finally overcame my hesitation about visiting the Lake Shrine a couple years ago, when a friend told me it was a place where people of all faiths and religions were welcome to stroll, meditate and enjoy the tranquility of the setting. Curiosity overcame skepticism and I finally visited the place. What I found at the Lake Shrine was a serene, calm, meditative oasis of lush, beautiful gardens surrounding a lake. To this day many years later, the minute I drive through the entrance gate, I'm always swept up by sensations of serenity and peace - and have since

The art of crafting visually pleasing bodies of water is very much a matter of understanding and applying appropriate edge treatments, says master watergardener, author and teacher Anthony Archer-Wills. In the first of a sequence of articles on such topics, he shares the principles and techniques he uses to create watershapes that invite observers right to the water’s edge, where they are rewarded with dynamic and carefully balanced vistas.

Sculpting Edges

When we think about the challenge of literally "shaping" a body of water, we must start by thinking about edges. The edge is the pond's DNA or blueprint. It tells us almost everything about the pond. Without being able to observe the edge, you can't discern whether it's a formal pond, lake or a sewage-treatment facility. It might be a beautiful water feature or an eyesore. The edges form our reference in defining the whole setting and are consequently of the utmost importance. We find this defining-edge concept at work in nature's own beaches, riverbanks and lakeshores, and it is a one that extends right through the heart of watergardening and all types of watershaping, whether architectural or naturalistic (or, as I commonly classify them, formal or informal). No matter the focus or intent of our designs, we must always consider what will be happening at the water's edge. This is the part that demands the most thought, skill, care and expenditure. The subject of edges is so massive that it will be considered here and in articles to come. For purposes of this discussion, we'll limit our look to the use of edges in informal pond settings and situations in which we are attempting to create the impression that the body of water in question was originally

The hills of Bel Air, Calif., are replete with steep slopes, lush greenery, winding streets and luxury estates – the perfect setting for one of Mario Abaldo’s elaborate naturalistic compositions in artificial rock and water. The work took months to complete, during which time he and his crews of artisans spent countless hours creating a pool and spa, streambeds, ponds, landscapes and a 40-foot waterfall set amid towering eucalyptus trees.

The Pleasure Garden

In designing and constructing naturalistic projects for residential clients, I keep two thoughts uppermost in mind: First, the only way to create a successful, natural-seeming illusion is to base my work on the observation and study of nature; second, the only way to build fun into such an environment is to fill it a child-like sense of wonder that draws old and young alike to the natural beauty. For the project pictured in these pages, those two thoughts were always front and center. The homeowner first contacted us about his desire to place a dramatic waterfall in front of some striking, 120-foot-tall eucalyptus trees. That vision soon expanded to include additional watershapes now woven through the majority of the steep, terraced, heavily wooded site. Some work had already started on a set of streams and a hillside pool by the time we became involved, but when the client became acquainted with our work and saw the sort of realistic, highly detailed projects we execute, he wanted us to pick up and take the entire project to completion. Built during the unusually wet winter southern California experienced this past year, the project was challenging in logistics, scope, variety and detail. Some of the practical challenges included hand-carrying 400-pound rock panels down 100 yards of steep, switch-back paths - and occasionally dodging rogue golf balls shanked over from the adjacent Bel Air Country Club. Despite such annoyances,

Anthony Archer Wills has spent a four-decade career assembling some of the most beautiful aquatic compositions to be found anywhere in Europe or the United States. Working in a range of scales and styles, he seeks to inspire those who observe his work by bringing them into close proximity with water – whether it’s a lake or a small pond – and by encouraging them in terms both practical and emotional to share his love of water in garden settings.

Echoes of Enchantment

My journey in the company of water began when I was about seven years old, as soon as I was old enough to explore the countryside near my family's farm in Southern England. It was then that I fell in love with water - wading in streams, making dams out of small rocks, sticks and mud and watching the fish darting in clear pools. Much of my summer vacation was spent on a sun-peeled green punt gliding on a lake and staring down to the bottom at the aquatic plants and water creatures. It was a formative experience. My parents loved the water, too, and they always had some type of boat. I'll never forget how almost every one of those modest vessels leaked profusely. This gave all of us first-hand experience of enjoying the water as we developed a visceral appreciation of the importance of

As ponds and lakes become more common amenities for large estates and commercial properties, says George Forni, increasing numbers of clients are demanding water quality more akin to that of swimming pools than to natural bodies of water – and very often, he adds, they want cleanliness and clarity to be attained without any chemicals. Here, he shows how this can be accomplished, in this case in a system of large ponds on a 100-acre estate.

A Crystal-Clear Mandate

Our projects generally take two forms. On the one hand, we're called upon to "heal" ailing bodies of water that have been set up with inadequate or improperly functioning circulation and filtration systems. Although other people's mistakes mean good business for us, I won't say that we ever look forward to seeing potentially beautiful ponds or lakes cursed by unappealing or even unhealthy water conditions. On the other hand, we often have the opportunity to join a project at the design phase and handle the installation as well, applying what we know about water quality from the first conceptualization of the watershape. That's always a welcome prospect: Not only is it exciting to

You really can find opportunities in unexpected places, insists Mehrnoosh, a Los Angeles architect and designer who enjoys making refined aesthetic statements in previously plain suburban environments. To illustrate her point, she takes us to a project in a modest neighborhood to define how simple architectural and landscape elements – and water – can bring elegance and tranquility to otherwise overlooked and underappreciated spaces.

Suburban Spaces

I've always been fascinated by the concept of urbanism as defined by Thomas Jefferson: He boiled it down to the notion that everyone should have his or her own private space as well as a buffer against the outside world. In a sense, the physical concept of the front yard fits perfectly within Jefferson's utopian ideal. At root, it's an ingenious setup that has probably endured for so many centuries because, on some level, it addresses our primal need to have land all around us. By the very configuration of our residential spaces, we each have a small, open, pastoral area that separates the privacy and sanctity of the home from adjacent public areas, sidewalks and streets. The problem is that in many modern cities and suburbs, the amount of room allocated for front yards in particular has dwindled as property values have soared and lots have become smaller and more tightly packed as a result. And when you combine that spatial shrinkage with the increased desire for safety and privacy on the part of many homeowners, it all works together to place ever-higher premiums on how we choose to make use of our small slices of front-yard land. To my mind, this dynamic set of trends