Ponds, Streams & Waterfalls
This is a story about turning an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. It starts with a couple who had recently purchased their ideal home - one with room for them, for horses and for serenely rustic outdoor living. But the reality as they found it was somewhat different: The entry from the street was boring, the house was bland, the backyard space was disorganized and the
Where I work in southern California, we're accustomed to seeing changes in water level in our ponds: The air is dry and the winds blow briskly, so evaporation is invariably a factor. Before long, it becomes a familiar pattern, and we know that the pond owner or the auto-fill system will be replacing an inch or so of water every week. But sometimes it becomes apparent that
When I started my pond company as a teenager in 2002, I had no clear idea how Laughing Waters (Palos Heights, Ill.) would evolve in subsequent years. At the time my first article appeared in WaterShapes in 2007, I was basically a 22-year-old bundle of energy with more ambition than experience. In the decade since then, our energy has become more focused, the company has grown to take on a full range of major residential and commercial projects and, with experience, our ambition has
He's a longtime believer in using naturalistic approaches in pond design and installation. But lately, Mike Gannon has also spent some time questioning that foundation -- and wondering out loud if there might be value in looking at his design options in new and divergent ways.
Just one question is covered in "Ask the Pond Digger" this time, in response to a gentleman who asked me to compare reinforced polyethylene (RPE) and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) liners for use in ponds. I get this one all the time, from do-it-yourselfers looking to save some money - and from professionals who
Most ponds are at the mercy of predators of one sort or another. In Mike Gannon's experience, however, there are two usual suspects he knows he can ignore -- and a whole class of offenders who can't seem to resist stopping by to feast on fishy treats.
As a professional, I've always seen myself as something of a calming influence - basically as an instructor who offers reassuring guidance. I teach my staff, I teach my clients and their families and, through all of the videos I've made, I also like to think I help other pond professionals by giving them tools they can use to
When I look at the average pond, I tend to perceive a range of missed opportunities. I come from the world of aquaponics, where I've spent my career figuring out ways to integrate environments for fish and plants in ways that make both fins and leaves grow like crazy. For the most part, I work on an industrial scale, designing facilities where huge populations of fish are grown as food and, nearby, huge
By early 2015, my folder of saved emails was stuffed with years' worth of questions people wanted me to answer about either their ponds or, as frequently, ponds in general. I decided at that time to answer a number of these inquiries in a video series I've called "Ask the Pond Digger." Most of the questions came from pond owners and do-it-yourselfers, but many others had come from
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
