balance
If there’s one thing all ponds and lakes have in common (beyond the obvious fact that they all contain water), it’s that they’re as different as snowflakes – highly idiosyncratic, often challenging and sometimes almost willful in the way they resist being manipulated. For the past 35 years, we at Diversified Waterscapes (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) have just about seen it all as specialists in maintaining man-made ponds and lakes and in remediating those that have fallen on hard times and suffer with severe problems. We’ve found that every situation is different and that figuring out what’s going on involves the evaluation of countless variables – some obvious and easy to read, others less so. For all that, our experience tells us that the serviceability and sustainability of ponds and lakes is for the most part determined long before we come on the scene – even before they are filled with water. When they’ve been designed and installed with a few key principles in mind, we find them to be cooperative and affordably manageable. If a few of the more common mistakes are made, however, it’s a completely different and far nastier
The great poet and philosopher John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island” – a wonderfully simple declaration that none of us is really alone and that we all exist in a world filled with others. There are exceptions, of course, and I’ve run into my share of loners who resist the notion that we are all interdependent on some level. But as I’ve moved through the world and have met people I perceive to be talented or successful in some way, it’s been my observation that they have substantial support systems of one sort or another. That support may come from a spouse, a life partner, a live-in companion or a boy- or girlfriend. Or it may come from
For a long time, I've studied a small lake that formed long ago in a natural bowl in Northern Wisconsin. It has about 20 acres of surface area and is now surrounded by a cow pasture and a cornfield. Holsteins graze right up to the water's edge and at times step into the lake to drink. Sometimes, cows being cows, their waste ends up in the water as well. On the opposite shore, the cornfield has an unusual configuration, with its furrows running straight down the slope and into the lake. When it rains or the fields are irrigated, some fertilizer inevitably washes into the lake. The stage is set for aquatic misery: Viscous, pea-soup mats of green algae and foul odors are the common results of this sort of nutrient loading. Indeed, few life forms other than algae survive in
For a long time, I've studied a small lake that formed long ago in a natural bowl in Northern Wisconsin. It has about 20 acres of surface area and is now surrounded by a cow pasture and a cornfield. Holsteins graze right up to the water's edge and at times step into the lake to drink. Sometimes, cows being cows, their waste ends up in the water as well. On the opposite shore, the cornfield has an unusual configuration, with its furrows running straight down the slope and into the lake. When it rains or the fields are irrigated, some fertilizer inevitably washes into the lake. The stage is set for aquatic misery: Viscous, pea-soup mats of green algae and foul odors are the common results of this sort of nutrient loading. Indeed, few life forms other than algae survive in
It was an unusual time to be thinking about work, but there I was on a late-August morning, and Peak's Island off the coast of Maine was in glorious summer form. Small enough to walk around in an hour or so, the island is filled with delightful, charming summer cottages - not a "McMansion" in sight. In the early light, my thoughts had been silenced as I savored the beauty of the coastal wetlands and meadows filled with wildflowers, grasses and sedge. I was totally absorbed by the
Elegance, romance, subtlety, tranquility: All these words speak to a potential of watershaping that is realized far too infrequently. If ever there were a common detail that typifies these missed opportunities, I'd have to give the prize to the standard waterfall/waterwall effects seen on too many pools and other watershapes these days. I can think of nothing less compelling than the typical sheet of water spilling down the face of a wall or in front of some other structure on its way into a pool or spa. This look is not only overused, but
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
We all know that plants are beautiful in daylight. Perhaps less well known is the vast visual potential they posses when carefully and thoughtfully lit at night. It's no small challenge. Indeed, maximizing the beauty of most any landscape while also ensuring that your lighting design works well throughout the lifetime of the landscape requires a keen understanding of both plant materials and the lighting techniques that will bring them to life when the sun goes down. Furthermore, surrounding watershapes with well-lit spaces and foliage will add a distinctive aesthetic dimension to the overall design. To my mind, there's no substitute for paying attention to every plant in the plan, because overlooking any of them or ignoring the role each has to play in the overall landscape will almost invariably detract from the effectiveness of the lighting design. You can't overlook technology, either, or the need to sort through the variety of techniques that can be used to light plants while keeping an eye on a wide range of practical, aesthetic and creative issues. When you encompass all of this successfully, the results will often
Reader Chris Walton asked a great question in response to comments I've made in a couple of recent columns about the value of detailed plans: "Why do we in the pool industry lump sales, design and project assessment into one job description?" In the message surrounding his question, he explained in some detail that his firm, PoolDizine, Inc., of Jacksonville, Fla., takes basic plans and proposals for swimming pools and other watershapes and turns them into complete and extremely detailed sets of construction documents and plan drawings that can be used in generating accurate bids and that also provide detailed specifications for the construction process. To be sure, he has an interest in altering
Over and over again, I've said and written that the water should not be seen as the most important element in a well-designed space. In fact, I've said it so often that it's almost become a cliché, and that's a shame, because it tends to trivialize the valid point that all elements in a given space - plants, rocks, hardscape, lighting, artwork and water - need to co-exist in visual balance to create an overall experience. This concept of visual balance should indeed be the heart and soul of all our exterior designs, but it's apparent
