do’s and don’ts

Watershaper David Garton has spent a career mastering the fine points of ponds, waterfalls and streams – skills he now teaches to others in the Denver area. Here, he leads us through a discussion of what he does to make his creations measure up to the real thing right down to the smallest details, giving significant nods along the way to the character of the settings and, as important, to clients and their future pride of ownership.

Natural Transference

Every year, it seems, I'm asked to teach more and more classes on how to build streams, waterfalls and ponds that look natural. I enjoy conducting these sessions for local supply houses, landscape architecture firms, community colleges and other organizations and find it flattering that they value what I know. My motivation for sharing, however, is less about ego gratification than it is about my awareness that there's no way a single company can build all of the naturalistic watershapes consumers want these days. To me, it's a matter of collective as well as personal interest that these watershapes be built to function well and look great. In Colorado in particular, I also see a need for work that appears completely and distinctly natural, simply because most clients here are accustomed to seeing remarkable beauty in the countless alpine settings that grace this beautiful state. Indeed, it's a fact of professional life here that the work must mimic nature closely or it just won't fly. That can be very good for business, of course, but only if more than a few professionals hereabouts are up to the challenge. Available projects range from those that use thousands of