Tag: pond design

2020/7.1, July 8 — Lake Construction, Pond Completion, High-Rise Nuances and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS July 8, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Demise of the Water Hazard Through the past 15 years, golf-course designs have embraced a distinctly minimalist approach. It’s a response, writesKen Alperstein, to the fact that the number of courses being built has shrunk dramatically — and that attitudes […]

2020/5.2, May 20 — Moody Installations, Fantastic Fountain, Plaster Color Fading and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS May 20, 2020 www.watershapes.com POND INSIGHTS Pond-Construction Chaos Managing clients’ mood is as much a part of the pond-installation process as installing the liner. This is whyDave Gartonworks to build realistic expectations and keep thoughts trained on positive outcomes, seeing them as keys to problem-solvingandlong-term satisfaction.[more] […]

2020/4.2, April 22 — Using Sightlines, Ponds for Swimming, Backyard Dynamics and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS April 22, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Guided by Sight Establishing primary and secondary sightlines within a space is one of the first design tasks on almost any project, observesMike Farley. Doing so sets the stage for numerous decisions that follow and allows you to maximize visual […]

Smiling in the Rock Yard

Pond specialist Dave Garton believes the effort spent maintaining happy and engaged clients is crucial to the success of almost any watershape project. Here he shares one of his favorite strategies -- getting his clients excited about rocks. By Dave Garton

Author’s note: In January as part of a previous article in this series, I briefly discussed the process of selecting stone material with clients. Here we’ll expand on that process with a look at why checking out rocks can be so much fun, and why it can be so important.

 

Smiling changes things, but what on earth does that have to do with building ponds, or any other type of watershape for that matter? That answer is simply everything! In fact, this simple truth about the power of smiling might just be the most practical idea that exists in the world of watershaping. I believe it’s right there with

An Equine Retreat

 

Designing ponds for special purposes is nothing new to Anthony Archer Wills, who recently worked on this one, meant for horses. The result, set in the shadow of the Bavarian Alps, is beyond beautiful -- even though the four-legged part of the story involved a late twist.By Anthony Archer Wills

It is rare that any of us are asked to build a swimming pond for horses. But why not? They are admittedly much bigger than Koi and certainly larger than humans, yet I am assured they are considerably cleaner than dogs and genuinely do benefit from the leg-relieving buoyancy that comes with immersion in water.

The first pond I built for equestrian swimmers came along in the late 1970s – just after I’d completed several large gravel-filtration ponds for trout: It seemed at the time that the same principles that worked so well for

Solus Décor Offers Concrete Water Bowls

Solus Décor (New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada) manufactures waterfeatures that combine clean-edged metal scuppers with the look of hand-cast concrete bowls. Available with 26-, 36- and 48-inch diameters, the bowls include central ports for water connections and are intended for applications over pools, ponds or small, hidden catch basins. For details, click here.

Wilma’s Baubles

Of all the visual offenses perpetrated by pond installers, there's one that upsets Dave Garton more than any other. Here, he offers several reasons for why it's something he encounters with such frequency, then discusses ways to avoid having it happen in the first place.By Dave Garton

Pond installation offers lots of opportunities for straying off the naturalistic path, but to me, there’s no more problematic detour than the unfortunate “string-of-pearls” effect.

When this happens, the edge of a pond looks more like Wilma Flintstone’s rocky necklace than it does like the banks of a natural body of water. And it’s a double shame, because the installer went to all the trouble of sourcing and placing natural material – but ended up with completely unnatural results.

I’ve seen too many of these nightmare ponds through the years. Some are the result of a do-it-yourselfer’s lack of awareness. It also happens with

2019/5.2, May 15 — Vision Lessons, Gravel Appreciation, D.C. Masterpiece and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS May 15, 2019 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Adopted Vision Building a project to another designer’s plan can be awkward when you notice flaws you might have helped address. In this case, notesTanr Ross, the results were truly spectacular — but assessing the ‘deficiencies’ taught him valuable lessons […]