rockwork
According to pond specialist, Larry Carnes, in order to mimic nature when designing and building ponds, waterfalls and streams, the process involves a comprehensive understanding of geological principles, the plant kingdom, water treatment, and how to avoid telltale mistakes.
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Effectively collaborating with clients usually requires finding some kind of connection, be it personal, intellectual or experiential. Sometimes you really have to dig to find that common ground, but there are those situations where it's immediately obvious. The latter is exactly what happened
No matter whether it's a pond, stream or swimming pool, waterfalls are an appealing part of the composition -- which is why Larry Carnes includes them in most of his projects. Here, he shares some approaches to making these features both naturalistic and completely mesmerizing.
Last month, we discussed the importance of creating excitement and anticipation during the early stages of a pond project. One of my favorite techniques I described is taking clients to a rock yard where we celebrate the process selecting stone material. As I mentioned, getting them revved up in the early going is vastly important, and most of the time it's relatively easy because there's a natural excitement that occurs at the outset of most projects. Things can get much tougher on the mood-management front once the work gets started. We all know that installing a body of water almost always leads to
There's little in life as soul-satisfying as working in a good cause. As pond professionals, of course, we get lots of opportunities to do nice things for our clients - by beautifying their backyards, bringing fish and aquatic plants into their lives and creating sources of soothing serenity they can enjoy each and every day. That's great, but in the project described in this article, the level of service reached a much higher plane. One of the cool things about
Who says you have to live in the Rockies to get the perfect mountain home? These clients are living that dream just outside Kansas City, Mo. Not long ago, they purchased land north of the Missouri River near Smithville, a rural outpost known for its rolling hills, plentiful trees and tobacco farms. It's a place where relatively low-cost land is still available, and people have started buying acreage and building their
In my lengthening career as a landscape designer and installer, I have worked on every aspect of a variety of residential and commercial projects - indoors and outdoors; on backyards, sideyards and front yards; on formal gardens, wild meadows and stands of trees; and on pools, spas, fountains, ponds, streams, waterfalls and more. I enjoy every part of the projects that come my way, but
I've been working as a watershape designer long enough to have seen big trends emerge and really take hold. It seemed for a while, for example, that vanishing edges came up at some point in just about every initial client conversation. More recently, I've found myself discussing lots of geometric pools - rectangles and various other squared-off perimeters - and that's great, because it gives us plentiful ways to
