system initiation

The true artistry of stream building is found in the closing phase of construction, says landscape designer Rick Anderson. Here, in the final installment of his series on streamcrafting, he walks us through the concluding steps he takes to transform a raw installation into a finished watershape that dazzles the eye with its natural look and delights the ear with its gentle sound.

A Stream Comes to Life

Now comes the fun part. The final stage of building a stream is where all of the planning and close attention to the stream's earthen substructure, transitions in elevation, liner alignment and hydraulics come into play as you move to build in details that effectively mimic nature. In the first two installments of this series (click here for part 1, here for part 2), I discussed in detail how you excavate and grade the site, place the major transition stones, lay in the liner and install