Garden ponds design ideas

Building garden ponds for ambience, wildlife, or the beauty of water lilies.

 

Many guides to garden ponds provide a great deal of information about "how to." But before you start constructing water garden ponds, you should also consider why you want to build one. That can be a pesky little question, but taking the time to answer it thoroughly will make the construction process a lot simpler. Here are some garden ponds design ideas to help you get started.

Why?

Garden ponds always look best when they've been designed with a particular purpose in mind. That purpose may be to attract wildlife, provide visual or aural ambience, or introduce a unique setting through which to expand your home garden.

Ambience

If it's ambience that attracts you to water garden ponds, there are several routes you can take.

Traditional

In traditional Japanese gardening, garden ponds are meant to provide an organic sense of seclusion. This is often reinforced through the use of bridges and islands. Many books are available on Japanese garden ponds design, but we recommend visiting a real Japanese garden for inspiration. Beautiful Japanese gardens open to the public can be found in Illinois, California, Texas, Portland, Phoenix, Seattle, Massachusetts, and St. Louis, among other places, so location should be no obstacle to a weekend visit.

Rustic

A less sympathetic observer might refer to rustic water garden ponds as "kitschy," but we say if you love windmills and gnomes and rainbow-colored bridges, then rustic your garden pond design should be. Unlike with Japanese garden ponds, it's alright if rustic water garden ponds are a little artificial looking. Garden pond accessories will be a greater part of the planning process with rustic garden ponds, and features such as windmills or fountains are fitting.

Contemporary

The category of contemporary water garden ponds encompasses a great many garden ponds, from modern Zen to urban art deco water gardens that incorporate cascading fountains. Unique looks such as sculpted, above ground water garden ponds can put a futuristic twist on an historical landscape feature.

Wildlife

The size of water garden ponds plays a major role in attracting or nurturing wildlife. Koi ponds, for example, should be four to six feet deep and hold at least 1,000 gallons of water.

You'll need to decide whether you prefer garden ponds that attract wildlife or can sustain fish. Fish need deeper water and will eat tadpoles and other creatures that spawn in shallow water. Birds like to drink and bathe in shallows, so if you want birds congregating around your water garden, you'll need to select garden ponds designs with gentle slopes.

When positioning garden ponds, remember to think from a bird's perspective. The shrubs you find so lovely are also great hiding places for predatory cats.

Diversifying your garden

If you're looking at garden ponds with gardening solely in mind, the two aspects of garden pond designs you need to focus on are depth and positioning.

The plant most commonly associated with water gardening is, of course, the water lily. Water lilies prefer garden ponds in full sunlight, without shadows from buildings or trees. Water lilies also dislike moving water, so decorative garden ponds with waterfalls or windmills won't be a good fit.

Though some pond plants, such as water hyacinth, actually float on the water, water lilies do not. If planning for water lilies, avoid garden ponds designs much deeper than 18 inches. Otherwise, the pots that water lilies are planted in will have to be given support from underneath.

Other considerations

A final but important consideration when choosing garden ponds designs: don't forget to research topics such as zoning restrictions and electricity. Garden ponds of a certain depth sometimes require a fence, and there may also be insurance issues. Give these things the proper attention, but don't let them discourage you from pursuing your favorite garden ponds design ideas.