The beauty of a landscape is not limited to the types of plants it includes. Water is another natural element that can add a special touch to your outdoor space. Our admiration of the role water plays in nature has led us to become skilled at designing and installing water features for our clients. So, we thought we would share some of our experience with you:

What is a Water Feature and Why Would You Want One?

In landscaping, a water feature is anything in the design that includes water— such as precast fountains, bubbling rocks, streams, waterfalls, or full-blown pond systems. Including water in your plans can enhance your outdoor space in unique ways. For example, its glass-like appearance adds a distinctly beautiful visual element, which changes with the season and weather.

The trickling sound of moving water has a relaxing effect, and can also function as background noise to help diminish traffic drone. Finally, water inevitably attracts varieties of wildlife. Birds such as ducks or herons may frequent your yard. One of our clients installed a stream and found, to their children’s delight, that it became home to a dozen frogs. For us, installing a pond in our back yard awakened a previously unknown love of keeping fish! Whatever your game, water features definitely add to the peacefulness within your outdoor atmosphere. 

What to Consider When Designing a Water Feature

Water features can be included in even the simplest of landscapes because they come in all shapes and sizes. If you have a small yard, a bubbling rock or precast fountain may be the perfect solution. However, streams, waterfalls, and ponds can be built in various sizes, and a skilled landscaper can create a design that suits your space. Here are a few things to consider before you start an installation:

• You will want to position the water feature to maximize its visibility from your patio, porch, house, and other areas you spend a lot of time in. The point of the water feature is for you to enjoy it, so make sure you can see and hear it from as many places as possible!
• In choosing which design you want for your yard, consider the amount of upkeep you are willing to commit to. Ponds involve the most maintenance, while pondless streams, fountains and bubbling rocks require much less.

Honor the Natural World

The Eagleson Landscape family absolutely loves to create water features. The philosophy behind our designs is “keep it natural”. Although there are instances where landscapes are meant to look man-made to match a certain style, they tend to be the exception to the rule. To us, rocks perfectly lined around a stream, or stones symmetrically stacked for a waterfall, seem out-of-place and fake. We make it our job to create water features that look as natural as possible.

How do we do this?

Our passion for water features has led us to closely observe natural landscapes. As we are hiking, we note how water positions rocks in natural streams, waterfalls and rivers. Often, we find rocks in very odd places! We try to mimic this randomness by positioning the stones and rocks within one of our ponds or streams to where they would be if nature had placed them. Clients who have watched Bill’s intricate process of placing stones have wondered if he is a bit crazy!

In keeping with the natural look, we like to use as much weathered stone as possible, though we will incorporate certain amounts of granite to lessen the cost. We handpick many of the keystones, making sure we have the right elements for that unique project. For us, we’ve succeeded in creating the perfect water feature if it looks like it has always been there and the rest of the space was built around it.

Interested in bringing the beauty of water into your landscape? Send us an email or give us a call at (317) 997-4803.