There are garden ponds and then there are waterscapes that could fool anyone. These designs are so artistically rendered that they appear as if carved by Nature herself. It takes two teams to plan such streams or ponds. The first is the homeowner and the second is the waterscapes designer. The installation crew must also be able to envision and implement the design in such a way that it is impossible to tell that this backyard water feature hasn’t always been there.

Streams that follow the natural lay of the land just as you would find somewhere in the woods are far removed from the garden pond design. Working with native plants instead of those found in anyone’s landscaping will give your backyard stream a look that says ‘I have always existed, such as this one below.

Sometimes, having a backyard water feature that looks unplanned is the best design of all. There aren’t a lot of flowering plants and foliage colors used in such a waterscape design. Garden ponds are beautiful, yet a wild stream with rapids as opposed to waterfalls could be the perfect backyard escape. Here you experience the seasons taking joy in the smaller things the wild has to offer. The bright colored leaves amidst the rocks and running down stream could never be so at home in a garden pond.

If rugged beauty is not quite what you had in mind, a more domesticated stream could run through your backyard and still have great naturalistic appeal. A garden pond doesn’t fit everyone’s yard, terrain and lifestyle, so if you haven’t quite found the perfect place for a pond, then perhaps streams would be a better option. Streams don’t have to have rapids or waterfalls, but some downhill slope would be best. If the water has no momentum to keep moving in nature, it collects to form ponds and lakes. Realistic streams will always be found where the water can descend the grade.

Along streams as waterscapes features, making good use of texture in foliage to play up different tonal values of green and leaf shapes can be so peaceful and relaxing. For some, the softer types of beauty are more to their liking, and for others brilliant colors are what they yearn for from backyard water features. Having color right on the shoreline isn’t always necessary to creating impact, drama and beauty. Color from blooms and foliage can be used in other spots in your yard, leaving your stream banks more natural looking.

The wild, roaring stream from the first photo is very real, but created by artisan waterscapes designers and installers. That particular setting would never work in the backyard above. When deciding what feeling the stream in your yard should take on, always begin the design by working with what is already present. Streams can empty into ponds just as waterfalls do or just babble merrily along to the bottom of the slope where nature would naturally form a body of water. In such a setting you can have a natural looking stream that ends in a water garden pond. Sometimes the space and your taste can give you all three types of water features work beautifully into one backyard.