The Best Stones for Your Pond or Waterfall



Pond with Stones and Landscaping

Stones are an essential part of any pond or waterfall design, and care should be given to their selection and placement. Working with your designer, you can choose the right stones to bring out the natural beauty of your pond or waterfall and complete your dream water garden.

To help you make the best decisions and get the most out of working with your designer, let’s take a look at the different types of stones used in waterfalls and ponds:

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Third Pond Tour of 2013

Pond and a benchJoin us for our 3rd Pond Tour of 2013, Saturday, March 16th from 9 AM to 4 PM. Witness some of the most breath taking designs in ponds and outdoor living, including three of our owners’ personal ponds. The tour will be featured in Glendale, Shadow Hills, and La Crescenta. 
 

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Pond Seminar – 20 Pond Myths Destroyed

If you are considering the addition of a pond, waterfall or any other water feature to your yard, then you may have a lot of unanswered questions. This mini pond seminar will help answer some questions that you may have and shine some light on other misconceived myths about water gardens.

If you would like further information on ponds and water gardening, give California Waterscapes a call at 818-244-4000.

What is a Formal Pond?

For thousands of years, creative architects have employed formal ponds to provide focus, noise abatement, and evaporative cooling in both public and private gardens.

Although formal ponds were traditionally built of stone, today they can also be built with brick, concrete, or pressure treated wood.  A raised perimeter wall can highlight the attractive structural materials and offer visitors a place to sit by the water; a flush edge is easier to build and will make the garden feel more spacious. Simple rectangular shapes with vertical side walls are recommended for ease of waterproofing, but other shapes are possible.

Fish and plants are optional, but a fountain is a virtual necessity.  A depth of 10″ to 24″ is sufficient.

Formal ponds can match a more formal architectural design but can be difficult to maintain and expensive to build.  Their pumps can clog easily and there is no biological or mechanical filtration.  Also, if built from concrete, it can crack.

Concrete Pond

How Much Sunlight Does a Pond Need?

This is one of the biggest myths surrounding water gardening today. Most books say a pond needs a minimum of 4-6 hours of sunlight a day for aquatic plants to live. They discourage building a pond in a shady area.

The truth is that aquatic plants do bloom more and flourish better in high sunlight conditions. This is not debatable. What is debatable is how well aquatic plants can do in low light conditions.

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