Water is a source of life on earth and a natural resource that enriches the landscape. It is beautiful in itself and is able to attract attention in any manifestation, whether it be a lake, a stream or an artificial decorative reservoir. Not surprisingly, in landscape design, water is a key formative factor. Indeed, nothing gives the corner of nature as much light and life as water.
The design of the site in any style of landscape art can not do without the use of water in one of its manifestations. The reason for this is the amazing ability of water to attract and fascinate. Its mobility, the play of light and shadow cannot be compared with anything.
There is no such person who would not like to watch the surf of the sea, cascading hastily down the rocks or the motionless surface of the lake. Any manifestations of this amazing element give a person special peace, relaxation and a sense of harmony with the outside world.
The combination in the design of the site of the elements of Water and Earth is able to give the landscape harmony, completeness and maximum similarity with the natural environment
The fountain jets playing in the sunshine, the winding ribbon of a stream or the sparkling calm surface of the lake can revive the landscape and introduce an element of dynamics. Water in any of its manifestations is able to enhance the aesthetic impact of the appearance.
All water bodies can be conditionally divided into two groups:
- Dynamic - water in which it is in an active state (rivers and streams, cascades and fountains).
- Static - calm objects (wells, artificial ponds, decorative swamps).
For those who like to watch the flowing water flows, overcoming the ledges and rapids on their way, it is better to use water sources belonging to the first group to design sites. While planning to create a cozy corner in which silence is broken only by leaves falling on the mirror surface, when arranging the territory, the choice should be stopped at more calm static water sources.
Even on a suburban area with a small area, you can organize a spectacular and picturesque water arrangement. It can be a pebbled “sea” coast or a picturesque pond with carps decorated with exotic plants, or it can be a fabulous stream framed by moss-covered stones ... The choice is limited only by the imagination of the master.
Option # 1 - streams and springs
Streams are one of the most popular water devices. They imitate natural underground sources and are characterized by a low pressure of a stream. Due to the small size of the springs, it is not difficult for them to find a place in the shady corner of the garden, on a paved area or lawn, where it is quite problematic to equip more bulky water structures.
In the garden plots, they are created according to a closed-loop system, in which the water flowing from the source, entering the lower reservoir along the channel, is pumped back to the source using the pump underground.
A wonderful addition to the landscape design of the site with uneven terrain will be a water stream descending from the slope
Ideally, if there is a slight bias on the site. If there is none, it can be created artificially by placing the source on the slope of the bulk hill or arranging it in the form of a grotto or a “crying stone”. Roughnesses of the relief can also be made artificially by laying stones or slabs along the path of water movement in several layers.
A stream can flow in a winding channel enveloping trees in smooth lines, flow over rocky steps or “dissolve” in a pebble bed. The main thing is to avoid symmetry, because in nature there is nothing perfectly even and to preserve naturalness. The more randomly the "snake" of the stream bends, the more natural and picturesque it will look, the louder and more fun murmur.
The spring will also look spectacular against the backdrop of a rocky garden: rock garden or rockery. Most naturally, it will look like a small grotto or a spring spouting from the ground.
Option # 2 - cascades and waterfalls
Waterfalls are truly a bewitching spectacle that a person can watch forever. Regardless of the design, they have a similar structural solution, in which a point pouring water jets is located on a stone ledge. Depending on the shape of the flat stone-shelf mounted at the top, water flows can create mirrored walls or a curtain of the finest jets.
Waterfalls can be a single, uniformly flowing continuous streams or broken down separately flowing streams
If desired, a cascade can be made part of the composition, turning it into the mouth or source of a stream, or made a separate object.
It’s convenient to decorate the banks of water bodies with cascades: the falling water falls directly into the pond and from it rises upward with a pump
Picturesque cascades and waterfalls, framing the dark "clearing" of plant compositions, can have an amazing effect: they set up relaxation and pacification, and also create an excellent microclimate on the site.
Option # 3 - park fountains
The fountain is the only type of water device that is initially man-made and has no analogues in nature. In addition to the decorative function, the fountains perform a practical one, enriching the surrounding air with oxygen. When arranging suburban areas, inkjet and sculptural fountains are used.
Jet fountains are installed in finished water bodies and are a sculptural part of the compositions. Sculptural are an independent object of landscape design and often act as a key element of the garden.
With the design of small landscape gardens and "green rooms" on the site, the digged-in small sculptural fountains look interesting.
A fountain in the form of a figure of a girl with a jug, from the neck of which water pours, can decorate a secluded corner in the garden or the shore of the pond
Sculptural fountains are a closed cycle of water: in which the jets rise up or fall down under the action of the pressure created by the electric pump. Although such miniature fountains have a small dispersion of water, they do not lose special appeal from this.
Wall fountains are ideal for fencing, the outer walls of gazebos and houses. When arranging such a fountain, hoses and a pump are hidden in the ground near the wall or disguised in the thickets of plants framing it.
Most often, wall fountains have the appearance of the head of a bird, animal or mythical creature, from whose mouth jets of water pour out
Against the background of the vegetative compositions of suburban areas, the jet fountains located in the ponds look most organically
It can be a multi-jet fountain in the form of an umbrella, a dome or a geyser. The height of the jets and the type of water pattern depends on the selected fountain nozzle and pump performance.
Option # 4 - artificial ponds
The main feature of the ponds is the static stillness of the water, in which, like in a mirror, the seasonal changes of plants surrounding the pond are reflected.
The smooth surface of lakes and decorative ponds attracts attention with a deep blue and multicolor iridescent reflection of flowers
Among the variety of design of garden ponds, water bodies that have simple natural forms and an uneven contour look thanks to which it is impossible to capture the whole landscape with the most attractive.
The coastlines of decorative ponds are performed as naturally as possible so that the pond harmoniously fits into the surrounding natural landscape.
When decorating small areas, raised ponds, arranged in autonomous containers or tall flower beds, look interesting
Decorate the shore of the pond with boulders or small stones, decorate it with coastal plants and lights - and it will become a real decoration of your garden.
The decorative pond is unusually beautiful in the evening, when its watery mirror surface reflects the dark crowns of trees in the garden, a rich palette of heavenly colors and the flickering lights of street lamps
Option # 5 - decorative swamps
Overgrown decorative swamps rarely act as an independent element. They are more reminiscent of parched islets at the coastline of a pond. The main task of decorative swamps is to visually expand the boundaries of the shores of the reservoir.
For the design of ponds, group plantings of small-bulbous and hygrophilous plants, which successfully create a boggy effect, are ideally suited.
A successful addition to the coastal zone of swamps are stone blocks, old stumps and driftwood.
Any even the smallest pond can turn an ordinary garden into an oasis, where it is nice to relax, listening to the murmur of water jets or watching the calm surface of a pond.
