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 Water gardens can be designed to suit almost any space and pocket. To start off let's take a quick look at your options.
Ponds
Ponds can range from something the size of a small lake, down to large ceramic pots filled with water (although these are usually referred to as container water features).
Ponds can be heavily filtered to hold fish in healthy clear water, so that you can see them and feed them, or they can be naturally planted homes for whatever happens along.
At the top end of technology are highly-filtered crystal clear Koi ponds which should be at least 4 ft. deep holding 2,000 gal. or more, with pristine (sterile even) plant-free sides and base.
Further "down" are standard fish ponds. Some of these are filtered, others are simply planted heavily for natural filtration. If fish are to live in these ponds over winter they should still be 2 ft. deep.
Wildlife ponds come in many shapes and sizes, but filtration is out of the question and heavy planting is essential. They need shallow sides and easy access (and escape) for frogs, newts, toads, grass snakes and other unlikely swimmers like hedgehogs. Around the wildlife pond desolate areas and logpiles or rockeries supply winter or high dry summer shelter for amphibians, insects and other creatures.
Getting smaller still, almost any container can be filled with water, planted, and thus made into a temporary home for coldwater or even some tropical fish in summer, or a refuge for mini wildlife.
 Moving water
Many ponds incorporate waterfalls, riffles or streams - but these can also be "free-standing" re-circulating water from a hidden reservoir.
Fountains, too, can be part of a pond or freestanding as part of a water feature, and there are dozens of fountainhead styles offering different flow patterns.
Other simple water features just spit or drop water from a spout - or water just oozes down a sculpture or statue.
Self-contained moving water features or mini ponds can fit into any garden, even onto the balcony of a flat - so space is no problem.
Water in the garden
Any area or flow of water added to your garden, or adapted from nature -makes your garden a water garden. And we will argue that being close to water, seeing it, hearing it and enjoying the plants and creatures that it nurtures, is an important human need. |
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