Gardens are a part of the home that acts as a blank canvas. We can go wild with our imagination and pour our personality into it. Moulding it to our liking, we do so for our benefit mentally and physically. A garden can be incredibly relaxing, a safe haven from the hectic world outside and somewhere you can go to be by yourself. You can take an opportunity to be at one with wildlife and have your own little piece of nature that you can nurture. One of the most profound garden types there is, is the water garden. It sounds exactly like it is, with a water feature that takes precedence and much of the attention. Water gardens are in fact ancient, they have been designed and been around for thousands of years. Most notably, the ancient Greeks used water gardens as a show of their advance in horticulture but also as a sign of prestige. Walking through a water garden once upon a time, were the Roman senators and generals that made many a political and military plan of action surrounded by water features, and pathways. There’s no use in saying that making a water garden is easy, because it’s not. However, it’s not obscenely difficult or expensive either.
The basic premise
For those of you that are not familiar with what a water garden is, there is a basic design that you can easily wrap your head around. Picture a stone pathway that leads from your back door to the other end of the garden. You may have flower beds, lawn and a whole range of other things either side. It’s common to have statues and sculptures that line the pathway. Just as you get toward the end of the pathway you are met with a small humpback bridge. Walking over the bridge you look down and see a pond. In the pond there are lily leaves with frogs, fish of many kinds, butterflies and dragonflies flapping around. Once you cross over the bridge you’re met with seating, either a classic stone or wooden bench or some variation of the modern kind such as a hanging egg seat. This is somewhat of the basic idea, because you have a garden that is for walking around, enjoying the wildlife and nature around you but also having the prestige of a living water ecosystem. Of course to make it a lounge area and a place to relax you must also have a place to sit and observe the garden.
The pathway of solace
The pathway you create must be something that is easy to navigate and quiet. Pebbles are something that you might want but they are loud when you walk over them. This is something you may want as many country manor houses have them. However this is very rugged and rustic, and there are other choices for the simple residential home. Decorative stones such as rainbow quartz and eco rock are tiny pieces of rock that have been smashed and ground up. They act as a cushion that allows your feet to sink in a little and not be so hard on your feet. This is something you should look for if you want a pathway that is quiet and easy to walk on for hours. Just imagine walking the pathway over and over while thinking of something important or just generally about life. You don’t want to hear the sounds of your own footsteps too loudly and you don’t want too much resistance to your body weight either.
Features that fit the mood
Since it is a water garden you need features that will fit the ambience and the mood of the garden. A weeping wall if something you should consider as it’s one of the more simpler water features and it’s also a great idea to act as natural part of your pond. It’s provides a wall for your pond so water is not spilled over the edge so easily but also as a feature that is continuous in its function i.e. pouring water in a cycle into the pond itself. It’s not quite a fountain but acts like one.
A classical fountain features alongside the pathway or even protruding out of the pond itself would add some traditional style to your water garden. Naked angels with wings and harps, with water coming out of their trumpets is a very popular feature. Fountains with birds that also spew water from their mouths might be something you want. Each feature has it’s own unique expression and addition to your garden. The characters and how they are interacting with the water is something you should consider as something that has to fit within your own style and aim of the garden.
An interactive pond
Ponds don’t have to be stationary and dull, they don’t always have to be water features that you can only observe. You may want to put stepping stones from https://www.bibralakesoils.com.au/ in your pond so that you may walk over it to get to your seating area. These are a modern take on stepping stones with designs of feet, love hearts, the classic tree trunk and large leaves. You could have the stepping stones places as a route that goes from one end of the pond to the other but in a manner that is across. The bridge already allows you to cross over it in the narrowest form so stepping stones might be something that travels the length of the pond instead. Get creative but be careful that your pond isn’t so deep that slipping from the stones could cause harm.
A water garden is a very prestigious and ancient concept. It’s a very apt and adept take on what a garden should be. A place of contemplation, but also somewhere you can reconnect with nature and enjoy the simple things in life. Other times it can be your haven, where you can escape from the rest of the world and be alone with your thoughts. Consider tackling the basic premise of the water garden, then you can become creative and start to inject your own style and personality into it.
