Water feature peace comes to Sorticulture
Published 6:35 pm Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Water brings something innately peaceful to the garden.
The rustle of reeds, a gold-flecked glimpse of a fish, the whisper of water tripping down stone: It soothes the soul like nothing else.
And there’s a water feature for every size and style of garden, and someone to design it, build it and take care of it, too.
A decade ago, a few speciality nurseries sold aquatic plants, but it was nearly impossible to find someone to put in a pond or waterfall. Today, open the phone book and nearly every landscaper claims to do water features, said Rick Perry, owner of Falling Water Designs in Monroe.
Falling Water Designs plans to sell plants and talk water features at its booth at Sorticulture this weekend.
Nearly 30 years ago, Perry created his first water feature at age 14, a concrete duck pond for his parents’ farm. In the past few years, he has watched the water garden industry go mainstream. Even big-box stores sell pond liners and aquatic plants. Consumers have plenty of choices, and the technology for creating ponds and waterfalls is more sophisticated, easier to use and better for the environment. Forget using concrete today.
The term “water feature” covers a lot of territory: choose from large formal fountains, small entryway urns, ceramic container gardens, natural waterfalls, bog ponds, ponds for plants and koi ponds.
Aquatic plants offer an exciting new world for gardeners, including hundreds of varieties that go beyond lily pads. Upright aquatics such as reeds and cattails add a vertical flair to ponds. Marginals are plants that inhabit the edges. Oxygenators live deep down and grow upward. Then there are the floaters: lilies with sweet scents and gorgeous blooms and even floating clover.
Perry began creating water features professionally in 2000. He had worked for years as an accountant, but loved experimenting with water in his own garden, long before the birth of a water garden industry. When the start-up company he worked for closed its doors, Perry thought he’d help design and build a few for friends and family. He soon found a talent and a steady stream of clients.
His business couldn’t have launched at a better time. Waterfalls, ponds and fountains began to appear in garden shows and magazines.
Perry moved his business, Falling Water Designs, to a permanent home in Monroe recently. He hopes it will become a destination nursery someday, but workers are still landscaping the raw land. A greenhouse is filled with goldfish and koi for sale; one monster koi retails for about $400. Several ponds hold water plants. This nursery also sells other annuals and perennials, including some rare, hard-to-find ones.
An estimated 75 percent of their customers request design and installation, he said. The business also will design and build the rest of the garden, including the sprinkler system. They also offer a water feature maintenance service, for people who’d rather not bother with cleaning pumps and fertilizing water plants.
With some homework, the average homeowner can install a large water feature in two weekends, Perry said. Falling Water Designs offers a free class on how to choose where it will go in the landscape and the right type of water feature.
Homeowners often don’t go big enough, Perry said. Digging a hole seems like an enormous task, but many decide later they want fish or more plants and find that their pond isn’t big enough. It’s better to go big in the beginning than to dig twice, he said. At 88 cents per foot, the liner is the least expensive part of the project, so it doesn’t cost much more to go big.
At another free class, instructors teach the nitty-gritty of installation. If you want to keep raccoons out, for instance, the side of the pool should be 18 to 24 inches deep and straight. If you want koi, the pool needs to be at least 3 feet deep — 4 feet is better. Don’t cover the bottom of a pool with gravel — it’s bad for the fish. It’s possible to create a pond ecosystem where the plants and goldfish take care of themselves, but it requires the right mix of plants.
It sounds complicated, but caring for a water feature, even one stocked with koi and aquatic plants, isn’t as much work as caring for a similar-sized piece of ground, he said. Expect to do about 10 minutes a week of maintenance.
For basic fish ponds, Perry recommends buying a skimmer, to protect the pump and keep the surface free of debris; a UV sterilizer to keep the water clear; a quality pump that runs continuously; and for waterfalls, an up-flow filter, which helps keep the water clean. A standard kit might include those, plus lights, an autofill valve to replenish water lost to evaporation, a liner and an underlayment, and costs about $2,000. To have a pond and waterfall installed costs between $8,000 and $12,000, depending on access to the site and size of the waterfall and pond, Perry said.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
Resources
Falling Water Designs
17516 Highway 203
Monroe
360-863-1400
www.fallingwaterdesigns.com
