Some very impressive pond builds
- Thread starter GBBUDD
- Start date
Greg's pond at his house has to be seen to be believed. It's amazing! And Brian's pond is a wonderful example of what you can do with a standard suburban back yard. You drive up to his house and you have NO IDEA the paradise that is hidden in the backyard. So inspiring! In fact, we modeled our negative edge on Brian's.
While I love Brian's pond my layout just didn't blend with his ideas . the sunken negative edge is amazing and the 4 foot drop on the falls is ideal height but i already had to build my yard up 7 feet just to get a foot higher then my pond. Eds pond has probably one of the most beautiful waterfalls and i loved how the water was right up to the patio that i did model the pond after. The pea stone bogs and the snorkel bogs all seemed to work but i am a firm believe of over sizing my filters so if a problem occurred the filter will be able to deal with it with minimal intervention. So i built one of each this way if maintenance was needed i had a back up to keep the pond healthy . All these videos helped me to build my pond. I spent many hours watching you tube videos some amazing videos as I have included here and some that are less then inspiring. So i figured I would start this thread for anyone who wanted to build there own or have someone build it for them showing what kind of oasis you can build in you own back yard and not have any need to spend 5 and 10,000 dollars to go on vacation for a week or two. I have also seen some folks build some ponds with little imagination but in the same regard they as I did not have the opportunity to go on a pond walk. I wish they had them here in New England I can only imagine some of the ponds in Greenwich as i have worked on many properties in that area and along long island sound. One home was built by Tony Smith a understudy for Frank Loyd Wright . There was an abandoned water fall and stream that had to be beyond amazing when it was running The fall was probably 15 feet but it broke one of the guide lines and that was to have it visible from the inside or up against the outside living area. This fall was against the house but it fell away from the house where only some of the stream was visible looking over the edge of the patio and looking down some 20 feet below. I know i am not done with my pond as they say the average water garden has big bigger and best ponds. so i guess i am on Big. Anyways i hope this will help those looking to build there own paradise.
Who knows maybe i'll include some of the member's ponds I have seen here as well. But for now i'll leave it as ponds outside these forums.
Who knows maybe i'll include some of the member's ponds I have seen here as well. But for now i'll leave it as ponds outside these forums.
I have added this build to the list because it shows a couple steps that other builds do not . these little tips i feel are important. One being to install underlayment both under and over the liner if you plan to install rock in the pond. And a second new material that adds to the weight capability of aquablox and how to work around area restrictions like finding river rock in Florida where it's all coral rock .
These are all so much fun! I'm in the process of building my second pond. It will be out in the backyard and the primary purpose is to attract and support wildlife. We have a lot of wildlife in our area due to proximity to the national park. But the suburban sprawl and over-development is just terrible. We have a lot of habitat loss. Hence, my wonderful "excuse" to put in another pond! The challenge for me, as I drool over all these videos is two-fold: I have to be creative within my budget and make the pond as attractive and natural as I can - with limited funds. The second challenge will be being at peace with the fact that I am one person with no large equipment and no additional money to rent or hire. So - no giant and fantabulous boulders for me. I have been tossing around the idea in my head of doing some big DIY fake boulders around the outer areas. Have you seen people make those? They almost just do a big blop of concrete on the ground, then work the surface to mimic stone. I'm pretty artsy, so I could probably do it. All these pond videos are such wonderful inspiration!
I have seen concrete recreations as i have built a couple my self on some crazy projects to hide speakers etc a long time ago. The big thing in that process is to dye the concrete as you mix it the color will never go away but when you add it up to make a larger boulder with wire mesh and concrete time spent and overall appearance you dont save a lot. if you place some adds on local builtin boards at the coffee shop or talk to landscapers working in your area you never know in time some one may have a project close by and they might be able to help you out for pocket change especially where your pond i believe was right next to your driveway or do i have you confused with another recent build