Garden Waterfalls and Streams

Moving water is an amazing and truly wonderful asset in the garden, and it is never more so than when it is incorporated as a natural feature. There are few sounds more soothing and romantic than water tumbling over natural rocks, and with modern our technology, it is now fairly simple to incorporate this utterly magical aspect into your garden.

In the past, the greatest deterrent to the use of moving water in domestic gardens was the mechanism needed to make it work; it could be quite complicated to achieve constant flowing water easily, cheaply and without a considerable amount of pipework. Modern submersible pumps have rid us of all the paraphernalia of plumbing, and in recent years have become very efficient and extremely reliable. Indeed, unless you contemplate an extensive scheme, the submersible pump is likely to do the job well.

The introduction of sectional streams has also made practical stream construction more reliable for the amateur, although the lined stream is still the least intrusive, even if it is the most demanding to make. The same applies to the garden waterfall, although with the careful use of stone, it can be impossible to detect the presence of a liner.

Apart from streams and waterfalls, other moving water features can also be constructed. For inspiration, look to the wonderful creations that our forebears made. We do not have to rely upon gravity as they often did, and we can be much more inventive, putting small pumps into all sorts of places to create moving water that is surprising yet reliable. While moving water does have an adverse effect upon some aquatic plants, particularly waterlilies, which are naturally plants of quiet backwaters, stream banks provide extensive opportunities for growing marginal and bog garden plants. A garden waterfall will confer more restrictions on planting, but few can deny the benefits it can bring to the most modest of schemes, the water itself becoming the primary attraction.