A stream garden
Water gardens hold a universal fascination for us and many people have a strong desire to be near the presence of water . Of course, water is a fundamental and most mysterious element, the giver of life. Nothing can exist without it but it is the ephemeral qualities - particularly of moving water - that capture our imaginations.
Yet there is a conflict. We want ponds, yet they are by far the hardest feature to make well. The simple aesthetic of water is in fact rather difficult to achieve and the sad result is that many ponds end up looking a mess, despite the best intentions of their owners.
One of the main causes of this problem is that most ponds are far too small to sustain a healthy biological balance - yet that is all that most of us have room for. In such a space, you could consider building a water feature, not a pond. A pond tries to mimic the natural order, whilst a water feature, is small and may be more formal or sculptural.
To mimic the natural order in a small pond is difficult - by small I shall say under 6 metres/20 foot in length. The typical small garden pond is, in Nature's terms, no more than a puddle and as such, would dry up rapidly. If it were fed by even the smallest of streams, then a pond of this size would be no more than a bulge in the watercourse and so, not a pond.
Therefore we are dealing with a highly artificial environment, where there is simply not enough water volume to establish a natural balance. Until recently I would have discouraged anyone from building the classic small pond - typically overstocked with plants and overfed fish, with water levels that fluctuate wildly, requiring frequent top-ups with the hose. As an ecological system they are unbalanced, as a design feature, they can look somewhat twee.
Yet a few years ago, I recall watching my own (then) 5 year old boy enjoying just such a pond, watching fish and dragonflies, lifting lily pads to see where they had disappeared to and toe dipping to squeals of laughter.
I realised then that I had been looking at this issue only as a designer, not as someone who wants to experience such joys in their own private space - however small that may be. So I decided that there has to be a way of designing small ponds which are biologically stable, aesthetically attractive, child friendly and as safe as such things can be.
Of course, if an aid to balancing a pond is to be found, then it has to be through filtration, yet the plastic boxes and UV filters of the Koi enthusiast held little appeal to me.
This small garden pond, not
untypical of it's kind, fails
miserably.
Would you know that this
is a biological filter?
For some years now, I have been experimenting with forms of biological filtration, taking a lead from work done with reed bed sewerage systems and it seems to me that this can be utilised for even the smallest pond, with good success. Furthermore, they are aesthetically appealing in their own right and add to the beauty of the pond, rather than detract.
Thus we arrive at a situation where the functional dictates of the system enhance the aesthetic appeal of the feature, which is what it's all about, in the end. So if Form follows Function, then also Balance brings Beauty
For further information, you can refer to other articles and design notes found in the Natural Pond Thread