When I design a water feature for a client, I don’t draw accurate scale drawings with every
detail precisely copied into the actual landscape. To achieve the most natural finished product you need to have the freedom
to alter things as you go, to work with the land and it‘s features which may be hidden under the earth or bushes during
the planning stages. I make a concept drawing which shows the style and rough appearance the finished product will represent
in the same way it will represent it‘s counterpart found in nature.
The key to designing a truly great water garden is simply deciding what your favorite “piece”
of nature is and then fitting it into your yard. You might be thinking, “If only I had a bigger yard. A 4’ x 4’
space could be turned into a masterpiece copy of nature. Take a look at Stone Craft's latest fountain, A lot of landscape
in a little space or click on this link and have a look at some even smaller spaces than that. http://www.manlungpenjing.org/eng-gallery-frame.html
Let’s just assume your yard is a little bigger than that though. First of all choose the location
you want on the earth because this will drastically change the look of the pieces of nature you like. There’s the huge
leafed jungles of the tropics or the sparse dry deserts of California. The rugged mountains of the Cascades or the or the
dense thickets of the Olympic Peninsula.
Now for the pieces~
Imagine a mountain hillside in the summer, dense with highland ground covers and colorful wild flowers.
Rocks show off their rugged beauty where the spring floods washed them clean before narrowing into a small mountain stream
which now cascades down through it all stopping occasionally for a rest in small bubbling pools. Small clusters of alpine
fir stand with their backs to the wind, holding at their base clumps of mountainous shrubs towards the path of the sun.
Or, a ravine carved out of layers of sediment rock with vertical cliffs on each side and bonsai
growing out of crevices and ledges. Deep pools between cascading falls throughout the bottom with pockets of flowering rock
plants scattered about and dense azaleas lining the upper banks with vine maple reaching for the open space of the canyon.
Or, the edge of a deep slow moving river where the path of least resistance has slowly carved
through solid rock. Rock formations taper like miniature mountain ranges from high on the banks down into the waters edge
surfacing again off shore like islands in the sea.
If you only have a small space dedicated for your water feature; How about a rock face in the
under-story of a northwest forest with trailing plats hanging down from crevices in the cliff mimicking the fall of a creak
spilling over the top and splashing into a deep pool carved out by the hydraulics of the water over time. Lush vegetation
of different textures and color reach toward the sky on slender stems competing for sunlight and green mosses flourish in
the shade beneath moistened by the mist of falling water.
Create a piece of nature, a framed picture of a scene, Like an exhibit in a Zoo only the wildlife within comes
and goes and changes with the seasons unconfined by boundaries and walls.
By Aaron Jones (c)
PROJECT PORTFOLIO
WATER FEATURE DESIGNS
