Water Features in the Garden: Yes or No?

A small recirculating fountain adds the soothing sound of moving water to your garden with very little water loss.

By Josh

Almost everyone is cheered up by the sight or sound of water in a garden. Many homeowners have fantasies that involve relaxing next to a beautiful koi pond listening to the calming flow of water and gurgling fountains or waterfalls. 

The harsh reality is that garden ponds often require a lot of maintenance to keep them healthy. Larger ponds are often easier to keep healthy than smaller ponds, so this is especially a consideration in city gardens, where room for a pond is usually minimal. Water chemistry is a complicated subject, but suffice to say, the larger the pond, the easier it is to keep the water chemistry from getting out of whack. 

There are also safety issues to keep in mind- small children and pets are drawn to water, and need to be constantly supervised around a pond. Although ponds attract birds and beneficial insects, they can also attract nuisances, like raccoons and mosquitos. There is also the amount of water required to keep a pond filled. Ponds need to be filled constantly, to replace the water that is lost through evaporation. In a dry climate with low ambient humidity like that in much of California, this water loss can be pretty substantial. 

A shallow bowl creates a reflection adding dimension to your garden.

So what do you do if you would like the benefits of water in your garden, but don’t have the time or energy to maintain a pond? If you like the sound of gurgling water, you can install a small recirculating fountain that collects water in a covered basin. These are usually in the form of a large ceramic pot or urn, with the water being pumped out of the top of the vessel and running down the sides, disappearing into the earth at the its base. By adjusting the manner in which the water leaves the vessel and flows down its sides, you can create different sounds. This is a great way to drown out background noise, such as traffic, without the need for an entire pond. Many water districts require that all fountains use only recirculating or recycled water, and this meets these requirements.

The magic of such a fountain is in the basin that collects the water and allows it to recirculate. This basin is hidden in the ground and covered with a screen, which is then covered with gravel. The falling water percolates through the gravel, collects in the basin, and is pumped back to the top to start the process all over again. There is some evaporation, but this is minimized, and the water usage is pretty low.

If you just want to enjoy the reflections created by water in the garden, you can install a simple shallow bowl or dish that can be filled with a hose or watering can. It can be placed on the ground or on top of a rock or other suitable perch. It can be filled when needed, and should be rinsed out and scrubbed occasionally. It is important to make sure it is shallow enough so that any wildlife that falls in can stand up and climb out.

Either of these options, the fountain or the shallow bowl, will draw birds and beneficial insects to your garden. These creatures need water to drink, and will quickly make use of the water that you supply, so make sure that it is positioned in a spot that they can reach easily, and that doesn’t have any cover where cats or other predators can lay in wait. You can avoid creating a mosquito farm by dumping and replacing the water in the bowl at least once every week or two. While nothing in a garden is ‘no maintenance’, these two ways to add a water feature are certainly ‘lower maintenance’.