DIY Landscaping: Water Features Made Easy

Water features add motion to your landscape, and some provide soft, soothing sounds as well. What if you have a limited amount of space to work with? Can you add a water feature to your landscape even if you’re not quite ready to dig a pond or build a waterfall with river stones? Absolutely!

Small, portable water features are a DIY landscaper’s dream: They’re the perfect way to add even more life to your lawn or garden without much investment in terms of money, time, or even effort. Just like full-size ponds, they provide visiting birds and pollinators with a valuable source of refreshment, and like their larger cousins, they bring a wonderful touch of ambience to outdoor spaces of every kind.

Consider adding multiple small water features to your lawn or garden. Very simple hanging birdbaths provide a splash of color while treating your feathered friends to their own “spa” experience, and standing birdbaths make marvelous focal points for flower beds or rock gardens.

Fountains make easy additions to the DIY landscape as well. They are fast and easy to install, and most, like our Lotus Flower Dripper Fountain, are very easy to maintain, so you have lots of time left over for relaxation. If you live in an area where hard water is an issue, you may wish to prevent mineral buildup by filling your fountain with distilled water.

If you opt for a larger water feature or wish to decorate around an existing pond or stream, consider adding artwork depicting aquatic animals. Graceful herons are a marvelous choice, as are geese, turtles, or even whimsical frogs!

Stone cairns are fantastic for placing near water features of all kinds; they add a touch of texture to the garden, contrasting beautifully with foliage and flowers while providing a lovely, finished look. While you can certainly stack stones on your own, a pre-fabricated garden cairn is simpler to install, and will never tip over.

 

Whichever elements you include, be sure to place at least three objects together; for example, a fountain, a stone cairn, and a large, colorful plant can be arranged to create a pleasing scene. Use pebbles or mulch to keep weeds from popping up around your water feature, and it will offer low-maintenance beauty throughout the year.