Five tips for creating natural-looking waterfalls
What makes one backyard waterfall look as though it鈥檚 been pouring over the rocks for centuries, and another look like cement blobs were thrown at a hillside? I wrote about naturalistic rock placement in another posting, but today let鈥檚 look at falling water.
In my ongoing search for how to re-create the natural look in gardens, I turn to one of my favorite waterfall builders 鈥� Gerald Roulette, of G & O Landscaping in Sherwood, Ore. You can use Gerald鈥檚 tips when planning your own waterfall 鈥� whether you want a charming trickle or mighty stream.
Every garden benefits from the addition of water, and now鈥檚 the time to think about what you want once spring arrives, either DIY or with a builder.
Gerald tells me he looks to nature for his inspiration. 鈥淵ou never see anything in the wild that resembles a retaining wall,鈥� he says. So he often spends his time up streams to Oregon鈥檚 ubiquitous .
1. Consider the source. In nature, even the most thundering falls can have modest beginnings. The source of Oregon鈥檚 crashing shows itself first as a series of springs that emerge from a mossy bank at the base of arid Black Butte 鈥� quite a subject of contemplation when you realize how dramatic the water becomes on its downward journey.
TIP: Create a naturalistic start. Many garden falls are constructed with biological filter boxes at the top. These need to be hidden by rocks and surrounding plants 鈥攍eaving plenty of access for maintenance 鈥� or constructed to resemble a still pool, as if water is arising from a wellspring.
2. Stories in stones. All flowing water carries a history of how the stream formed. For instance, Gerald studies the sharper rock edges on a falls, where the earth has been scoured away by the rushing water, revealing the underlying slabs, often tilted at the same angle. He notes, 鈥淚n any falls, the water is exposing the rocks, making them appear as if they are coming out of the ground.鈥�
TIP: Bury your spill rocks. Plan on seriously hiding large parts of the rock that make up your falls. You want the stone to look as if it鈥檚 emerging from the earth, all at a similar angle, not plopped on top.
3. Erratic behavior. Other falls in nature are completely made up of rounded rocks, tumbled for eons by water and glacial action. In the wild places, such as the or even New York鈥檚 Central Park, you鈥檒l find dramatic house-size boulders called 鈥�,鈥� rounded and rubbed by long-gone glaciers, often deposited far from where they were originally formed.
TIP: Ground your boulders. Trying to reproduce erratic placement in your backyard tends to look spotty-dotty. If you like the high-mountain look, tuck plants and smaller rocks around large rocks to help them fit in. The accompanying rock garden-type plants appreciate the extra drainage these planting pockets afford.
4. Water works. Streams move straight downhill in steeper areas, stopped only by rocks that form pools. The area under a falls is dug out by the force of the stream, pushing smaller pebbles up to the outer edges.
TIP: Place the deepest part of your pool under the falls. If you have a drain, that鈥檚 where it should be. Arrange the basin鈥檚 pebbles so they curve up to the surrounding rocks and plants.
5. Sounds, not silence. When you go to see waterfalls in nature, don鈥檛 forget to listen. Try to determine what makes the water鈥檚 various notes. A cascade pouring off a ledge resonates differently from one trickling around large rocks. Water splashing into a deep pool can be distinguished from water hitting partly submerged stones.
TIP: Avoid 鈥�Niagara syndrome.鈥� That鈥檚 the term artists shared with me to define, as David puts it, 鈥淭oo much volume of water in too small an area, without considering the intimacy of the site.鈥� Installing a that allows for flow control solves the problem.
Mary-Kate Mackey is one of eight garden writers who blog regularly at Diggin' It. She is co-author of 鈥淪unset鈥檚 Secret Gardens 鈥� 153 Design Tips from the Pros鈥� and contributor to the 鈥淪unset Western Garden Book,鈥� writes a monthly column for the Hartley Greenhouse and numerous articles for Fine Gardening, Sunset, and other magazines. She teaches at the University of Oregon鈥檚 School of Journalism & Communication. She writes about water in the garden for Diggin鈥� It.
Editor鈥檚 note: To read more by Mary-Kate, click here. The Diggin' It blog archive has everyone's posts (scroll down]. The Monitor鈥檚 main gardening page offers articles on many gardening topics. See also our . You may want to visit . If you join the group (it鈥檚 free), you can upload your garden photos and enter our next contest.
