Top 5 Ways to Make Your Pond Look Awesome

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

Well I think the pond in the photo above is beautiful. Of course it was my pond -- now it belongs to Dave P. but he agrees with me. 

Do you think your pond is beautiful? I would guess of the folks we talk to on a daily basis, it's about 50/50 as to who think  their ponds are beautiful and who think their ponds need some help.

Ponds do need updates through the years; especially if your pond has been installed for a decade or better. No matter if your pond was installed by Cool Ponds, a different contractor or yourself, installation methods change and more importantly, improve. This is the first of two blog posts. The second will be ways to make your pond better functionally.

So let's begin!

Gravel beds around the pond make the water feature look unnatural.

Too Much Rock Outside the Water

A water feature that looks natural (that's what most people want -- a natural looking water feature) will have a balance of rock, plants, and mulch around the pond. Don't get caught up thinking that putting some sort of decorative rock all around your pond will help keep maintenance down -- it won't! Weeds grow in rock just like they do in mulch. The key to low maintenance is having plants grow around the water feature -- they will block out weeds. Wander around our display gardens at Cool Ponds. We do very, very little weeding. 

Also, too much rock makes the garden look harsh. You want your gardens to look soft and alive. You can accomplish this with plants and mulch. Use hardwood mulch that has not been dyed. Dyed mulch can stain your pond water. 

The pond in the photo above has a combination of plants, mulch,

and stone around for a beautifully blended look. 

Add Plants in and Out of the Water

Expanding on the previous paragraph. Adding plants brings your water feature to life. A pond surrounded by mixture of plants with different heights and bloom times can make almost any water feature look great. Choose low maintenance plants. The idea is to enjoy your garden, not work on it!

Don't forget to add aquatic plants too! Not only will aquatic plants add beauty to your pond but it will aid in its filtration as well -- more on that in next post.

It won't matter what the outside of this pond looks like until

the water is cleaned up. This water is full of debris not getting filtered out.

Clear Up the Water

There is no reason not to have clear water in your backyard pond! Having clear water is so important to the appearance of your pond. We will cover this more in the next post but keep in mind that if your pond water isn't clear then something is out of balance -- too many fish, your pond needs cleaned, not enough filtration, etc. Find out more about clearing your water here.

This pond has an aerator in the middle of it. See the bubbles? But you won't see

the airline, the plate, the compressor, or the electrical cord. It's all hidden.

Hide Your Equipment

Let's go back again to the water feature looking natural.  There's nothing natural about pipes, tubes, wires, and liner exposed. Cover all of that up. When Cool Ponds builds a pond you see nothing mechanical -- just rock, water, and plants. Even airline can be hidden behind rocks -- gently. And cover your liner with rock, assuming it's a 45mil EPDM liner which is industry standard.  Not only will covering your liner make your pond look so much better, it will protect your liner from the sun which can cause it to deteriorate over time.  And yes, you can still clean a pond with rock in it! We do hundreds of cleanings every year and the ponds with rock on the bottom are usually cleaner. More on that in the next post as well.

The edge of this pond has a log, some plants and some rock. 

Be Creative with Your Edge Treatments

The days of using flat rock as a coping around the edge of your pond are long gone, my friend. Actually they were gone when we started in this business two decades ago! There's nothing wrong with a nice big, flat rock on one side to stand on while you feed your fish, but there's more you can do!

Back to plants... We love to plant ground covers around water features. Ground covers will naturalize the edge and keep weeds out too. Our favorite ground cover is Creeping Jenny. Let those plants grow right up to the edge of the pond. They might even grow into it a little bit. That's when it looks really natural! 

Vary your methods all around your pond to give it interest and make it look like a little bit of mother nature right in your yard. Got a favorite boulder? Make it a sitting rock right next to the water. How about a log? These are all ways to make your pond look natural and awesome.

So there you have it... my top ways to make a pond look better. Of course I could go on and on but I've save the rest for next time.