Wow, how the times have changed! The garbage cans gave way to the present day skimmer boxes specifically manufactured for water gardening. Companies have grown into multi-million dollar businesses that focus on nothing but, water features and their accessories. Water gardening has turned into a national pastime. Like everything else technology has touched, these water systems have become quite sophisticated, involving mathematical equations to figure volume, capacity, distance and velocity.
In the mid-nineties, we began building “extreme” water features. Streams and ponds that stretch hundreds of feet, from the front yard, wrapping around the house like a snake to the back yard. The water travels into a “grand finale” of elaborate cascades into a pond caressed with water plants and flowers, and huge healthy trees dipping into the water.
We are finally complete with the construction of what we think is the largest private water feature in the southeast. Over 500 feet in length, the water courses through a series of streams and cascades. One of the cascades is over twelve feet high. This system has over 35,000 gallons of water re-circulating throughout the maze of meandering streams and cascading waterfalls. It rivals some of the most high profile water features in the southeast, such as the water feature in the lobby of the Grand Ole Opry hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.
Throughout my years of practicing the art of landscape design and creation, I have not only, become obsessed with flowers, shrubs and trees, but also the art and science of manipulating water. I have been practicing placing and arranging rocks and boulders in such a fashion to look natural and to re-create the sounds of a natural mountain stream. Using the science behind water’s surface tension and the specific placement of rocks, we manipulate the different acoustical sound ranges of the splashing water. From the low “wooshes” of water hitting deep water, to the splashy high tinny sounds of water rolling over water, we are creating the sounds of natural stream as if, we are composing music.