Landscaping Around Your Pond

There are three factors to consider when choosing plants for the pond landscape. First and foremost, choose plants that look natural. Next, remember your views. You angled the waterfall for the best view from the areas of your home and yard that are used the most – make sure it doesn’t get blocked.

Finally, choose plants that are in scale with the surroundings. Don’t attempt to plant a tree or shrub that will dwarf your pond. The average size ponds look best with a small tree like a serviceberry or an amur maple to keep the plant in scale with your pond.

Landscaping Around the Waterfall

If you have a waterfall, you’ll want to accentuate it. Placing floating aquatic plants, such as water hyacinth and water lettuce in the open water of the filter will camouflage it a little bit, but a little creativity will go a long way in hiding the true source of the water.  If you are lucky enough to live in or near a wooded area, venture out to look for interesting logs that you can use to naturalize the pond. Landscaping near a waterfall helps hide the biological filter and ties the waterfall to the surrounding landscape. Dwarf, fine-textured plants like Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) or cutleaf staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Lacinata’) planted near the edge, and hanging over the side, accomplish this goal very well. Planting small trees like these will allow you to frame the waterfall and create a focal point.

That Darn Retaining Wall

To further soften and take the emphasis off of the retaining wall, plant it with rock garden type plants such as sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum), Dianthus ‘Tiny Rubies’ (Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Tiny Rubies’), creeping thyme (Thymus spp.), evergreen candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), rockcress (Aubretia spp.), creeping baby’s breath (Gypsophila repens), Carpathian bellflowers (Campanula carpatica), and soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides).

These plants are great for tucking in the nooks, crannies, and voids of the rock wall in order to camouflage the boulders. They also work well in the rock crevices around the perimeter of the water garden.

Other Planting Ideas

One of the most beautiful ways to naturalize the stones that are around your waterfall area is to plant them with moss. Most moss species thrive in an area that is constantly damp and shaded. As long as you have ample shade covering your waterfall area, the mosses that you place on the rocks will do well.

In a sunny area, many varieties of creeping junipers (Juniperus spp.) are an excellent choice that will grow over the rocks and hide the edge of the pond. If you are looking for a similar, low-growing plant that will work well in the shade, look no further than the Siberian cypress (Microbiota decussata). This creeping evergreen grows fairly low to the ground and turns a beautiful bronze color in the winter.

Sunny vs. Shady

In the shade, hostas make a great plant to put near the pond’s edge, contrasting well with grass-like water plants such as iris and sedge. The thousands of leaf colors, shapes, and varieties make it an excellent choice and one of the most versatile plants for a pond in the shade.

Gro-Low sumac (Rhus aromatica ‘Gro-Low’) is a plant that can adapt to a variety of habitats. This low growing shrub has a beautiful orange-red fall color. It will not only creep along the ground, but it will also root wherever it touches the soil, helping to stabilize slopes. This is a perfect plant for you to be used on a slope next to the pond edge. Many of the low growing varieties of cotoneaster (Cotoneaster spp.) offer a fine leaf and branch texture for the pond edge.

Shaded ponds and gardens offer the most lush and appealing landscapes. Most plants that will grow in shade will offer the most hues of green, with many beautiful leaf shapes. One excellent type of plant to hide the edge of the pond in the shade are ferns. The many varieties of ferns will colonize and arch over the rocks and gravel.

Completing the Look

A beautifully wooded backdrop is one of the most aesthetically pleasing options for landscaping ponds. In the northern part of the country, try planting Northern Lights azalea (Rhododendron ‘Northern Lights’) or a Korean azalea  (Rhododendron poukhanense) in the backdrop. The early spring flowers reflecting off the water can be a breathtaking sight.

If the area does not have a natural backdrop, consider planting some larger shrubs and small clump-type trees to create one yourself. Viburnums will offer you the necessary size for this effect and colorful fruit and dazzling fall colors will reward you with year-round interest.

Courtesy of Pond Lifestyles - an Aquascape Designs Website