WATERFEATURES...WHAT'S NEW...
HOW TO USE MY WATER GARDENS INDEX+++ Followed by: LATEST PROJECTS in: The Cotswolds+Croston (Lanc's)+Carlise+Edinburgh (Formal Garden for The Marchioness of Bute)+St Albansx2, (Hert's)+lots more???
1 of 10: Finding the information that you want + several more chapters featuring amazing gardens we've recently finished all over the UK + A Formal Garden in Edinburgh, designed and to be built soon!
MOST OF US HATE READING BORING INFORMATION WHEN WE COULD BE FILLING OUR MINDS WITH INSPIRATION BY LOOKING AT THE PRETTY PICTURES INSTEAD!
But on my Website you get the best of both worlds...wonderful pictures and information as interesting as I can make it. And sometimes I just let the pictures themselves do the talking!
Please note...this is an on-going project for me, which I fit in between actually designing and creating the subjects, and as such it will probably be added to for years to come, God Willing!
Therefore you will find that some of subjects are as yet empty or just contain pictures...but there's still masses to see, and of course with your appetite whetted, hopefully you will return many times to view the progress.
All of the projects are "real", and are only featured with the permission of the clients. No prices will ever be given in relation to specific projects, (except for "Show Gardens"), as that would be a betrayal of client confidentiality.
As you look through the Index, sometimes it may pay to ignore the stated size of the project, obviously though, if you're looking for a huge pond there's no point in looking at a small water garden project.
But bear in mind we can scale down or enlarge any of the projects just by digging a larger or smaller hole and using larger or smaller rocks.
Another consideration is the different types of rock. Some clients may feel that the rock we've used for the feature above (which is slate from the mountains of the Lake District), is "too cold looking" and prefer a different type of rock because it would "feel warmer".
But in most cases we can change the rock to suit the situation.
Then there's different planting and landscaping styles, you may see a Water Garden that is just perfect, but you hate the planting...or the Patio that we've built.
Instead of ornamental planting for all year round colour, you may want planting to attract wildlife, or a mixture of both!
So I suggest that you pick and choose, find a pool that you like in one example, a waterfall from another, add a Bog Garden and a Patio from another, and so on.
Of course you may find one that's perfect in every way.
Sometimes I arrive for a Consultation Visit of be shown a pile of pictures that they've printed off from my site..."We like these three, but not these. But best of all we would like one similar to this one. And this one shows the planting style we like".
Some of the Water Garden projects that feature extensive Landscaping can also be found in The Landscaping Index.
And if you want to D-I-Y...enjoy the inspiration on this, my "Design and Build" Website, then when you're ready, click on the D-I-Y link (at the bottom of every page, or on the Home Page), and you'll be taken to my other site which is full of information specifically for the Do-it-Yourself Enthusiast.
And you will also find a Secure Server where you can buy my CD-Rom or Subscribe for Instant Internet Access for six months.
Again all of the teaching projects are real work done for real people.
And next my latest projects. In this chapter you will find...
Carlisle, before...
Carlisle, after...full details of this project can be found in the "Main Index"...
Site of a Formal Garden for Lady Bute...nothing to see yet, all designed and awaiting specialist Stonemasons to construct the components for the "Rill" and the "Fountainhead"...an amazing project, please come back to see the progress.
A "Secret Location", somewhere in The Cotswolds...
Simply terrible workmanship, no imagination whatsoever...in desperate need of a severe transformation.
This is a close up of what it looked like when it was running...yes running, believe me this is NOT turned off!!!
Levels all wrong, no idea, not a clue, imagine paying a Landscaper to build this for you, because yes this is a typical "Landscapers" stream...and it's supposed to be "natural"!!!
But this type of work isn't just confined to Landscaper's (or even worse Builders), it's also done by most self proclaimed "Specialist Pond Builders", who are mostly just Landscapers and Builders in disguise, take a look in "Horrors" to see how to avoid employing somebody that will try to convince you that this is "natural" and therefore good!!!
There's only one remedy for this particular "Landscaper's" effort...rip it out, throw away the rock and dig out for one of our "Specialist", really, really, natural streams.
And it really IS all in the digging out, here you can see areas being formed that will allow water to flow past "Bog" areas, and in doing so, give just the right amount of water that those plants need, whilst at the same time creating areas for the aquatic plants to live beside their boggy relatives.
If it sounds complicated then yes it is...it's an art, but to us it's basic...get it right and next what you get.
Before you move on though, for the next image to mean anything to you, note the position of the trunk of the walnut tree to the right of the picture...
Do those plants look happy?
But of course what you can't see is all the wildlife that's living in those plants and the stream bed too, amazing!
And they're all living happily in the areas that we've created for them.
None of this can just happen by chance...it might look like it did, but that's exactly the point! It's all to do with water flow, and that's to do with pumps, the size of the pool that feeds the stream, and of course as I mentioned before how the stream bed is dug out and how the stream is built...done right and you get just the right amount of water retention where the plants need it...too much and they die, too little and they die...easy really!
Oh, and to get your before and after bearings, there's the walnut tree again.
If plants could purrrrrr...these would!
But get it wrong and here's what you get...
Ermmmmmmmm!!!
I should tell you that this isn't a DIY effort, this was built for clients by a "Professional Landscaper"...the clients paid twice, once for this and again for us to rip it out start again, take a look at the next image and you'll see even worse than their stream...full story again can be found in "Horrors", you'll find the link on the Home Page.
Now you might think this is a joke, but it's not, this is the top of the stream that you just saw, and to remind you this was built by somebody that does this for a living. Somebody that charges £1,000's for this disgusting quality of work, somebody that goes around and convinces trusting people that they can build natural waterfeatures!
In the next chapter (to take away the nasty taste of this mess), I'll show you lots more of the Cotswold project,...
(NOTE-NOTE-NOTE...The Cotswold project now has a section of it's own, please consult index)
including stage two which involves completely re-landscaping and planting (with 1,000's of plants), part of the huge back and side garden, simply masses of inspiration, to come...
|