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Fountains, cascades, ponds and pools: a water feature can bring sound, light and life to your garden – and Susy Smith just can’t resist them
Susy Smith on the simple joys of ponds, pools and other water features
May is the month when, under normal circumstances, I look forward to my annual visit to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Along with the gardening pages of Country Living, it is where, over the years, I have found many ideas for my own patch. But this is not, as we know, a normal year. Nor was 2020. The flower show was cancelled last year for, incredibly, the first time since the Second World War. This year it has been postponed until September in the hope that, by then, it might be able to go ahead – live as opposed to ‘on screen’. Many fingers will be crossed on that one.
Devoid of the inspiration from my annual Chelsea visit,
I have been using the various stages of lockdown to take a long, hard look at my garden and decide how I might carry out a bit of remodelling. I applied myself to the simple stuff first – clearing up the messy working area, sorting out the greenhouse and reorganising the shed. So far so good. I had to call in expert help to re-surface the hoggin path that snakes through the 40-metrelong space and replace its wooden edging boards that had almost rotted away. But even that’s all done now. So, next up for 2021? To install a new water feature…
All the best gardens, in my view, contain water in some shape or form, whether it’s a simple, shallow pond designed for wildlife, a full-on formal affair with fountain or, for those lucky enough to have the space and resources, a river, stream or even a lake. Aside from attracting birds, aquatic creatures and other wildlife, water also adds the important elements of sound and movement or, if still, reflects the sky.
My previous, much larger garden in Hampshire had three areas of water – a wildlife pond in my mini orchard; a sizable, deep, rectangular pool edged with decking; and a small water feature made from an old stone sink and surrounded by pots of hostas. The sink was filled with rounded pebbles and the pump in the tank hidden beneath it recycled the water through an old brass tap on the wall. The water splashed onto the pebbles below, creating a lovely sound and catching the light in its droplets.
My current garden has something similar with water running from a tap, but in this case, it pours into a vintage iron water-tank. This sits against one of the walls of the house, so I can hear the soothing sound at night from my bedroom window. But now I have reclaimed the area farthest from the house, I would like to have water there as well. As the mood is quite utilitarian, I’ve decided that another water tank and tap would do the trick and have sourced the materials to create it.
I was planning to stop there. Then, in one of the brief periods when we were allowed to go visiting, I was invited for an outdoor lunch at my brother’s. He has a stunning garden and there is always something of interest to catch my eye. In this instance, it was a new water feature. A large cube made from Corten steel, it has a bubble fountain in a central reservoir of water and, as the steel weathers, it rusts to a lovely patina. Situated on his sunny terrace, it sits on a bed of gravel planted with succulents. It reminded me of something I might see in one of the many inventive show gardens at Chelsea. “I want one,” I declared. “It would look just perfect on my sunny terrace surrounded by my pots of agapanthus.” Ever since, I have been squirrelling money away to be able to buy this somewhat expensive item of frippery.
It has finally arrived, although I am now waiting for an electrician to get it all up and running. But in the meantime, the new path edging is in place, I have added hazel saplings, ferns and white bluebells to the area around the shed and, for the oval of lawn in front, have planted a mini meadow of primroses with ox-eye daisies to follow in the summer. It’s all a bit of an experiment but, then, so is most gardening.
As I look out of my bedroom window onto the reordered scene below, the handsome, buff-coloured hoggin path can be seen clearly, winding through the space and leading my eye towards the once-messy area I used to call “The Wilderness”. It has now become a cohesive part of the garden. I am hoping that, by the time you read this, my new water feature will be bubbling away on the terrace in the sunshine. I’m feeling rather pleased with myself. ‘Who needs Chelsea?’ I thought yesterday. Well, the truth is, we all do. For its reappearance will signify that the things we all used to love doing, whatever they may be, are available to
us once again.