“Water has been a traditional element in gardens as far back as the ancient Babylonian gardens,” says Steven Gillespie, vice president of landscape architecture for Astorino, an architecture and design firm in downtown Pittsburgh. “People want water gardens because they may have childhood memories of playing in a spring or a stream. Or they may seek out the healing effect water has.”
Another reason water gardens are a growing trend is that today’s technology has made creating and maintaining them much easier than a decade ago, with a variety of affordable equipment, from filters to liners. Everywhere you turn, from the grocery to pet shops to home-improvement stores, simple pond and fountain kits are being sold at reasonable prices.

The hardest part about putting in a water garden is making the initial decisions: What size and style? What sorts of plants and wildlife? Where do I put it? Should I hire a professional or do it myself?
The first question should be: Am I prepared to take care of a water garden? The biggest misconception about water gardens is that they require little maintenance. “People see it, like it, want it—they want to sit out next to the pond and relax. But most don’t realize the puttering involved in keeping up a pond,” says Jack Rogers, owner of Rogers Aquarium, a Koi pond specialist in Sewickley Heights. Like any garden, a water feature requires regular attention, from cleaning filters and feeding fish to tending to plant life, removing debris and winterizing. “If you want to have a natural, mini-ecosystem, you will have to spend some time taking care of it,” says Rogers.
Before getting started, think about how much time you have in a week to spend on your water garden. Even seasoned gardeners find themselves dealing with unexpected challenges. Master gardener Susan Silverman of Murrysville, a requested speaker on water gardens, tends to her pond regularly. But she recalls the severe winter when the pond froze over, and she found herself taking drastic measures to melt holes in the ice in order to ensure that gases would not be trapped under the frozen layer and kill the fish. “I didn’t have a pond heater, so you’re supposed to boil a pot of water, put a string on it and set it on the ice to melt a hole. I boiled many, many pots of water,” she laughs. “After that I got a pond heater.”

Your level of commitment will help determine the type of water feature to choose. One way to get started with minimal materials and commitment would be to install a container garden. Anything from an urn to an old barrel could become a container garden. The basic steps are: Waterproof the container with liner or sealant (or buy a container that is already waterproofed); fill it with water; install a pump to create a small bubbler fountain; then add plants or a few fish.
Even on a small scale, the sound of water has a powerful effect. A fountain also keeps the water moving—an important consideration with concerns about mosquito-borne diseases such as the West Nile virus. Mosquitoes are drawn to even a tiny pool of stagnant water. A fountain and fish will eliminate the problem. Fish feed on mosquito larvae, Silverman says.
The next step up is a pond, the most popular type of water garden. Styles and sizes are endless. A tiny pond may be tucked into the corner of a garden, while a large pond may simulate nature’s work, from plants and rocks edging the pond to fish and frogs inhabiting it. A formal pond might be symmetrical, edged with a brick wall and have a fountain in the middle. Some ponds can be above ground or built into decks.
Before installing a pond, first select an optimal site. Consider the amount of sunshine the spot gets; more is good for plants, but too much sun promotes algae and might be hard on the fish. Also, avoid spots where a lot of leaves or debris might fall into the pond. Look for water and electrical sources to be within range of your site. When installing, make sure you get a GFI—ground fault interrupter—a type of circuit-breaker. And pick a spot that is aesthetically pleasing, such as one situated outside your kitchen window or close enough to hear the sounds of water splashing.

Installing a pond usually boils down to these steps: Dig a hole, line it, fill with water, add a pump. The digging stage is often the most tedious and may require a backhoe. Outline the site first with a rope or lime and check the view from various vantage points. When digging, remember to keep the pond edge level, and add terraced shelves along the sides for marginal plants.
Easy-to-use pond liners are one of the biggest developments facilitating construction. Choose from two kinds of liners: preformed or rigid (tubs that come in varied shapes and sizes), and flexible (a tarp that conforms to the hole you dig). Preformed liners make things easy but can look less natural. Of these, fiberglass liners are stronger (and pricier) than plastic ones.
Flexible liners allow for any shape of a pond or stream but can be less durable than preformed ones and are harder to work with. These liners are made of different materials and thicknesses, with prices increasing based on durability.
Before liners came along, there was concrete. Many people still subscribe to using concrete for its superior durability, despite the higher cost. “If a pond has no protection on the liner, something might cause a puncture wound—from children or deer walking on it to a tree branch falling down. It’s better to put concrete on top of a flexible liner to prevent those punctures, and then it’s nice and stable and easy to wash out any time of year,” says Pete Biernesser, co-owner of Glacier Inc. in Glenshaw, a custom-design stone contractor who has installed numerous large ponds and waterfalls for area homeowners.
Fill ponds with water from a hose, but if any fish or wildlife will be living in it, be sure to dechlorinate it by letting it stand for about five days or use a chlorine-removing solution. Keep track of water quality, measuring pH levels and ammonia content. A healthy, attractive pond is usually one that mimics nature, with the right balance of plants and wildlife.
Add a pump to create movement in the water for both sound and to aerate the water for fish. Pumps also power fountains, which can be subtle bubblers or splashy sprays. You’ll need to do some math to calculate the water volume in the pond before selecting the size and power of the pump.
Filters may or may not be necessary in your pond. A filter cleans the waste and debris in a pond, but having a balanced ecosystem should keep a pond clear enough. Filters are helpful in maintaining a clear pool or fountain, or in keeping levels of ammonia or algae down.
“Most people don’t want the water to look pea-soup green. They want to see the water and the fish,” says Rogers. “Nine out of 10 times, ponds need filtration.”
Finally, a pond needs rocks or other sorts of edging to finish it off. Formal ponds may be edged with precise stones or bricks, but the trend is to create a natural look with a variety of rounded or flat stones typical of our region. “One kind we like to use is a gray patina sandstone, like the kind you see covered with moss in places like Ligonier,” says Biernesser.
Selection of plants and fish is also up to individual taste. Just as in any garden, plants are chosen for a variety of textures and colors. Some float on the surface, others are submerged, and others—marginals—are grown along the edges of the pond. The ever-popular water lilies grow from the bottom of the pond, with the leaves and exotic blossoms shooting up to the surface.

Fish may range from the common goldfish to rare and expensive Koi. Koi live the longest—20-30 years—and are probably the hardiest. Frogs, toads, snails and other pond dwellers can help fill out the mini-ecosystem. Birds are naturally attracted to ponds, as are—for better or for worse—raccoons and other larger creatures. Adding and maintaining wildlife in a pond can be a lot of work, but for many people, it is the main reason for having a pond.
Others relish the sound, which is why waterfalls and fountains are in demand. “Waterfalls give people a sense of cleansing; they can have a cooling effect, or they can muffle the sounds of traffic,” says Steven Gillespie. “A waterfall is like a magnet; it draws people to it.”
A waterfall can be in the form of water flowing over a glass surface or over a granite ball, or it can be a 20-foot-high cascade over huge boulders. Many people installing a pond include a small waterfall. With the abundance of hills in our region, waterfalls can often be a natural choice. “The best landscape for waterfalls is if you have a slope in your yard and don’t know what to do with it,” says Tammy Hodak of Pools and Waterfalls by Mike Hodak in Canonsburg. “You can take that slope and create something attractive and calming.”
Mike Hodak says that even if your yard is flat, you can build a slope. His company specializes in using large boulders and rocks and stacking them to create natural-looking falls.
“I call them summer fireplaces. You can just sit by it with a glass of lemonade, and it’s very tranquil.”
Fountains have the same effect, from relaxing to refreshing. They can be elaborate marble pedestals, simple country-style hand-pumps, wall fountains and charming little fish or frog statues that spit water. If the fountain will not house plants or fish, then chlorine bleach may be added to keep the water clear.
Water gardens can be simple one-day projects or major endeavors on the scale of putting an addition onto your home. Whether to try to do it yourself is a matter of your experience and budget. Some of it can be back-breaking labor, such as digging a large hole or hauling stone. And some of it can be budget-breaking as well, ranging from $200 for a starter pond to upwards of $50,000 for a large-scale waterfall.
When Upper St. Clair homeowner Mike Tankosich decided to add a watercourse (more of a small, downhill stream than an actual waterfall) and mini pond to his sloped backyard by himself, he researched the topic extensively. A determined do-it-yourselfer, Tankosich dug a terraced path for the watercourse, laid liner, brought in loads of rocks, and installed a pump. He discovered through trial and error how to get the correct pump size and how to lay the rocks after the water was flowing in order to create the desired effect. He also learned how to save some money along the way. He purchased a pump used for plumbing instead of one designated for water gardens, and he bought rocks from a landscaping supplier as opposed to a home-improvement store.
“The hardest part was moving several tons of stone,” says Tankosich. “But it was worth it. I just wanted to make it a nice, relaxing place to sit, and now I do sit here quite often, and as soon as the water starts to flow, I start to relax.”
It’s a sentiment that every water-garden owner shares. “My pond is the icing on my cake,” says Silverman. “It’s the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I see at night.”