The first step in pond design: your pond style

One of the first decisions you need to make when starting a outdoor pond is about its general style. A well accepted pond design classification is to divide ponds into two types, formal and informal. But there are some exceptions to this rule as you will find out later in this post. Many aspects of your pond will affect its perceived overall style, like the shape of the pond, the materials used, plants arrangements and quantity and special pond features.

As in many design decisions, your personal taste and creativity will take a major role in choosing a specific pond style, but remember that a pond is not an isolated element in your property; when finished, a pond should be in harmony with your garden and house. For example, formal ponds tend to include elements such as clean and straight marble edges, statues and symmetrical arrangements making them clearly man-made – such a pond would look odd in a country style house with a rich and dense planted garden.

Consider the atmosphere your garden already have or will have with a pond in it. On one side, formal ponds are clearly influenced by the architectural design of your home or garden and could be influenced by historical associations. On the other side, you can build a pond informal in design influenced by nature and blending with the natural surroundings of your property.

Informal ponds

When building an informal pond you should try to mimic nature, taking inspiration from lakes, rivers and natural ponds. They generally have irregular smooth shapes, based on a combination of curves; and although asymmetry is a common feature in informal ponds, a geometrical shaped pond can be made look natural by hiding the outline with dense vegetation and naturally shaped rocks.

This kind of ponds are built at ground level, generally with smoothly varying depth, a beach at one bank and large quantities and types of vegetation on the other, such as a bog garden. The outline is hidden with plants, naturally shaped stones, rocks or sand, naturally blending the pond to its surroundings, so when the garden ends the pond starts. Irregular rocks or boulders can be added as shore features or as carefully placed islands. Additional features are waterfalls build with natural looking rocks or small canals imitating a water stream. Most of this backyard ponds don’t have a fountain or spitter as it will look out of place. To complete the picture pathways and step stones are naturally built from irregularly shaped stones, moss and soil from the surrounding area.

Notes: First, if you intend to attract wildlife such as toads, frogs, snails and small mammals to your pond, then your choice must be an informal pond with a well balanced ecology. Lastly, budget considerations – when designing the shape of a pond remember that you may need to create many folds on the ponds liner to accommodate it to the various corners in the outline.

Formal Ponds

The world around provides a large number of examples of formal ponds, from historical places, palaces and monuments to community centers and even shopping malls. What define their design as formal is the clear similarity to the architecture style of its surroundings. Although their shapes are generally geometrical – such as rectangles, circles and ovals – you can find irregularly shaped formal ponds with lines composed as zigzags. The main point here is that a formal pond has a clearly man-made shape and materials generally not found around natural ponds such as metals, concrete and marble.

A formal pond edge is composed of simple well framed lines with materials such as marble plates or bricks, making a clear separation between the pond and the surroundings. Its common to find formal ponds raised above the ground and contained by a low wall of brick or cut stone. Additional features include statues, fountains, straight canals and geometrically shaped falls. Symmetry plays an important role in formal ponds not only for ornamental or decorative reasons but also when arranging the placement of plants. Vegetation is generally used sparsely and chosen carefully in order not to break the architectural look of the environment.

Location is another important factor for a formal pond, examples are ponds placed at the center of a garden or at both sides of the house entrance. Sometimes the reflection of buildings on the pond is the main design feature such as the large rectangular pond in front of he Taj Mahal. Pathways and step stones are also clearly man-made and usually of the same material of the ponds edge.

The only budget consideration when planing a formal pond is the cost of materials to build one.

A mixed pond design approach

As in many areas of design, carefully mixingstyles can create amazing results. In this area you must know what you are doing to make sure you are not creating something totally disconnected with your garden and house.

Great examples of a mixed pond design are found in Japanese gardens, having elements of both formal and informal ponds. Such gardens have a very natural look but with a clear sense of organization and design pattern. They might include ponds or basins of non geometrical shapes, raised from the ground and using natural materials such as rocks and bamboo pipes.

Decoration of such ponds is achieved by use both carefully picked and pruned vegetation and man-made ornaments, such as statues and small stone houses. One of the beauty elements of Japanese ponds are, of course, the wonderful Koi fish they generally include. Japanese gardens and ponds have a simple and calm balance creating an environment usually associated with relaxation and meditation.

What should you do now?

Before you start your pond building plans, consider all the aspects of formal and informal ponds, review your property and preferences. Seek inspiration and pond ideas from nature, history and other designs you can find on the internet. And don’t forget to share your opinions and ideas in the comments area bellow.

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