Waterworks in the Garden

“If there is magic on this planet,” wrote naturalist Loren Eiseley, “it is contained in water.”

Our Earth is known as the “blue planet” because of the abundance of liquid water on its surface. For centuries people have gravitated to ponds, streams, creeks and falls for water’s celebrated healing properties. Today, people continue this tradition in a personalized way, incorporating water features into their home landscapes.

Fountains and water features invite the dimension of the delicately untamed to a garden. Birds of all types, dragon and damselflies, butterflies and lacewings, frogs and toads are all drawn to its glittering edge. In the San Luis Obispo garden pictured above, tiers of stone create sloping crystalline sheets bring splashes and dance to the shade. Contrastingly, water can also add Zen-like serenity. In our own Morro Bay garden (right), we included a softly curved concrete water bowl by Wells Concrete Works. Simple and clean in shape and line, its endless upwelling of gentle waves create a softly hypnotic place for the eye to rest.

Listening to the gentle gurgle of water splashing in a fountain enhances the sensory pleasure of an outdoor environment, bringing us the same peace as sitting by a spring-fed brook. The humble water feature, tucked into a mass of grasses or perched atop pebbles, reminds us to breathe and reflect on the sound of softly falling water, the shimmer of sunlight on a pond, the dart of a damselfly or the flit of the butterfly as it pauses on a puddle.