Tips for making your pond the center of attention in your yard

Au Natural: The Trend in Outdoor Furnishings and Upholsteries

Creating a luxurious and relaxing garden setting is punctuated by the proper pond-side furnishings.

It’s not unlike decorating any other room in your home, according Larissa Gleason, the marketing manager at Beckett Corp. in Irvine, Texas. “You have a theme, and a feel, and you work around that,” Gleason says. “That becomes your focus so then you’re able to coordinate the look.”

Browsing through magazines will help you envision the look that you’re trying to create, says Robby Soofer, the president of Alpine Corp., located in Paramount, Calif. “Try to envision what you see in the magazine in your own yard and then go from there to create it,” he adds.

Furniture pieces should be purchased after larger features, such as gazebos or fountains, have been installed, Soofer recommends. “Then you can determine what type of seating you need – whether it’s round or rectangular – and then you’ll know which colors will match best,” he adds.

Colors of nature, such as beige and green, and natural woods, such as bamboo, are popular indoors and are all the rage outdoors as well, Gleason says. “I’ve observed more natural-looking products and colors outdoors,” she adds.

Wicker is also popular in outdoor rooms, Soofer says.

High-end bistro sets continue to be popular areas for outdoor dining and relaxing alongside the pond, Soofer says. “They’re really great for people who don’t have a lot of room,” he says.

Creating dining areas makes it easy to host an afternoon tea party or to enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise solo, Gleason says.

Adding accent pieces throughout the yard, such as small bricks, are an inexpensive way to give continuity to the outdoor room, Soofer says.

Finally, to highlight some of the bright flowers you’ve planted in your garden you may opt to add splashes of color with outdoor area rugs or accent pillows, Gleason says. “You can take a drab area that no one paid much attention to and add some color to it to spruce it up,” she says. “Then you have an appealing area that people are drawn to.”

-S.S. & A.S.

(Published in the Spring 2008 Issue)

Outdoor Living
Tips for making your pond the center of attention in your yard.
By Scott and Ann Springer

After slaving over your pond each spring, you want it to sparkle as the center of attention in your yard and to create more opportunities to share and enjoy the beauty that it provides.

One way to do this is by creating an outdoor room equipped with everything you love from the indoors, such as gourmet kitchens, fireplaces, and furniture, says Larissa Gleason, the marketing manager at Beckett Corp. in Irvine, Texas.

“By creating an outdoor room for family enjoyment and for entertaining you create an escape to your own backyard,” Gleason says. “The outdoor room is just an extension of your home.”

Must-Have Accoutrements
The pond is the natural focal point of the backyard, so if you add furniture it will enhance the enjoyment of the pond, Gleason says. Whether you have room for a full-sized table or just enough for a love seat, it’s important to offer people a place to put their feet up and observe the beauty of your creation, she adds.

In creating this indoor feel outdoors, seating is by far the most critical accessory you can add to your pond area, says Dave Ouwinga, the vice president of Easy Pro Pond Products, a manufacturer located in Grant, Mich. “If you can sit down and have a drink, or eat a meal outside in the evening, then you have a reason to go outside and relax,” he adds.

Seating no longer is limited to flimsy, plastic chairs either, says Eric Triplett, the owner of The Pond Digger, a waterscape design company in Redlands, Calif. “People are putting furniture outside now; not just lawn chairs anymore, but real furniture,” he says.

Adding firepits, chimeneas and fireplaces has gained popularity among watergardeners who like to enjoy their gardens in the twilight, Gleason says.

“Combining fire with water has always been a great element,” Gleason says. “It’s a great contrast—the sounds of water flowing and the glow from a fire pit simultaneously.” Conversing after dinner with a bottle of wine in front of the outdoor fireplace, or roasting marshmallows in the chimenea, offers a way to extend the evening gathering with Mother Nature, she adds.

Waterfalls in the pond, or fountains or bird baths in adjacent areas, act as accents to the pond and add vertical height to a horizontal garden area, says Robby Soofer, the president of Alpine Corp., located in Paramount, Calif.

For added enjoyment under the stars, keep a waterproof storage bin supplied with blankets for chilly evenings and overstuffed pillows for extra seating, Gleason suggests.
Portable heaters placed strategically near seating areas keep things cozy and lengthen the evening when the temperature dips down after the sun has set, says Joe Barson, the owner of Barson’s Greenhouse in Westland, Mich.

Turn Night Into Day
By simply adding more ambient lighting outdoors you can have your pond be a beautiful backdrop to every evening get together you host, Gleason says. “Lights can give a dramatic effect for nighttime entertainment and enjoyment,” she says. “It’s a great way to emphasize the sound of the water movement.”

Chuck Thomas is self-admitted minimalist and owner of Aquatic Gardens in Birmingham Ala. He admits he underestimated the power of proper lighting until he installed additional lights into his yard. “It makes our pond the focal point 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year,” Thomas says. “At night the lights turn my pond into a projector on the wall behind the pond showing all of the activity inside the pond.”

By mixing halogen and LED lighting, which is now more popular and affordable than ever, you’ll supply lots of light so guests can navigate around the garden, but you’ll also save on energy costs, Soofer says. “LED lighting uses one-tenth of the electricity and wattage of normal halogen lights,” Soofer says. “You can use the LED lights in and out of the water and change the colors of the lights to highlight specific areas.”

Tiki torches with citronella continue in popularity by adding ambient lighting while warding off mosquitoes and bugs, Thomas says.

Illuminated pathways draws mystique to the property, Triplett says. “People see that and think, ‘Those stones lead to somewhere,’” he says. “The lighting natural draws people to it and creates a little mystery to where it leads.”

Lit candles lining the perimeter of the pond, or accent lights on the edge of the patio, creates a stunning glow for the romantics at heart, Gleason says. “Or you can add twinkle lights to trees to make the outdoors more appealing,” she adds.

For hobbyists looking to stargaze under the moonlight, floating votives in the pond can offer the aesthetics you desire without competing with natural night light, Ouwinga says. “You can create a romantic setting and draw attention to the pond,” he adds.

Going Big
Many of Barson’s watergardening customers find they’ve constructed their beautiful pond too far from their back door – and in some cases have several hundred feet keeping them from their garden oasis, he says.

For watergardeners with lots of square footage who desire to bridge the span between the entrance to the backyard and the watergarden may want to enhance their yard with larger features, Triplett suggests. “People are expanding their features to help make the pond feel closer,” Triplett says.

In some cases, that means adding a larger pond, or constructing a pool or hot tub to accent an already striking watergarden, Ouwinga says.

If a pool is constructed in proper proportion to the pond, the two won’t compete for attention, Triplett says. “It’s great to sit on the deck and watch the kids in the pool on the left and your fish to the right,” he adds. “It’s a great destination spot.”

Adding a large waterfall between the two large bodies of water balances out the horizontal features, Triplett says. “The waterfall helps make the area look joined together,” he adds.

Gazebos and patios, which require large areas of yard space, present additional seating areas and focal points in the yard, Ouwinga says.

Stepping stones, made from flagstone, slate, or other attractive materials, create a cohesive look to the outdoor room, Triplett says. “They draw people across the yard to the pond,” he says. “It’s very organic-looking hopscotch.”

Children, who are naturally drawn to the water, love to follow the pathways the stones create. Adding pathways, streams or bridges to your pond attracts younger enthusiasts to the water’s edge while still keeping it safe for them and the pond, Ouwinga says. “It helps them to get up close and personal with the pond,” he says. “They can sit on the edge and hang their feet in the water on a hot day.”

The Pond is Party Central
Whether it’s a Saturday night cookout or Sunday brunch, when you own a pond guests are drawn to it. Having the right paraphernalia to party by the pond is vital. “It’s so relaxing to be by the pond; that’s where they always are,” Gleason says.

Using the pond as your centerpiece for a themed party can be all the decoration you need to help transform guests to thinking they’re really at an authentic luau eating roast pig, or sailing on the seas with Captain Jack from Pirates of the Caribbean, Thomas suggests. “There are so many different themes that people use for parties by their pond,” he adds.

The kitchen is the natural gathering place for families at the end of the day and even for guests at indoor parties, and it’s no different in outdoor rooms. Fancy BBQ grills, smokers and roasters, and built-in kitchens keep the host or hostess in the thick of the party action, Gleason says.

“Smoking food enables guests and hosts to be outside–while the food cooks for two or four hours—and still enjoy the outdoor party,” Triplett says about the trend that has taken off in his area.

No party is complete without the music, so you may want to consider adding outdoor speakers to your list of must-haves for playing hostess this summer, Gleason says.

“When you use your imagination, you can do a lot,” Gleason says. “There’s a world of ideas out there. You just have to play with it.”