Garden waterfalls, like other water features, are a contrivance of landscape design that come in many styles. When done well, they become works of art on their own.
If you’ve ever vacationed at a beachfront cottage, you know how it feels to wake up in the morning to the sound of gentle surf lapping the shore. The sound of moving water is pleasing and calming. Backyard waterfalls and water features strive to achieve a similar effect.
Water trickling over rocks or splashing into a pool contributes an additional layer of music to your backyard garden, underscoring the music of birds, insects or the on again off again rustling of a breeze through foliage.
Garden Waterfalls - Visual Design
To create the illusion of a backyard waterfall, our landscape architects try to follow the natural slope of the landscape when drawing the waterfall design. We also mask the starting point of the falls, so that the water appears to be coming from someplace out of sight. Sometimes we accomplish this by siting the waterfall in a corner of the property, then screening the pumping equipment with plantings.
Landscape waterfall designs can be multi-leveled with multiple drops, or they can be as simple as a stream trickling over boulders designed to mimic a glade you might come across on a hike in the mountains.
Begin your project with a dream and a plan!
You are at the threshold of an exciting journey. This eBook will provide sound guidance as you take your first steps.
The waterfall effect can also be achieved in a more “architectural” style with a spillway from a pool or spa into a recirculating catchment.
To give you a few ideas, here are three waterfall design styles you may consider:
1 Natural Style Waterfall Design
This waterfall design is crafted to look and flow like a little feeder stream you might come across while out hiking. The elevation change from top to bottom is gentle, as is the sound produced by the flow. The stone work and plantings are designed to have a random and slightly overgrown look.
2 Curtain Style Waterfalls
When the flow drops over a flat stone edge, it creates a thin curtain of water. Finishing the edges of the stone can fine tune the flow into see-through strands of water that show off the stone work behind the falls. This style of waterfall lends itself well to being dramatically lit at night.
3 Weeping Wall Style
In this more formally crafted style of waterfall, a retaining wall is used. Sometimes the water pours through spouts, but allowing it to trickle down the face of the wall is what creates the “weeping” effect.
Waterfall Sound Design
In nature, it is often the case that you will hear a waterfall before you see it. The sound of an unseen stream or waterfall introduces an intriguing energy into the surrounding environment. So, when designing a garden waterfall, the landscape architect designs for sound as well as for visual effect.
The loudness and strength of the falls are determined principally by the volume of water running through the system and the distance water drops through the air onto a landing point. The particular quality of sound is created by the arrival surface of the cascade—either a pool or grouping of stones. The size and shape of stones guiding the flow will also affect sound quality.
Loudness and sound quality for waterfalls (and garden fountains) are controlled by
- Volume of water running through the system
- Height and steepness of the drop
- Distance water falls through the air onto a landing point
- Arrival surface of the cascade—either a pool or grouping of stones
- Number of drops or cascades
A large backyard waterfall with multiple drops will create a sonic symphony. A gently sloped waterfall that feeds into a pond will create a softer sound quality due to the slower flow of water and the water to surface impact.
Water trickling over rocks or splashing into a pool brings a calming background music into your outdoor environment. Backyard waterfalls, whether large or small, complex or straightforward, produce a refreshing and restorative effect.
Landscape waterfalls, when artfully done, can transform the way you experience your backyard environment. Aside from the obvious visual appeal, the sound of a waterfall in the landscape contributes a refreshing ambiance, one that is immediately pleasing and calming.
Garden waterfalls are frequently designed in combination with other water features. Here are some popular ways of pairing backyard waterfalls with other favorite water features.
Backyard Waterfalls and Swimming Pools
Some of the best sites for pairing a naturalistic style swimming pool and waterfalls are in backyards with steep slopes. Using a combination of retaining walls and terraced beds, the pool can be set into the hillside with the falls dropping naturally from above.
This approach works exceptionally well when the pool is a lagoon-style that has a randomly curved shape. Three naturalistic waterfalls streaming over massive boulders accent a fortress-like retaining wall running along the uphill side of the swimming pool shown in the image below.
In this backyard waterfall design, water flows from a spa on the uphill portion of the yard, through the swimming pool, and into a catchment at the downhill end of the pool. The two ceramic tile spillways lend the waterfall idea a more studied and architectural look and are designed to create a zero-edge effect when viewed from above.
Another approach to swimming pool and waterfall design on a level to moderately sloped site is to let the water drop through spouts in a low retaining wall with plantings in the beds above the wall.
In either application, garden waterfalls add visual and aural appeal to the pool environment and can provide a refreshing place to hang out in the pool and get massaged by the dropping stream of water.
Waterfalls and Garden Ponds in the Landscape
Pairing waterfalls and garden ponds requires the most carefully designed and constructed artifice to achieve a natural and spontaneous look and feel. The landscape architect must use stone and constructed elements in combination with plantings to disguise the artifice and give the impression of a naturally occurring glade you might come upon while walking in the woods.
The benefits of a garden waterfall are both aesthetic and psychological. A waterfall has a positive effect on your garden as well. Moving and dropping water energizes the nearby air, cooling it and giving moisture to nearby garden plants.
If you’d like to discuss adding a water feature to your Northern Virginia backyard, please schedule a consultation to discuss your plans with one of our landscape architects.