Select­ing the Right Water Fea­ture for Your Garden

When con­tem­plat­ing a water fea­ture for your gar­den it is
impor­tant to reflect on the style of your land­scap­ing and draw
from this to select the right style of water fea­ture to suit the
sur­round­ings. The wrong choice could result in your water
fea­ture look­ing out of place. Con­sider a con­tem­po­rary min­i­mal­ist
gar­den with a Whisky Bar­rel Kit as the water feature!

Below we have pre­pared a list of com­mon gar­den styles and some
sug­ges­tions for incor­po­rat­ing water fea­tures into these gar­dens.
This list is by no means exhaus­tive. Also, take into account
that many gar­dens are a fusion of two or three gar­den styles.

Con­tem­po­rary Garden

This style of gar­den is usu­ally char­ac­terised by atten­tion to
detail such as the use of a sin­gle spec­i­men plant. Sim­plic­ity,
form and the clever use of light and space are fun­da­men­tal to
this style. Colours are used min­i­mally to pro­duce dra­matic
effects.

Suit­able Water Fea­tures Stain­less Steel Fea­tures Water Walls
Clad (with Con­tem­po­rary mate­ri­als) Canals and Rills (made from
Con­tem­po­rary mate­ri­als) Reflec­tion Pools Archi­tec­tural Gran­ite
Fea­tures (Aquifer Columns or spheres)

Cot­tage Garden

Arguably the most endur­ing of all gar­den styles, this gar­den is
char­ac­terised by mass plant­ing of colour­ful flow­ers and herbs in
well designed gar­den beds. Although the plant design is
care­fully struc­tured it is designed to look nat­ural and
free-flowing. This style often incor­po­rates places of inter­est
to visit such as bench seats, arbours, and gazebos.

Suit­able Water Fea­tures Bird Baths Wish­ing Wells Nat­ural Ponds
Stat­u­ary Fea­tures For­mal Ponds Fountains

For­mal Garden

A for­mal look in a land­scape is typ­i­cally achieved by plac­ing
plants to con­form strictly to a geo­met­ric design theme. This
style relies on the use of sym­me­try to draw the eye to focal
points such as water fea­tures or sculp­ture. The use of hedg­ing
plants and top­i­aries is essen­tial to achieve the for­mal look.

Suit­able Water Fea­tures Stone Foun­tains Bird Baths Reflec­tion
Pools Spilling Urns / Pots Foun­tain Sprayers Geo­met­ric Ponds

Tus­can Garden

The rus­tic Ital­ian gar­den seems to assim­i­late very well into the
Aus­tralian land­scape. Aged, muted col­ors intrin­sic to Ital­ian
gar­dens are echoed in our land­scape. A focus on Al Fresco din­ing
and enter­tain­ing is essen­tial to this style. Plant­ing is often
semi-formal — for­mal and includes top­i­aries and hedges.

Suit­able Water Fea­tures Spilling Urns Wall Foun­tains Stone
Foun­tains Clas­si­cal Stat­u­ary Tiled/Stone Water Walls Wall
Spitters

Japan­ese Garden

The Japan­ese gar­den has its empha­sis in sim­plic­ity, con­trol and
thought­ful design. This gar­den must incor­po­rate the care­ful use
water as a focal point. Well placed, grace­fully formed plants
such as bam­boos, grasses and flow­er­ing shrubs pro­vide bal­ance
which is essen­tial to this style. These gar­dens also use stone
and sand to imi­tate the nat­ural land­scape. The Japan­ese gar­den
is the ulti­mate med­i­ta­tion and relax­ation. Suit­able Water
Fea­tures Deer Scarer (Shi Shi Odoshi) Japan­ese Spill Basin
(Tsuk­abi) Large Con­tain­ers with Fish and Water Lilies Rock
Gey­sers Fish Ponds Nat­ural Ponds with Rock Water­falls and
Cascades

Xeriscape Gar­den

Xeriscape is a term derived from the Greek word ‘xeros’ mean­ing
dry and from the word land­scape, to form a new term for water
con­serv­ing gar­dens. This style is increas­ing in pop­u­lar­ity due
to our dry cli­mate. This gar­den often fea­tures both native and
exotic species and is land­scaped to min­imise water use and to
chan­nel water to plants that have a higher require­ment.
Xeriscap­ing often draws from Cot­tage and Con­tem­po­rary styles.

Suit­able Water Fea­tures Dry Creek Bed Mill Stone Fea­tures
(re-circulating) Rock Geyser (re-circulating) Gran­ite Fea­tures
Nat­ural Ponds (to pro­vide an oasis for wildlife)

Trop­i­cal Gardens

The trop­i­cal gar­den is one for the plant lovers, these gar­dens
are gain­ing in pop­u­lar­ity due to the range of plant species now
avail­able to Aus­tralian gar­den­ers. Trop­i­cal plants, densely
planted, look their best in sum­mer when we typ­i­cally use our
gar­dens. Char­ac­terised by the use of bold, lush and colour­ful
foliage with spec­tac­u­lar flow­ers. This style pro­vides a cool­ing
oasis in the warmer months.

Suit­able Water Fea­tures Nat­ural Ponds Water­falls Creeks /
Streams Reflec­tion Ponds Spilling Pots/Urns Con­tem­po­rary
Stat­u­ary Water Walls

Aus­tralian Native Garden

This style of gar­den draws on the unique char­ac­ter­is­tics of
Aus­tralian mate­ri­als and the nat­ural colours of Aus­tralia. Often
rus­tic in style, the use of tim­ber, stone and cor­ru­gated iron
can be incor­po­rated into the Aus­tralian gar­den. Mod­ern
Aus­tralian native plant­i­ngs are often designed sim­i­lar to a
tra­di­tional cot­tage gar­den with the focus on the colour palette.

Suit­able Water Fea­tures Whisky/Wine Bar­rels Wish­ing Wells Mill
Stone Fea­tures Cob­bled Creeks Nat­ural Ponds Con­crete
Sinks/Troughs Rock Geysers