Water Gardening: Will be working on my new pond soon and I need ideas for, 1 by HoosierGreen

HoosierGreen wrote:
Must be nice being able to get out and work on your new pond. Here, we've got a half foot of snow on the ground, with more expected tomorrow night!

Anyway, if you don't have access to flat rocks, a very attractive edging can be done with rounded rocks of assorted sizes. I actually prefer this way, and I think it eliminates the danger of creating a "necklace" effect with flat rocks around the pond (Snapple45's pond a beautiful exception!). I'll try to describe this method. I have only one example of a small pond I helped a friend make when we used irregular rocks (photo).

1. Dig a ledge all around the edge of your excavated pond hole, about 8" BELOW the rim (ground) level. This will enable you to position rocks all around the pond, partially in the water, but sticking up out of it. It's also great for setting potted pond plants like water iris, rushes, sedges, and other marginals which don't like deeper water.

2. The liner should wrap over the underwater ledge and extend up and over the rim of the excavation. Be sure to leave at least a foot extending out beyond the rim. As you fill the pond, the liner will settle and "pull" the liner in a little. Don't cut until you are absolutely sure! Actually, I would fill the pond up to the ledge at this point (before setting any rocks) to check how much the liner pulls in, just to be safe. If you don't want to work in the water, just pump it out after checking.

3. Set different sized and shaped rocks on this lower ledge. Then, with this first line of half-submerged rocks in place, you can now arrange a second "row" of rocks, all different sizes behind them. This row will be on the ground level, pretty much covering the extra liner. You can leave pockets for plants, but overall, you'll have a nice irregular border of different sizes and shapes. This really looks more natural, especially if you use some larger ones and even extend the border in places to some "outcroppings". (This is kinda hard to describe, but I hope you get the idea!)

4. You can use river gravel (not crushed, which has sharp edges) to fill in between the rocks along the edge. In my area, this is called "L" gravel or washed river gravel, and looks like large pea gravel. It comes in different sizes, all the way up to fist-sized "cobbles".

5. Plants planted along the edge will quickly spread into the rocks and soften the edges, especially if you use groundcovers like lamium or Creeping Jenny. Also, spreading junipers, cotoneasters, and many rambling perennials work well.

6. When you fill the pond, the water level will look so natural as it fills between the half-submerged rocks on the edge.

I'll try to find more pictures of ponds I've done that show this method. It's much easier to make it look natural, in my opinion.

The small pond in the photo does have some very large and heavy pieces of flat stone along one part. They were an extension of a patio adjacent to the pond. Her grandkids have a place to safely feed the fish and stick their toes in the water.