The Ultimate Front Yard
What it used to be....
This was the front yard. Records show that this pond was dug out in the early 1970’s. It appears that when whomever dug out the pond, they simply put all the dirt around the sides. There is a big berm that slopes down harshly on both sides. During the summer months, the ponds water level drops considerably leaving a sloppy muddy ring around the edges. It is basically just an oval shape, not much character. There were a couple koi, a bunch of frogs, and a lot of mosquitoes. The owner wanted to make something nicer in the front of his home. The plan was to drain it, clean out the muck in the bottom making it deeper, sculpt out the sides to give it some curvy shapes, and to make the slopes on the sides less steep so there can be better access to the waters edge.
What it is now....
Absolutely incredible! This was an amazing job. I had to design everything “on the fly” as the job moved ahead day by day. I had ideas, but making everything work was the tricky part. Overall, I think just about every goal I had going into this project was accomplished. And in the end, The completed project turned out truly amazing.
The waterfall is magnificent. Two 13,000 gallon per hour pumps provide the water flow over the rocks. The waterfall is about 12 feet high, and almost 20 feet wide. At night, soft LED landscape lights illuminate the entire structure, and the landscaping around it and the entire pond. The two large purple flowering plum trees were also up-lit with lights, and their reflections in the water at night looks really nice.
The year after the job was completed, there was a heavy growth of an underwater aquatic plant that appeared as clouds of green plants underwater. The owner learned about a type of carp that eats aquatic vegetation, and contacted the states wildlife department about obtaining these fish. He went through a bit of a process, but got his permits to buy eight of these fish that were about 6″- 8″ from a state hatchery. They were amazing. They ate everything! Even the grass clipping that blow into the pond when the landscapers come to cut the grass.
The large waterfall is on the back end of the pond. Now lets talk about the waterfall in the front of the pond….
The waterfall at the front end of the pond (closer to the house), is appearing to connect the koi pond on the top of it to the natural pond at the bottom. However, they are divided underneath a bluestone bridge. This waterfall is using the water from the natural pond, and we don’t want to mix that with the water that is filtered in the koi pond. So, a divider is separating them under the bridge. It is designed however to appear that the water from the koi pond is flowing under the bridge and down the waterfall!
There is a separate pump running this waterfall. It has a large suction strainer in the pond, and it returns out three pipes under the bridge. The pump is 9,500 gph. This waterfall is in full view as you drive down the driveway approaching the house.
The koi Pond....
Next to the house on the left side is this 40′ by 50′ koi pond. There are two waterfalls, and a little “nursery” pond for the baby fish. 🙂 The property originally sloped down away from the side of the house, and the front of the house sloped down to the big lake. So to build the koi pond, I had to do some more planning to keep everything level. I ended up building a retaining wall on the back side of pond behind the waterfalls, and then did some magic on the front side facing the lake.
Along the left side of this photo, the side facing the lake, I built a retaining wall out of cement, moss rock and field stone. Turned it into a feeding area, built a stone staircase that leads to a bluestone bridge that crosses over the top of a waterfall that leads down to the natural pond.
The waterfall appears to connect the koi pond to the lake. However, they are separate, divided under the bridge. This way the water from the koi pond does not mix with the water in the natural pond. This pond is home to about seventy five large koi.
The koi pond has four 4″ bottom drains, and Two large skimmers each with two 4″ pipes all gravity fed into four filter tanks back behind the left side of the large waterfall. Two 13,000 gallon per hour pumps return the water through two 150 watt high output UV sterilizers, a 30,000 gallon 3″ side mounted bead filter, four mid -water returns and the two waterfalls. There are roughly 50 large koi swimming around and they are always looking to be fed.
The waterfall from the top of the bridge that leads down to the lake has its own high flow pump that is rated at about 9500 gallons. It just pulls water out of the lake and returns it down the waterfalls.
Unfortunately the owner of this property, a good friend of mine for many years, passed away from cancer in 2016. I still think of him every time I go there.