Felder's Garden Water Features

My fall garden is teeming with wildlife because I have finally mastered making simple water features easy.

Over the years I have created several magazine-quality water gardens, including one for my mom that was 15 feet long and 9 wide, sunk 2 feet into Delta dirt, and another in my front garden that had a very nice waterfall aimed at my deck to amplify its sound. Both took a lot of work, from digging to leveling the edges, spreading rubber liners, and covering the edges to look natural. I'll never do any of that again.

Instead, I've gone above-ground. I have two low, wide antique cast iron "sugar" kettles, a four-foot diameter galvanized stock watering tank, and 3 home-made concrete bird baths.

They are interesting garden accents that reflect the sky and attract birds, bees, butterflies, and squirrels, all in desperate need of water.

By going above ground, there is no need to do any digging, and the large containers are easy to level. Plus it makes annual cleaning - draining water and scooping out the gunk - a lot easier. With or without plants, there are countless variations and opportunities for accessorizing with garden art. In one of mine I even have antique brass toilet floats bobbing cheerily around in the little waves created by my fountain.

Though I adore some water plants, especially those like horsetail (Equisetum), Louisiana iris, and umbrella sedge which all stand up tall and provide perches for dragonflies, and are too invasive to put into the ground, I do not plant anything in my water features. For one thing plants are a bit bothersome, needing containers that won't blow over, but mainly I just prefer the look and motion of the water itself. Besides, I could have planted stuff in just dirt.

For my stock tank, which I lightly misted with green and brown spray paint to tone down the jarring silvery galvanized metal into an almost rusted look, I dug a hole three inches deep and saved the soil to pile around the tank so I can more easily plant lirope, mondo grass, ferns, and caladiums to create a little garden corner vignette.

Moving water is easy and an effective mosquito deterrent, using very inexpensive pumps found at garden centers and big box stores. They provide sound and motion, and prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs which require still water. It's important to run the power cord to an outlet with a "ground fault interrupter circuit" to prevent accidents. And I set my little pumps up on bricks to bring them close to the water surface.

If you want a waterfall, do it as an add-on. Make a pile of dirt or a hidden frame behind and higher than the water garden and lay a flat rock so it overhangs the water by a foot or so, which creates a small cave. "Aim" it towards wherever you sit, and it will amplify and direct the sound just like cupping your hands helps carry your voice farther.

My most-used water features for wildlife are simple, inexpensive bird baths I make by pouring ready-mix concrete over an upturned trash can lid covered with kitchen wrap so the concrete wouldn't stick. Once it cures I spray-paint it to look rustic, and set the finished bowl atop rot-resistant cypress bases. I fill clean and refill as needed, and wildlife flocks from morning til night.

Together, these informal water features bring light, motion, and wildlife to my little garden, and none was hard to pull off. I could add plants if I wanted, but water alone is soothing enough.