There are many different water features at Dawn Gardens that display the use of water and water plants in the garden. There is a series of 5 small ponds with connecting creeks which show naturalistic gardening by the water including rocks, waterfalls and water plants.

The upper pond has a waterfall and 2 large koi along with many smaller black and orange goldfish.

The lower pond has a water feature sculpture shaped like tules. It features wonderful sounds of streams of water splashing below.

All of the ponds have water lilies growing on the surface which bloom all summer.

The water feature below was made by drilling a hole through a rock and inserting a tube from a pump in the lower pond.

Here are some scenes along the water course from the bottom pond to the top pond.

It is not necessary for all water features to have moving water. Here is a bird bath carved out in a rock with a still pool of water. As the water evaporates it is replenished with new water every other day when an emitter hidden in the crevice adds 1 gallon.

This is a water feature near the house which is made from 3 vertical stones with holes drilled through them. They are setting on a grate covered with Mexican pebbles which sets on a water reservoir with a pump.

 A common water feature used in gardens is a ceramic pot filled with water and a fountain that bubbles up and overflows the pot into the reservoir below.

The bog garden is the area below the lower pond that is constantly covered with water before it flows under the fence to my neighbor’s property. Some of the plants that thrive here are Canna Lilies, Acorus, Gunnera, Ginger, Rushes and Resteos. They all tolerate very wet soils and standing water.

Black Sedge (Carex nudata)

Canna Lily (Canna ‘Pretoria‘)

Chilean Umbrella Plant (Gunnera chilensis)
Listen to the sound of water as it hits the leaves of the Gunnera:

Copper tubing tree water feature

Aster ‘Pink Star’

Colocasia esculenta ‘Fontanessi’ (Elephant Ears)

Hedychium coronarium (White Ginger) – very fragrant – used in Hawaiian leis

Taxodium distichum (Swamp Cypress) – deciduous conifer

 

Here is a 1 minute video showing the wild boar scarer at the end.

In order to obtain splashing water sounds near the shade pond we installed a series of 6 water jets around the pond:

Here is the waterfall into the same pond running with winter water from all the rain we have had:

In the winter the largest water feature in the garden is the natural creek that flows down the slope.

The following video follows the natural creek down the slope, into a catch basin, through a 6” pipe, under the 4 ponds and artificial creeks, and across the property line to the neighbor’s pond.

The newest pond is a simple circle in the center of the Redwood grove with a small fountain in the center.

Water feature with Euphorbia rigida.