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Water Fountains News Center > Backyard Fountains, Falls Making a Big Splash
Backyard Fountains, Falls Making a Big Splash
 Sunday,
July 23, 2006
By John Hogan
The Grand Rapids Press
Pitching pennies into a fountain has been a time-honored practice
for generations.
Typically, large concrete fountains in a public square was about
all you could find.
Not today. Thousands of retailers offer fountains of every shape
and size, from beautiful to boorish. There's something about running
water that attracts consumers to these landscape staples like mosquitoes
to a stagnant pond.
Free-standing fountains are a backyard mainstay for millions of
U.S. households. They've lost some of their luster with the advent
of prefabricated ponds, but still have a place from vacation homes
to full-time residences.
"We do all different things with fountains and water today,"
said Steve Windemuller, owner of Windscapes Landscaping Inc. in
Burnips, which designs and installs customized water features.
"People still like the fountains because they are a little
less maintenance, or water coming out of a rock or a sculpture that
goes into the pondless chamber surrounded by rock."
One of his more extravagant projects was creating towering waterfalls
complete with ponds at Suzanne Dahlstedt's home in the Thousand
Oaks Golf Course development in Plainfield Township.
"It's very calming, relaxing to hear the water when I'm working
in my office," said Dahlstedt, a self-employed certified public
accountant who designed her 3-year-old home. "And there's lighting
on the pond and waterfalls. It still gives me goosebumps when I
go out there at night. All my worries wash away."
Also making a splash are so-called pondless waterfalls, in which
the water is collected in a below-ground basin and often covered
with landscape rocks. Rather than dropping down into a pool, water
splashes onto a surface of pebbles and stones and vanishes into
the ground. It looks as if it's entering the water table but, in
fact, is being captured in a pond below the surface. There, a pump
will recirculate water back up into the falls.
"Those are very popular. Everyone wants the pondless water
features," said Ron Lardie, nursery retail manager of Knapp
Valley Gardens, 4100 Knapp St. NE.
They can cost several thousand dollars, depending on how elaborate
you want to go, Lardie said. He also carries pondless waterfall
kits costing less than $1,000 for the do-it-yourselfer.
"Some of the large contemporary fountains go with the large
contemporary homes being built now," Lardie said. "Most
people want something they can put on the patio or sitting area
that makes a little bit of noise that is not too high-maintenance."
Pondless waterfalls are perfect for schools, businesses and those
who want a front-yard water feature, travel frequently and don't
want a lot of maintenance, have young children or have limited space,
according to Exotic Aquatics, a California firm that built two pondless
waterfalls on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" episodes
for ABC-TV in 2004.
Less costly competition
Concrete statuary fountains still are sought, though not to the
degree they once were, given other water features to come on the
market in recent years.
Knapp Valley has about a dozen concrete fountains on hand, priced
from $165 to nearly $550 for a four-season fountain.
The Bird on a Brick fountain, which sells for $165, is about 4
feet tall with a bird set on a basin of bubbling water. It's a popular
choice for avian aficionados.
"It looks like the bird is drinking, and the rippling water
attracts birds," Lardie said.
On the other side of town, free-standing fountains are being replaced
by tublike containers that can be submerged and filled with water
plants, such as iris, water hyacinth and water mallow, said Cathy
Evanzo, owner of Creekside Garden Center, 4015 Fruit Ridge Ave.
NW in Alpine Township.
Creekside carries the popular three-tiered fountains as well as
unique items, notably a copper "rain-making" water feature
that sells for about $800.
"It looks like a piece of art and has hundreds of holes that
the water comes out of," Evanzo said of the fountain, which
stands more than 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. "It sounds like
a gentle rain."
Trendy
Water features both inside and outside the home are a hot trend
in home improvement. The list includes waterfalls, fountains, ponds,
water walls and water gardens. Sales have doubled every year since
1990, according to the American Nurserymans Association.
Americans annually spend $1.5 billion on water gardening, an increase
of 140 percent in five years, according to a 2003 survey by the
National Gardening Association.
A custom-designed waterfall can cost from $5,000 to $50,000, depending
on how elaborate it is -- some can be as high as 60 feet.
Then there's the gaudy naked lady statues trickling water into
shell-shaped bowls. Small outdoor fountains, such as the Gold Cascade
water fountain at Menards, had a mid-July sale price of $18.74.
End-of-summer sales usually mean price cuts of between 30 percent
and 50 percent.
Prefabricated concrete structures are available in large multilevel
towers, medium-size bowls with ornamental spouts, lowly basins that
trickle water over a simple orb, and everything in between.
You don't even need electricity to run some models. Solar-powered
fountains for decks and patios can be found for about $140.
Materials are almost as varied as the designs: concrete, resin,
copper, fiberglass and natural materials top the list.
Fountains come with a built-in pump to circulate the water. Just
plug it in and add water.
Garden focal point
Using bird baths or fountains to create a focal point in the garden
is among the top recommendations of decorating gurus like Samantha
Thorpe of Cottage Living magazine.
"Just like well-decorated rooms inside the home, outdoor areas
need a focal point," Thorpe said. "These elements will
dominate the scene the same way a sofa or large armoire would in
a living room."
Fountains are the biggest seller in outdoor accessories, she said.
She recommends fountains by Campania International, which are easy
to install and maintain, "and give your garden a stylish look."
Tabletop fountains, once the domain of chic office desktops, have
moved outdoors to patio tables and decks..
Beckett Corp., based in Texas, is a leading maker of tabletop fountains
and other water features, and its products are carried by The Home
Depot, Ace Hardware and Tru Value Hardware stores.
"We have found that the trend of water features folks are
buying and installing is toward 'natural looking' stone finishes,
typically made of resin, when they want the look but not the 'heavy,'
cumbersome material to work with," said Melodie Elliott, a
Beckett spokeswoman.
"However, actual stone and slate materials are very popular,"
Elliott said. "We have tabletop fountains that are easier to
manage that are natural slate, but we find the big fountains with
copper accents also are popular. Any contemporary style seems to
be what folks are looking for."
Beckett's repertoire includes frogs, flamingoes, turtles and cherubs
that spit water. Often, they are part of a larger pond, but can
be used as accent pieces in their own right. Lightweight resin materials
and glazed ceramic are popular choices.
Wall fountains also can be used to create instant impact on your
outside wall or fence, Elliott said.
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