Backyard Ponds Get A Revolutionary Makeover
By Sally Ferguson
June 17, 2005

For many, the idea of owning a backyard pond has been the holy grail of gardening. The images a pond evokes can be stirring - a cool oasis of waterfalls, babbling brooks, bright water lilies and darting fish, where the stress and cares of the day just melt away. Open the back door and enter another world, a private world apart - a backyard paradise. 

In the past, unfortunately, many who grasped for this glittering prize discovered instead the other side of paradise. What they got for their hopes, dreams and hefty investment was a murky high-maintenance nightmare, choked with unsightly clumps of green algae, filled with stagnant water from debris-clogged pumps, or leaking from concrete liners that cracked during spring thaws. 

Mention to one of these disgruntled veterans that you're considering a backyard water garden and you’ll likely get a lengthy diatribe on the hidden, horrific perils of backyard ponding. 

News that 'things have changed' will be lost on such folks. In fact, if you are considering a plunge into ponding these days, it may be better to keep the idea to yourself until the deed is done. If you've done your homework, chances are you'll have installed a new-generation natural ecosystem pond. And then the naysayers and envious neighbors can be invited over for a celebratory libation around your low maintenance, high impact backyard oasis. 

Technology Takes Ponds Back to Nature 

In recent years, there's been a back-to-nature revolution in aquatic landscaping that has transformed how ponds are designed, built, and maintained. The new techniques and technology have put the dream of a beautiful backyard water garden within the reach of mainstream America. According to Greg Wittstock, president and founder of Aquascape Designs, it's time to forget everything you thought you knew about water gardens and ponds. 

"All the old objections are gone. A water garden can now be an affordable, beneficial, low-maintenance environment that provides an enormous return in enjoyment," says Wittstock. "Water gardens and ponds today are about beauty, plants, fish and a relaxing natural lifestyle." 

State-of-the-art water gardens today are based on creating an ecologically-stable system using five basic elements: mechanical and biological filtration, bacteria, fish, plants and lots of rocks and pebbles. 

The past objections to ponding made quite a list. It wasn’t merely a lifestyle choice as it is today. It was often a life-altering decision at worst, a complicated and usually expensive hobby at best. "That's the biggest change," emphasizes Wittstock. "Organic water gardening is low-maintenance and nearly self-sustaining for years on end. It turns a water garden into what it really should be, a relaxing backyard paradise." 

Wittstock, a pond enthusiast since age 12, started professionally installing ponds in the early 1990's. His firm quickly became known for conceptual and technical innovations that resulted in low-maintenance ponds that really worked. To attest to the growing popularity of ecosystem ponds, Wittstock's company has been named to Inc. Magazine's list of the top 500 fastest growing, privately held companies for the past four years running. 

"We often see that real pond lovers own three ponds in their lives," says Wittstock. "The first is usually a plastic pre-formed liner and a pump bought at the local garden center. Then people upgrade the pond and get better pumps and make the pond bigger". And, we continue to find that pond lovers will always want a bigger pond. Heck, I have a one-acre pond and I want a bigger pond!" 


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With thanks to Sally Ferguson of Ferguson Caras PR for the above [edited] article. For related information, visit www.aquascapedesigns.com.