Rainwater Gardens and Water Features

Water features come in many forms. They can be beautiful swimming pools, showy fountains, pondless water features, koi ponds, your own personal hot springs, or the latest water feature design that harvests and utilizes rainwater on your property. Water can also eliminate unwanted sounds, such as nearby schools or busy streets, and create a subtle and natural sound for years of enjoyment. Tri Designs can create water features of any shape, size, or configuration for you to enjoy in any sized yard or environment. We will take the time to design a water feature that fits your family’s needs and dreams, for the project you desire.

Swimming pools can be designed in any shape, whether it’s a concrete pool, vinyl pool, or natural swimming pond that might even contain fish. There are endless possibilities. Swimming pool features can be designed with fountains, architectural waterfalls, laminar jets and water sprays that will create fun for the family and a show that is dramatic whether day or evening time. The water feature can include outdoor entertainment areas with a fire pit, fire place or an outdoor living area with a kitchen or bar.

Pondless water features are designed for minimal maintenance; they are designed with re-circulating waterfalls and/or streams for the effect of the flowing water. Being that the “Pondless” water feature has no pond, the maintenance is minimal compared to a water feature designed with a pond in terms of constantly needing to deal with the ecosystem of the water body. The cost of a pondless water feature is typically less than having a pond because it takes less stone/rock and less labor to construct the feature, and reduces the amount of water treatment needed. Also the safety concerns are very minimal since there is no pond associated with pondless water feature. If you decide in the future to add the pond, this can be modified if we make sure that there is enough room near the base of the waterfall for a pond expansion to handle the volume of water.

Although exceptionally beautiful, ponds will require some extra work. However this often becomes the most prominent feature showcased in the garden, and a place to incorporate more exotic plants and bring the enjoyment of having koi fish as family pets. With garden ponds, proper flow to skim off the floating debris is needed, and an effective filtration of the fine particles is required, as well as a balance of healthy bacteria and pH balance to counter the formation of algae. Water plants and koi fish can provide significant assistance and benefits to this ecosystem. Another key ingredient to the pond is replacing water loss due to evaporation, as ponds can easily lose an inch from the surface area on a summer day. This can easily be resolved with an auto-fill system installed through the irrigation. Once you get the ecosystem established and the details down, garden ponds bring a wonderful life and appeal to the landscape that captures the imagination.

Rainwater harvesting is something that has made its way fully into the market. Much along the lines of storing and utilizing rainwater in cisterns to irrigate food gardens during the Great Depression era, there are attractive “rain barrel” cisterns equipped with spigot attachments available today. These collect the water from the gutters and downspouts, which can then be used to water your garden, wash your car, or create water features in the garden.

We are conscious of how water flows through your site. We are careful not to simply send all the rain that falls onto your property into the storm sewer, where it will collect contaminants that enter the lakes and rivers of Minnesota (Tom Dahlmeir being the avid fisherman he is). There are new ways to collect and incorporate this water into fountain features or apply it to lush planting beds that utilize this water in the form of decorative rain gardens where it can then be infiltrated it into the ground to help recharge the aquifers.

This is a good way to be a steward of the land – taking water falling onto your property, flowing from your downspouts, or discharging from you sump pump, then collecting it, utilizing it, feeding it to your garden, and then sending it into the ground as nature’s own filtration system. Tom Dahlmeir and Dave Sonka share this goal, and have spent time in research to know of the best ways to achieve this. There are also money grants available for these types of projects, where money is being invested toward landscaping techniques to infiltrate water, rather than being constantly spent in building larger storm sewer systems and repairing maintenance problems. Ask Tom Dahlmeir and Dave Sonka at Tri Designs on what you should do with your water.

We, at Tri Designs, have a vast experience in water features of all types. Tom Dahlmeir, Dave Sonka, and our team of installers have been part of the significant growth in the garden pond industry over the past ten years. With a designer’s eye and an experienced installation team, we can create the artistic feature you desire. We can also take care of any significant maintenance issue that would take extra time out of your life, so that you primarily just get to relax and enjoy all of the benefits that moving water brings to your space.