General Waterfall Design Tips

• When planning a waterfall, there are a few design considerations to keep in mind. First, listen to your garden. You can use the pleasant sounds of falling water to mask street noise. Second, you should be able to see the waterfall from inside and outside the house, so place it in the main sight lines of windows and the porch. Also, try to mimic nature as much as possible by using natural stones and keeping your pond and stream in appropriate proportions. For example, a tiny stream wouldn't make much of a waterfall with a large pond, and a large stream could overwhelm a small pond.
  
  

Tropical Garden

• Since tropical areas often have water in the form of rivers, streams, lakes and waterfalls, a waterfall can fit in with the overall design of a tropical garden. If you are planning a tropical garden and have a section of land where soil is too rocky or otherwise inappropriate, you can put a pond, small stream and waterfall in that area. Instead of stones, tropical water features can be surrounded by sand to give your garden a beach look.
  
  

Japanese Garden

• Many Japanese gardens have water features, and waterfalls can be an important part of a Japanese-inspired design. Waterfalls in Japanese gardens are generally low falls, with the water falling no more than 3 feet from the stream to the pond or basin. Japanese waterfalls use stones to create the waterfall design. The central stone of a Japanese waterfall configuration is called the "mirror stone," which the water falls from into the pond.
  
  

Formal Garden

• Formal garden designs are all about clean lines and symmetry, so a man-made fountain with a waterfall is a good choice for a formal garden. Consider elevating a stream in a formal garden with smooth round river stones to provide a small waterfall. A shelf waterfall can also be an interesting formal water feature, and it can be constructed by creating a paved channel for water and allowing the water to fall into a geometric shaped pool.
  
  

Eco-Friendly Garden

• A waterfall is an essential feature for any garden that seeks to recreate the beauty of nature or as part of an overall eco-conscious landscape design. Gray water systems, where wastewater from the home is cleaned by a series of holding pools and filters, can be greatly improved with waterfalls. In a gray water system, waterfalls help aerate the water and provide circulation to pools. Eco-friendly waterfalls should use native stone in construction and have native water plants.