Oases in the High Desert
Water features are the hottest trend in landscaping, but not everyone is satisfied with a simple koi pond. Montana’s water features are as diverse and spectacular as the scenery in which they are set.
By Nicole Rosenleaf Ritter
Photos by Andrew Blanchford
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Man made stream - Norris, Montana
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Dentists put fish tanks in their waiting rooms to calm patients down before their appointment. Insomniacs buy noise machines that mimic running water to try to soothe themselves to sleep. And homeowners in ever-increasing numbers want to add the pacific effects of water to their yards and gardens.
National statistics indicate that the trend has been hot nationally since around 1990, with the number of installations doubling each year, but Bozeman’s Andrew Blanchford, a Montana Certified Landscape Professional and Certified Plant Professional, says in Montana it’s only been popular for about a decade.
“There is definitely a trend toward water features,” says Blanchford, who is also the founder and general manager of Blanchford Landscape Contractors, Inc. “It’s a way to create separation from neighbors by drowning out noise and replacing it with the sound of running water. In our crazy, busy, multi-tasking world, the sound of water is a real stress reliever.”
Speaking in an online article for the trade journal Irrigation & Green Industry, Gregg Wittstock, owner of Aquascape Designs, Inc., describes the appeal of water features for his customers. “They’ll feel the cool, refreshing water as they see a sea of dancing clouds reflected in the water, and fish dancing about, birds coming and bathing in the stream,” he enthuses. “Water is moving, it’s alive, it creates sounds, it’s refreshing, and because of that, it makes an impact on the landscape that’s unparalleled.”
While many homeowners are happy to add just a small pond or fountain, installing it themselves or with the help of a landscape professional like Blanchford, others want their water on a grander scale. These “extreme Montana oases” can take hundreds of thousands of dollars to construct and years to complete. But the results, shown in the following three projects around Southwestern Montana (the homeowners asked to remain anonymous to protect their privacy), show the dramatic power of water on the Big Sky landscape.
UP FROM THE GROUND
When Russell Smith, co-founder of Aquatic Design and Construction, Inc. (ADC) in Livingston, was first called in to consult on a water feature for a Paradise Valley home, the existing natural springs were in pretty tough shape.
“When the water came out from the spring, it basically spread across the hill,” Smith relates. “It was an old homestead, and water ran right through it. It was a mess. Cows up there had trampled it and the whole landscape was highly erosive.”
Smith and his ADC colleagues constructed new stream beds with the goal of finding an outlet for the springs closer to their original path.
“A lot of what had happened had to do with previous man-made activities and of course the cattle up there for decades,” Smith explains. “We consolidated the water into more of what it probably was initially, which was more of a single channel.”
Two streambeds run through the house--which was designed by Bozeman architects Jonathan L. Foote and Associates--under covered bridges and into a pond below. Smith and his partners on the project, plant expert Linda Iverson and Livingston’s Native Landscapes and Reclamation, focused on using Montana native plants to line the streambeds and provide fringing for the pond.
“All the plants onsite are native, and most of them were grown in (ADC’s) nursery,” Smith explains. “The clients on this project were really into natives, in part because of the aesthetic value of native plants.”
The water from the pond re-circulates into the streams and also feeds a century-old apple grove on the property below. The effect of the feature, Smith says, was to in a sense re-naturalize the existing water on the property.
“Of course it is manipulated, but our focus was to make it look as natural as it could. That means it’s somewhat dramatic, but it’s not like a waterfall at Disneyworld,” Smith notes. “If you were to walk up there, you would think it had been there forever.”
According to Smith, the project in a sense illustrates a larger ADC goal. “Our philosophy is to try to make our features look like they’ve always been there so that they fit into the landscape,” he notes.
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Working with native plants and existing materials to mimic the natural landscape was also a focus for Andrew Blanchford in a home water feature in Manhattan.
Part of the native effect came from the judicious use of the rocks and trees already on the property. “We also transplanted sagebrush and about 50 Rocky Mountain Junipers from the dig site for the pond,” he says, adding that most of them survived the transplant and continue to thrive in their new locations.
They also made use of the site’s rock resources. “The boulders you see around the edge of the patio enclosure were taken from the site,” he explains.
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Man made Waterfall - Norris, Montana
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The huge stone path from the residence to the pond starts with slabs of chief cliff fieldstone but is also soon joined by huge boulders from the build site. “The landscape architect specified chief cliff at first, but when we figured out how many tons we were going to need, the owner asked us to consider looking at some of the huge boulders already there,” Blanchford notes.
The 12,000-square-foot pond is fed by a deep well, and the water re-circulates through a small stream and waterfall system. “The idea was to make it look like the water was bubbling up from an underground stream under some rocks,” he says. “It also provides a nice sound of moving water for the patio space.”
The main patio on the pond sits out slightly into the water, giving it an almost island feel. Sandstone steps from the patio lead down into the trout pond, which is ringed not just with transplanted sagebrush and juniper but also with native grasses and a few imported spruce.
“The plan, as it was conceived by the landscape architect, was to really make this house and even the pond look like it was plunked down into the existing native landscape in the high desert,” Blanchford describes. “That’s the great thing about this project. It was such a clear goal and I think we achieved it.”
ROOMS IN THE OUTDOORS
Blanchford also worked on an even larger-scale project in the Bozeman area to create a water feature covering approximately seven acres of hillside below a private residence.
The well-fed stream gurgles to the surface just below the master bedroom suite and winds around the home, eventually flowing into a larger, calm pool before it hits the first of a series of waterfalls and small drops, as well as further pools. Hundreds of trout swim in the system, moving through the ponds and falls.
“As the stream leaves the backyard of the house,” Blanchford says, “it flows in a kind of loose, leveled formation of rocks, trying to evoke the feeling of a natural cliff. The larger plant material in the background stops the eye and keeps you focused on the waterfall.”
In one of the upper pools just below the house, a giant tufa rock imported from British Columbia makes an island on which alpine plants grow. Pieces of tufa, a mineral deposit formed when water evaporates from lime-rich waters, also line parts of the perimeter. Blanchford and his teams drilled holes in the tufa to allow the cultivation of the alpine plants, which require very little in the way of maintenance since they draw on the water in the pool.
Russian Sage dots the landscape, mingling with Timothy Grass and flowers both native and imported. A trail system with seating areas parallels the stream, creating unique spaces along the way. The feature is lit for evening use, employing 300-plus light fixtures for up-lighting and along the path. Bridges, many made of huge slabs of rock, allow easy trips over the stream in both directions.
“The idea is that you’re moving from room to room,” Blanchford says. With the trees and different plants and kinks and curves and seating areas with little benches along the way, you kind of move from space to space,” he says. “It’s an evolving experience as you’re led along the path.”
The experience indeed does evolve, but it is all possible because of the water that these three features employ -- whether rushing through the stream beds or reflecting the Big Sky on a calm day. A river runs through it, indeed.
Sidebar: Water Features 101
“There are such a wide variety of options out there,” Andrew Blanchford says of water features.
“Everything from a really small berm with a little trickle in it to pondless waterfalls to large ponds and streams.”
The pondless waterfalls—in which concealed underground “vaults” collect water to splash down over rocks—are increasingly popular, he says, in areas in which safety is a concern or that are too small to support a pond.
Blanchford emphasizes that homeowners should also realize that no water feature is maintenance-free, although most are relatively low-maintenance.
“There can be algae problems and other issues with keeping the water clear,” he says. “We try to use natural systems rather than chemicals to control algae—like keeping fish in there to control the algae rather than controlling it chemically. Plants and good oxygenation help, too, but it’s not an exact science and we are learning more about it every day.”
If a homeowner is trying to create some natural habitat to attract aquatic wildlife and birds, gardening expert Jenny Steel advised in a recent article on the UK Guardian website to “make sure (the) pond has a least one deep area to provide a refuge for aquatic wildlife in the winter, plus a sloping edge to allow wildlife to get in and out.”
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Man made pond -
Manhattan, Montana
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Water supply and governmental regulation are other issues to consider. Russell Smith of Livingston’s ADC Services, Inc. explains, “Some of the larger features do involve some permitting, for example, permits (to comply with) the Clean Water Act, Army Corps of Engineers, and state permits.” His company handles all permitting onsite.
Larger projects can also take multiple growing seasons to complete. All of the projects featured in the article required multi-year work.
Still, there are water features to suit most budgets, tastes, and timelines. Moreover, Blanchford adds, “If you’re going to invest in landscaping, a water feature is probably a good investment.”
Southwestern Montana homeowners considering having a garden pool installed can expect to spend from $5,000 for a simple backyard pond up to seven figures for elaborate, multi-seasonal projects.
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