Tag: water feature

What You Need to Know to Winterize a Fountain or Water Feature – Garden Therapy

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It’s important to take proper care of your water feature, especially as winter approaches. Here is what I do with my water features in the winter, and some tips on how to easily winterize a fountain or pond so that you can continue to enjoy it for many seasons to come.

Water features are wonderful—they provide interesting colour and texture, a place for beneficial wildlife to cool off and have a drink, and the sound of running water is soothing to listen to.

I installed this Aquascape fountain a couple of years ago, along with my lion fountain below. And you can bet I have plans to add a water feature to my new house as well.

With just a little extra care in the fall, you can ensure that your fountain or pond will stay in tip-top shape for a long time to come. Plus, with some natural elements and a little imagination, you can decorate your fountain so that it is as eye-catching in winter as it is in the summer.

These are the steps you need to take to winterize a fountain or water feature.

My lion fountain in the winter.

Clean it

Leaving the fallen autumn leaves in your yard instead of raking them up is a great way to benefit good insects and visiting birds, as well as to promote soil health, but you will want to clean up the leaves from the area surrounding your fountain or pond because they will get stuck and clog it up.

Remove fall leaves from your fountain’s area.

When you are ready to put your water feature to bed for the winter, remove debris and any dead plants. If there is a lot of plant material at the bottom of your pond, you can vacuum or rake it out.

If your water garden has a pump, make sure that you clean it before winter. To do this, begin by soaking the pump in a mixture of vinegar and water. After a few hours, take the pump out of the mixture and pump clean water through it until it runs clear.

Make sure to clean any bird baths as well.

Prevent it from Freezing

Plants and fish require air, so if the surface of a pond freezes over completely, they will not survive. If your pond has been designed with your local climate in mind, it should be deep enough that it can continue working, with the pump on, all winter long without freezing.

Here is a chart that shows the depth that a pond needs to be to avoid freezing, based on how cold the winter temperatures get in your area.

If your pond is not deep enough and therefore prone to freezing, put it to bed for the season by taking out the pump and moving tender plants (and fish, if you have them) inside for the winter.

Care for Plants and Fish

If you have fish in your pond, they can overwinter in the pond as long as the pond has enough depth for them and does not freeze over. Please make sure that you are choosing the right fish for your climate as well.

In winter, the low temperatures will cause fishes’ metabolism to slow, which means they need less food. Switch to low-protein food and feed them less often than you would during other seasons (they will come up to the surface and let you know when they are hungry).

Make sure any fish can withstand your winter climate. Move them inside otherwise.

If you don’t already know, find out whether or not your aquatic plants are hardy. If they are hardy, you can cut them back and move them to the deepest part of the pond and leave them there over winter.

Tender tropical plants must be either replaced or moved indoors for the winter. I personally just have inexpensive annual water plants, which I compost in the fall and replace the following spring.

My wildlife pond, which I replenish every spring with new aquatic plants.

Empty It and Add Holiday Greens

If you think that your empty water fountain looks a bit sad during the winter, you can spruce it up by adding holiday greenery, pinecones, and anything else that gives it a festive feel. Head on over to this post to see how I made my lion fountain into a decorative winter feature.

The fountain looks great in the summer when it is planted with pond plants (you can see step-by-step instructions for planting a living fountain in my book Garden Made), and then it becomes a winter wonder when it gets an evergreen makeover each December.

Decorate your fountain in the winter to keep it beautiful and lively.

Bring it Indoors and Plant it

Another great way to turn a backyard fountain into a piece of stunning winter decor is to plant it! This succulent garden fountain looks amazing strung with tiny lights and strewn with reindeer moss, pinecones, and other natural elements.

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A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants.

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Stephanie Rose

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October 30, 2025
This Beverly Hills haven for the rich has a floating garden for the public. Here’s a sneak peek

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Everyone is now invited to come experience the high life in Beverly Hills.

New details about a floating public garden, which will be part of a nearly $5-billion luxury housing and hotel complex, were unveiled on Thursday by its London-based developer.

Cain, which started work on the high-rise One Beverly Hills project more than a year ago, released an updated look at the sprawling botanical gardens that will surround the complex at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards, a project that has been in the making for more than two decades.

City officials agreed to let Cain build by far the two tallest towers in Beverly Hills with the understanding that stacking the condominiums high would leave open space for 8.5 acres of gardens on the 17.5-acre site.

A rendering of the planned “Ephemeral Pond” in the gardens at the One Beverly Hills.

(One Beverly Hills)

“We regard the gardens as the soul of the project,” said Jonathan Goldstein, chief executive of Cain.

More than half of the gardens will be open to the public.

One Beverly Hills is one of the biggest real estate developments by cost under construction in North America, Goldstein said.

It was conceived by London-based architect Foster + Partners. The firm is led by Norman Foster, an English lord perhaps best known for designing a landmark lipstick-like skyscraper in London known as the Gherkin and the hoop-shaped Apple Inc. headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

Slated to open before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the complex will also house some of the priciest condos and hotel suites in the country, as developers seek to capitalize on the city’s reputation for luxury and celebrity.

One Beverly Hills will be anchored by the Aman Beverly Hills, a 78-room, all-suite hotel that will be the brand’s first West Coast property.

The tower residences will also be branded and serviced by Aman, a Swiss company owned by Russian-born real estate developer Vlad Doronin, which Forbes describes as “the world’s most preeminent resort brand,” and attracts affluent guests such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and George and Amal Clooney.

The two towers — 26 and 32 stories — will have a total of fewer than 200 condos.

Interspersed among the property will be as many as 45 stores and restaurants, including a Dolce & Gabbana boutique and restaurants Casa Tua Cucina and Los Mochis.

The most public aspect of One Beverly Hills will be the gardens designed by Los Angeles architecture firm Rios, which also designed the 12-acre Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles and created a new master plan for Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge.

One Beverly Hills will contain as many as 45 retail and dining outlets, each set within a distinct environment.

(Foster + Partners)

One Beverly Hills will feature botanical gardens that reflect the diverse landscape of Southern California, with drought-resistant native plants fed solely on recycled water, including rainfall and the runoff from residents’ sinks and showers. The gardens are designed to have more than 200 species of plants and trees, including palms, oaks, sycamores, succulents and olives.

Set within the historic grounds of the former Beverly Hills Nurseries, which later became the Robinson-May department store, the gardens will feature two miles of walkways, trails, sitting areas and water features.

Rios’ design takes inspiration from the state’s distinct ecological zones — from shaded oak ridges to bright meadows and coastal bluffs.

Species once cultivated by the historic nursery will be reintroduced alongside new plantings. Visitors will encounter pollinator gardens alive with butterflies and hummingbirds, color-themed landscapes, and cascading water features, all designed to reflect the beauty of Southern California’s environment with scents of rosemary, jasmine and chaparral.

Rendering of One Beverly Hills, a nearly $5-billion complex under construction at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards.

(Foster + Partners)

Making the gardens feel natural instead of manicured was a design challenge because they will cover an underground garage for 1,800 vehicles and Merv Griffin Way, which connects Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. The gardens will link One Beverly Hills with the existing Beverly Hilton hotel and Waldorf Astoria hotel.

The soil in the gardens can be no more than four feet deep, yet it must nourish trees that are trucked in from other locations and are between 50 and 100 years old so that the garden appears to have been around a long time.

“This shouldn’t feel like a rooftop garden,” said landscape architect John Pearson of Rios. “We want it to feel like it’s a botanical garden that just happens to be 40 feet in the air.”

It will also gently connect with sidewalks, which is part of the plan to encourage locals and tourists walking around Beverly Hills to wander in, said Rios founder, Mark Rios.

“It’d be really nice if the park became something you cut through,” Rios said, “We really want to create a sort of seamless experience where there’s this huge landscaped park in the middle of this urban area.”

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Roger Vincent

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October 2, 2025
Design a Dry River Bed and Solve Your Drainage Problem – Garden Therapy

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At my new house, my front lawn was all mud and pools of uneven, soggy ground. Rather than put all that water into the city drains, I redirected it to filter through the soil and water the surrounding plants. Design your own dry river bed, and you just might make your own drainage problems disappear…poof!

In my front yard, I planted a beautiful, meadow-like wildflower lawn. So far, it’s been the star of the block, as everyone stops and admires it.

For the wildflower lawn, I used the West Coast Seed Alternative Lawn Mix Wildflowers. I didn’t realize just how many wildflowers it would produce!

Because it has turf grasses, I thought there would be only a few flowers among the grass. I thought I would be able to mow it and use it like any other lawn.

But that hasn’t been the case at all. My expectations of the wildflower lawn were just blown out of the water.

While beautiful, and I wouldn’t change a thing, it meant that walking through our garden wasn’t going to be possible. To get to the backyard, we would go down the sidewalk, through a gate, down the street, and through another gate.

Complicated right?

I knew I needed a solution, and rather than build a simple pathway, I decided to solve another problem with my garden: the drainage.

Here’s how I made my dry river and what to know before you build your own.

My gorgeous wildflower front lawn before the dry river installation.

What is a Dry River?

Dry rivers are an ornamental solution to drainage problems in the garden. They create a water catchment space where water from your home can filter back into the soil. The surrounding plants can then reach down with their deeper roots and hydrate. It’s a win-win!

Dry river beds are made with river stones and mimic the look of a wild river. The result is a very natural-looking rock element in your garden. It can blend in or become a feature in itself, being both aesthetic and functional.

Dry rivers can feature many different kinds of rock, but I went with the classic rounded river rock.

Picking a Location for Your Dry River Bed

When I first moved into my house, it was evident that the front yard had a drainage problem. It was muddy and puddly and neglected.

I was initially inspired to put in a dry river because of the way the eavestroughs were designed. The gutters that collect off the roof were a little broken and poorly maintained and drained directly into the soil or went into underground pipes that took the water away from the house.

The yard, as a result has a very high water table. This means that in the summer drought months, the plants do quite well because they get enough supplemental water. I haven’t had to provide ANY supplemental water for my wildflower lawn so far.

But it also holds lots of water when things are cooler, and anything that doesn’t like wet feet won’t do well. The grass didn’t do well at all prior to the wildflower lawn, as it was just too damp in the winter months.

My front yard before its extreme makeover.

The early stages of my wildflower lawn, when it was still treadable.

Some of the water is redirected into the city runoff and then piped out to the ocean. This isn’t ideal, either. It doesn’t allow any of the rain that would naturally fall there to return to the soil. We should use the existing water on the land to support the plants.

This left me in a tricky spot, as I didn’t want to put any kind of drainage too close to the house—this can be problematic and cause rot on the house’s frame.

So I redirected the water back into the land, where it could be properly and efficiently drained. I moved the water to go into about the middle of the lawn where it would be away from the house but still feed the surrounding plants.

First, I needed to get the water flowing away from the house and into the soil with longer downspouts.

How to Make a Dry River Bed for Drainage

The first thing I did was redirect the eavestroughs to the middle of the wildflower lawn. This did mean I had to do some digging up, so more on that later!

Yes, digging up all these flowers did hurt my soul a bit.

I chose a general shape for my dry river, giving it curves and a naturalistic shape to weave through my lawn as a pathway, digging the flowers out as I went.

Since I wanted mine to be a pathway as well, I had it go all the way to the gate.

I then put a layer of landscape fabric over top of the curve I created. Depending on how much water and drainage you need, you can dig deeper and add a base layer of gravel to help hold onto excess rainwater. See an example of that kind of dry river bed in this post.

Make sure to use landscape fabric, not plastic. It needs to allow water to filter through.

For me, I just topped off my landscape fabric with river stones in two different sizes. I have smaller ones that are about 1-2 inches, and then larger stones that are 2-4 inches. So far, it’s been all I need!

I had it all mixed together to make laying it down easier.

I then had Kiddo reorganize the rocks. He wanted to organize them so that the larger ones were on the outside and the smaller ones were on the inside. We didn’t use any kind of edging.

Kiddo feels a lot of pride doing work in the garden, and he talks about the dry river all the time. I love seeing him become attached to the garden.

Before Kiddo organized it all!

Maintaining Your Dry River

So far, the only maintenance I’ve done to my front yard is to take grass shears and cut back the flowers along the edge of the dry river bed.

While I wanted a walking path, it is a little bit unstable to walk on. For someone like me with a disability, having a riverstone walkway can be a bit of a challenge. Twisted ankles are definitely a concern.

But for my family, it’s not supposed to be a major walking path. There will be no wheelbarrows or people walking it daily. It’s just for the animals and our family to use when they need to traverse across the wildflowers.

I may adjust it in the future, but for now, I’m content. What you can also do is add natural paver stones to the center to make it look more like a walkway.

Your dry river shouldn’t need much maintenance, but make any necessary adjustments as you go. It won’t be immediately evident how the drainage will work until it rains!

The wildflowers do flop onto the dry river bed, but grass shears are easy to use to clean it up.

Landscaping Your Dry River Bed

When I removed the wildflowers, I tried to keep them and transplant them. While the sweet alyssum transplanted well, most of the other flowers didn’t.

On one side of the dry river towards the house, I ended up digging out any remaining wildflowers and turning that space into a drought tolerant herb garden. So far, I have lavender, sage, rosemary, and some yarrow.

These drought tolerant plants will not need supplemental water in the summer, but the dry river will also help keep moisture in the ground where the deep roots of the perennials can reach them.

And the plants look beautiful as well!

Dry rivers are very similar to rain gardens and have many of the same principles. You can find more landscaping and plant ideas for your dry river in this rain gardens post.

This rain garden features native and drought-tolerant perennials.

More Ways to Design a Drought-Friendly Garden

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Stephanie Rose

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August 12, 2024
Design a Rain Garden to Redirect and Filter Rainwater – Garden Therapy
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With unpredictable weather becoming more and more frequent, having effective water conservation and filtering systems in your garden is more important than ever. If you have downspouts in your garden that direct to the street or a drain, let me introduce you to rain gardens! This garden project allows you to disconnect downspouts from sewers and instead let the rainwater rightfully return to the earth.

While a rain garden sounds fancy, it’s really a low-maintenance system used to filter and release stormwater runoff. This keeps water local to the soil and creeks, just how nature intended it.

I live in a rainy climate where a lot of wonderful work is being done to study, build, and educate the public on rain gardens and why they’re so important. It takes some time for these rain gardens to fill in, but boy are they beautiful when they do!

There are many rain gardens in my area, the Pacific Northwest.

To check out some established rain gardens, I went on a walking tour with Deborah Jones from Cougar Creek Streamkeepers. They’re a wonderful group of volunteers dedicated to helping to restore and maintain the health of Cougar Creek, a salmon stream here in BC.

One of the major things they do is create rain gardens to help reduce stormwater drainage. You can check out the rain gardens I visited on this map (stops 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17). The McCloskey Elementary School especially had a beautiful one. You can see the school’s rain garden in the photos throughout this post, among the other stops.

This post will cover…

By the way, this is one of many projects featured in my latest book, The Regenerative Garden. Besides sustainable water drainage systems and gardens, I also cover plenty more ways you can create a natural and self-sustaining garden. Be sure to check it out if you’re ready to take your garden the extra mile towards sustainability.

What is a Rain Garden?

A rain garden is any type of landscape that takes, absorbs, and filters rainwater runoff. Usually, this runoff is directed from man-made surfaces such as pavement or roofs.

Without human interference, all rainwater would naturally soak into the ground. But the more buildings, streets, and other urban developments we create, the more land we cover. This means less and less ground area where rain can soak into the soil.

Our solution was to create water drainage systems like eavestroughs, storm drains, and ditches. This is known as urban runoff. These drainage systems direct water back into streams and rivers, but they become incredibly polluted. They carry litter, oil, fertilizer, gas, pesticides, and more.

Buried downspouts can direct rainwater directly into the garden.

A rain garden can help retain water where it naturally belongs and filter all that urban runoff. It will remove the pollutants that would have otherwise gone down the drain.

Beyond their functional duty, they also can be beautiful gardens that become a habitat for local wildlife and even provide some much-needed shade during the warm season.

McCloskey Elementary School rain garden

How Does a Rain Garden Work?

Home gutters sometimes direct into sewer systems, which route stormwater through the same treatment system as toilets, showers, and sinks. Not only is this treatment unnecessary, but it can also cause overflows of the sewer system that redirects into the nearest river, lake, or ocean. This leaves local soils and waterways devoid of the rainfall they need to stay healthy.

The basin of a rain garden is filled with plants that love moisture and can act as biofilters to purify the water. The upper swales have drought-tolerant plants that love to grow deep roots and access the available groundwater when they can.

The rain garden design can be as simple as attaching a gravel-filled trough to a downspout and building a garden bed around it to designing more elaborate rain gardens that become a haven for bird and insect species.

Rain gardens are also designed to be incredibly low maintenance.

Creating a Unique Rain Garden Design

Every rain garden will look different but there are some rules you will want to follow to get a functional design!

The garden is built as a swale: a recessed center about 4-8 inches with berms around the perimeter to hold water in. The center planting area should be level to prevent pooling. The garden is generally twice as wide as it is long, with the widest part at the lowest point of the slope.

Locate an area 5 to 15 feet away from buildings. At a minimum, the overflow drain should end 5 feet from structures without basements and 10 feet from structures with a basement height of 5 feet; add 2 additional feet for every foot deeper the basement is. Don’t locate a rain garden over underground utilities or large tree roots.

McCloskey Elementary School rain garden

The rain garden’s location should be slowed away from buildings to direct overflow out through spillways to other gardens rather than running back toward structures; however, the garden itself should have no more than a 5% grade overall (1-foot drop in 20 feet).

In rainy climates, the bottom inside of the garden should be 15% of the square footage of the runoff source. So, a 500-square foot root requires a 75 square foot garden base (500×0.15=75).

These measurements were provided by Seattle Public Utilities and King Country Wastewater Treatment Division’s RainWise Program.

Observe the garden after heavy rainfall to ensure the drainage is working correctly and not pooling.

How to Build a Rain Garden
1. Determine the garden’s location and extend the downspout to the highest point of the garden. Choose a location that can handle plenty of water saturation, away from septic systems, and away from plants, shrubs, or trees that don’t like their roots to stay wet.
2. Use a garden hose or sprinkle flour to outline the garden’s shape.
3. Dig the base 24 inches deep and use the soil to berm up the sides.
4. Fill the base with 12 inches of a rain garden soil mix (one-third compost and two-thirds garden soil). This leaves 12 inches of ponding depth (the space from the top of the base soil to ground level where water can collect during rainy periods).
5. At the lowest point of the garden edge, create an overflow area packed with rocks. This allows the overflow to be released without eroding the garden. The overflow should be directed to a street drain.
6. Plant the rain garden design with water-loving plants. Add optional spillways to other garden beds that the overflow can irrigate.
Native plants will have the best chance of survival in your rain garden.

Rain Garden Plants

Choose the right plants for your garden’s conditions. Suggested plants can be native plants or cultivated garden favourites that perform well in your unique microclimate. The best place to find the right plants for your garden is at your local garden nursery, which will carry both native and cultivated plants.

Plant the garden plants, mulch with 2 inches of compost and water well. Water the plants regularly to establish them in the first few years. Add more compost as mulch annually.

Often plants will move into the right position in the garden, like these drought-tolerant plants below that have replanted themselves to the basin of this area.

Over time, your rain garden will look like a natural, curated space.

FAQ About Rain Gardens

Where is the best place to put a rain garden?

Look for a high to low spot, where gravity can help with drainage. You want an area that can handle lots of water saturation.

Keep your rain garden away from large trees where their roots can take over, right next to buildings, and from septic systems. Also, consider the soil, as clay soil will require a larger rain garden to avoid pooling.

What is the best shape for a rain garden?

The best shape depends on your space, as you want to work with gravity rather than against it. Most rain gardens are designed to come from a downspout and move downward. People also design them alongside a driveway or ditch for a longer, more narrow design shape.

You want to maximize infiltration. Guide the water to meander or pool through the garden so that it filters before draining to an overflow drain.

Also ensure you’ve called your local authority and mapped out any utility lines on the property when designing your shape.

What is the best mulch for a rain garden?

Arborist woodchips are great for improving water absorption, as they prevent the soil from compacting. Regularly adding mulch will conserve the moisture in the ground and improve water retention and soil aeration.

Can I add rock to my rain garden?

Rocks won’t absorb any water, so you want to use them sparingly and as a final touch. Once you’ve made sure the soil is spongy and ready to absorb water, you can add rock for aesthetic purposes or to protect the soil from erosion in areas where there’s lots of water flow. Keep it a thin layer and don’t overdo it!

As you can see, creating a rain garden is fairly simple and can provide lasting benefits for years to come. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below!

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Stephanie Rose

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July 3, 2024