Water features

Even the smallest garden or paved yard should include a water feature of some sort - whether it's a pebble pool, a wildlife pond, a formal sunken pool, or an old sink or clay pot with a few small waterplants. Water brings life into a garden, through the reflections, through the sound of running water, and by attracting dragonflies and other small animals to visit your garden. At Greenleaf we supply a range of water plants, and all kinds of pebble pools, fountains, preformed pools and poolside paving. We also have a good number of water features on site, so you can come and take inspiration from our own ideas. We also supply a range of pool lighting systems. Please note though that all outdoor electrical equipment should be installed by a qualified electrician.

Choosing the site

If you intend to grow waterplants in your water feature, choose a spot that gets plenty of sunlight. Most waterplants need a certain amount of light. Areas under trees can be difficult as the water feature gets filled with leaves in autumn. This can clog pumps and filters, and fills the pond with nutrients from the decaying leaves, thus encouraging algae which can turn the water green and smelly.

For gardens with children

A pebble pool is just the right water feature for a garden where small children are going to be playing. The pump and reservoir of water are buried underground, and the water plays gently over the pebbles surrounding the fountain without any dangerous standing water above ground at all.

Children will love to paddle their toes in a pebble pool, and it's quite safe to leave them on their own with it. Greenleaf supply 60cm pebble pools for £55.95 or 90cm ones for £75.95 (including pump and reservoir, but excluding pebbles).

For tiny gardens and paved yards

If you have some spare wall space why not try a hanging water feature?

Water is pumped from the pool to a spout and then gently back into the pool. Ideal if all you have is a shady spot - try surrounding it with some potted ferns. The largest sizes we can supply are suitable for planting up with small water-plants such as the miniature reed mace – Typha minima, or the scented miniature Sweet Flag - Acorus gramineus. Wall features with pumps start from around £50.

An alternative is the simple half-barrel waterfeature - available at Greenleaf from £20 for a 60cm half-barrel, around 50cm deep. No wiring is required - just fill the barrel, then plant up with small waterplants in aquatic compost and water-plant baskets. It's important to use special aquatic compost (available from Greenleaf) as garden compost contains fertiliser which can cause algae to turn your pond green. The half-barrel makes a great wildlife feature and will attract dragon flies and all sorts of other attractive creatures. Do make sure that you put a large stone or upturned pot in the barrel, so that if little animals such as hedgehogs fall in when they come to drink, they will be able to climb out again.

These small water-features are not suitable for fish, as the temperature varies too much. However, if you are worried about mosquitos being attracted to the standing water, add a little cooking oil to the top of the water - this will prevent mosquito larvae from breeding.

For those with a bit more space

You can choose between a formal pond, a larger self-contained fountain feature, or a wildlife pond, perhaps surrounded by a bog garden. A water garden is the ideal solution if your garden tends to be on the boggy side - it's much easier to make the best of the natural features of your garden than to try to fight them. You may not even need a pond liner, though most ponds on dryer ground will require them. All the pond liners we sell at Greenleaf have a 30 year guarantee, and should be laid over a bed of soft sand to prevent punctures.