Creative Designs - Ponds
The following review establishes some of the basic principles behind particular pond styles, and leads to portfolios of examples both from the past and the present-day. While a number of the examples are of a much greater scale than would be contemplated, other than by a local park or public garden, the design ideas which they embrace and that can be translated in part to the smaller scale of the domestic garden, are legion. Some are intended primarily as accommodation for aquatic plants and fish, while others are admired purely for their reflective qualities.
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 Have a management strategy in place before designing a plantsman's pond.
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The Plantsman’s Pond
A pond creates a unique opportunity for the gardener to grow a wide range of plants otherwise denied to him or her in the open garden, and offers the provision of another interesting dimension, the keeping of ornamental fish. With such a pond it is important to have a management strategy from the outset. A good practical design is vital, as is choosing plants that do not creep about or seed themselves freely. When planning the planting arrangement, retain some open water, and if the main shape of the pond is to remain sharply defined, then use marginal aquatics sparingly, choosing only those with a strong architectural outline.
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Reflections
While most gardeners consider their ponds as places in which to grow plants and keep fish, in the wider picture of garden design, water can justify its existence for its liquid beauty alone, especially its ability to reflect all that is around it. Mirror ponds have long been features of major gardens around the world and can now be seen as an integral part of the garden designer's armoury when creating a high quality domestic landscape. Garden lighting has also been much improved recently and this should also be taken into account when considering reflections.
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 Mirror ponds are very useful component in the garden designer's armoury.
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 A rectangular pond is often used as the core of a separate area of a larger garden.
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Shapes
There are various principles that apply when designing a water garden that relate to the shape of the pond. Square ponds are very rigid and generally only used alone unless absolute symmetry is needed to harmonise with other elements in the garden. However, squares utilised in a group formation are very effective. Conversely a rectangular pond is best positioned at a central point in the garden, or as the core of a separate area that is part of a large garden.
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A circular pond is often created as the centre-piece of a garden, rather like a bull’s eye is the focus of a dart board. It is a shape that lends itself well to a fountain and can also be used effectively at the end of a path where a hedge or wall forms a background. A semi-circular pond is often used in the same way, but with a seat or ornament at its heart. Oval ponds are similar in many respects to circular ones in their usefulness within a design. However, an oval shape has the advantage of being able to create a greater illusion of length or breadth, depending upon its orientation.
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 A circular pond can used very successfully as a centre-piece in a garden.
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