On Choosing The Best Water Garden Fountain For Your Desired Waterscape
Glenn Cutforth

It's tradtional to include a waterfall with a water garden, however, some locations and allowable setups can't properly accommodate cascading water. Therefore, an alternative from what is normal was created — a water garden fountain. Rather than having water falling from an elevated platform, water is instead sprouted from the surface to a magnificent explosion of aquatic display.

If you're planning to include a water garden fountain setup in your water garden, you have to know the different choices available for you.

Here's a few:

• Fountain heads. Fountain heads are elevated pipes where water bursts out of and are great for basins of limited size, so that water may be better controlled.

• Spitters. You've probably seen famous fountains where water is spewing from the mouth of a human figure. These fountains are called spitters and they're not limited to human figures. In fact, they could just be as simple as small pipes with holes where water is forcefully released at timed intervals.

• Splashdance. These are named for the illusion they create — that of dancing water. Splashdance fountains are very popular for large water gardens. What you'll often see is a lighting source positioned in the middle of the sprout to make the fountain look even more elegant.

• Floating Fountains. These are so named because their sprouts float on the surface of the water, and once the water is released, it sways all around the water garden. Floating fountains are best for even larger water gardens, becasue control over the flow of water would be very difficult.

As you could see, your choice of a water garden fountain will depend on the size and style of the water garden you're planning to build. Thus, you can't have a floating fountain in a waterfalls-type of setup, for example, becvasue conflicting design elements would make the waterscape lose its focus.

Therefore, it's important to take your time and choose the best water garden fountain for your specific setup, since the fountain will certainly be the centerpiece of your waterscape. Here are two rules you can observe when it comes to selecting the right fountain.

1. The fountain shouldn't be flamboyant enough to overshadow the overall design of the water garden; and

2. The fountain should not be underwhelming enough to appear as if it was a mere afterthought.

Always try to look at the bigger picture. In other words, look at your water garden in its entirety, and decide if the fountain will bring all the elements together ... or make the whole setup a bunch of unrecognizable components.

Glenn Cutforth is a writer, graphic designer and eBook Publisher. He has also developed several websites including Lawn and Garden Magic, The Complete Cat, How To Classics, The Secrets of Dreams and Conquer Anxiety and Depression.