Going with the flow

Burt and Lynne Anderson capitalized on their landscape’s precarious slope and created a pastoral waterfall

The steep slope plummeting down from the house to the lake would have been seen as a negative to most people, but not to Burt Anderson. For years, he dreamed of having a waterfall in his garden. So when he stepped out on the deck of his Moneta home as a prospective buyer and saw the incline, he knew he had found the perfect site to make his dream come true.
    The slope was bare except for some weedy grass and one tree growing near the water. It was the ideal blank slate for Burt’s project. Within weeks of settling into their new home, he and wife Lynne got to work on realizing his long-held vision.  
    Enlisting the help of the landscape maintenance team headed by Raphael Torres of Rocky Mount, Burt stood on the deck overlooking the slope and directed the crew on where to dig the ponds and stream bed channels, and where to place the rocks to make it all look natural.
    “They were willing to do whatever we dreamed up,” said Lynne.
    The work crew was willing and capable, and Burt’s vision was sure, but there were still problems.  
    “The s-curves were difficult,” admitted Burt.  “We struggled with leaks at those points, and we almost lost the bottom pond during an exceptionally heavy rain storm. The water got under the liner, washing away masses of the foundation dirt.”  
While Burt, Raphael and his team persevered on getting the look and the logistics of the series of ponds and waterfalls exactly right, Lynne was busy researching the ideal plants for the new garden feature. A master gardener, she consulted with Lakescapes Nursery for advice on plants that would do well in the setting and help enhance the natural look of the series of waterfalls and ponds.  
    With her design sense, Lynne also knew that using drifts of one plant creates a more effective composition than a spotty mixture of different plants all jumbled together. She planted a Crimson Queen threadleaf Japanese red maple as a focal point at the s-curve of the stream. On the opposite side, she clustered Loropetalum chinense ‘Ruby,’ a small-growing variety of Chinese fringe flower with arching stems that top out at 3-5 feet tall and round.  Knock Out shrub roses intermingle with the loropetalum, their season long flowering of rosy pink flowers complementing the fringe flower’s burgundy foliage. Cotoneaster salcifolius ‘Scarlet Leader’ covers much of the ground along the opposite side of the water feature, its long stems trailing into the running water.
    Lynne also planned the front garden, focusing on a pastel palette with pink flowering Knock Out roses and evergreen conifers and shrubs for year-round interest. A picket fence borders the property along the road (another of Burt’s garden desires), and a plaque near the front door announces, “A spoiled rotten cat lives here.”  Before retiring to the lake, Burt was a veterinarian. In addition to gardening, both are passionate about their cats.

Want to try?
Tips for creating a water feature of your own

If you’re inspired to add a water feature to your landscape, consider the following tips to ensure it looks natural and achieves the desired effect.

Copy Nature Visit local waterfalls and take note of the rock formations, plant materials and features that make them special. Also, listen. The way water falls and runs over rocks affects the sound. Take photographs to serve as a guide when you begin work on your own creation.  

Choose Local Stone Indigenous rock will look more natural – and probably save you a lot of money shipping heavy materials over long distances.  

Root Large Rocks Like the tip of an iceberg, most large stones reveal only a fraction of the mass that lies below. To make a large boulder appear natural in its setting, bury a portion of it. Be aware of the thrusting direction of the rock’s grain and place so the stones all look as though they are emerging from the earth at a similar angle.    

Soften the Edges Choose plant materials that will spill over the edges to obscure plastic sheeting and integrate the water feature into the greater landscape.

Avoid Rock “Necklaces” The area under a waterfall is dug out by the force of the stream, pushing smaller pebbles and sand up to the outer edges. Design your pool to have the same characteristics by placing larger stones at the point where the waterfall lands. Scatter stones that radiate out toward the “shore,” getting smaller as they move away from the force of the falling water to the sandy edges.  


Catriona Tudor Erler is a freelance garden writer, photographer and speaker who divides her time between SML and Charlottesville. She is the author of nine garden books, including “Design Ideas for Home Landscaping,” “Poolscaping: Gardening and Landscaping Around Your Pool and Spa,” and “Complete Home Landscaping.”