Vanishing Waterfall in Bonny Doon

Here is a Vanishing Waterfall we are finishing for our client in Bonny Doon, in the hills above Santa Cruz.


The waterfall was the first phase of this project. In the spring, we will be finishing the rest of the landscape. A flagstone patio, outdoor shower, Mexican tile entryway, native plantings and landscape lighting will accent the the area around the water feature.
Check back in with us next spring for photos and videos of the completed project.

Scotts Valley Retaining Walls

When you are choosing material to build a retaining wall in your yard or garden, there are many different choices on the market.

Wood retaining walls, like the ones we just finished in the picture to the right, are low cost and very sturdy. 


For this retaining wall job in Scotts Valley, just outside of Santa Cruz, we used 6x6 posts with 2x12 boards. When building a wooden retaining wall make sure to always use pressure treated lumber. 

Drainage is also a crucial part in the design and installation of a wood, or any type of, retaining wall construction.


Without drainage, the retaining wall could fail due to hydro-static pressure. Hydro-static pressure is caused by over saturation of water in the soils behind the retaining wall.


A French Drain in the best way to ensure proper drainage behind your wall. A French Drain is constructed using a perforated pipe behind the wall, at the base. The pipe is wrapped in filter fabric and back-filled with drain rock. Although you can't see it, we installed a French Drain behind each retaining wall in the construction of this project.

Another drainage system that we use in our retaining wall construction is called EZ-flow. This system uses perforated pipe wrapped in styrofoam and geo-textile fabric. It can hold more water than a traditional French Drain, and it much easier to install. We used the EZ-flow system on the wood retaining walls we just finished. EZ-flow is great for retaining wall projects with difficult access. 

Filtrific Vanishing Waterfall in Santa Cruz #2

Here we are installing the 'fixed skimmer' that will connect to the waterfall tank. The skimmer allows us to create the 'vanishing waterfall' effect that makes the Filtrific system unique. 

Filtrific Vanishing Waterfall in Santa Cruz

Just starting a new Waterfall project in Bonny Doon, outside Santa Cruz.

We are installing a Filtrific vanishing waterfall for this project.


Using the Filtrific system not only makes the installation easier, it makes the future maintenance much easier.


The tank in the picture is a 400 gallon waterfall filter tank. We will use this tank to house the pump, automatic fill valve, filtration and overflow. The tank is designed to allow for future additions to the system, such as, biological filtration, UV filtration and additional pumps.


The best part about the Filtrific system is, it allows us to create a 'vanishing pool'
effect using a fixed skimmer. 


The skimmer draws debris from the waterfall into the filter tank, where it can be easily accessed.

Inside the tank there a two leaf catch basket filters. Any debris drawn in from the skimmer is caught here.


This system is a much needed improvement to the Pondless Waterfall industry.

In a traditional pondless waterfall, the pump is located in a 'pondless basin' at the bottom of the waterfall. The basin is constructed using 'Matrix Boxes' and various grades of gravel.


The waterfall looks the same, but functions differently. Any debris in the waterfall will be stuck at the top of the pondless basin. This makes maintenance difficult, and can result in pump failure and poor water quality.


We still install both types of features, but we feel that the Filtrific system is superior.

Backyard Landscaping

This is a residential backyard landscape we have been working on this month.


The picture on the left is during construction of the Vanishing Waterfall.
Notice the clock on the fence. We found it buried in the dirt during excavation. 


This project was designed by Jan Nelson.
Jan referred us to her client for this project. 

This project features a well selected list of plants, a Filtrific Vanishing Waterfall, an artificial turf lawn and some basic landscape lighting.

Filtrific Waterfall Construction

Almaden Waterfall

Award Winning Water Feature

We just found out that a project we worked on with Baxter Landscaping won a 2nd place award from the California Landscape Contractors Association.

 Our part of the project was to construct a large, natural looking Pondless Waterfall as a part of a larger project that included many contemporary and unique landscape features. With a Bocci Ball court, a Redwood Pergola, and extensive Paver pathways and patios, this project was exciting to be a part of.

I would like to thank Baxter Landscaping for letting us be a part of this awesome project.




We look forward to working on more projects with Baxter and other Landscape contractors in Santa Cruz County. 

Custom Potting Bench

We have had a busy May, mostly doing wood work.
We are just finishing up a project in San Jose that had a potting bench in the design.

We went back and forth with our client considering what style of bench we would install.

At first we discussed the option of buying one online and assembling it on site.


But after looking around and reading reviews, we decided a custom bench would work better and last longer.

So we decided to create a simple bench that was purely functional. There were a few requirements we were working with: 
We wanted a drawer for hand tools, a cabinet for fertilizers, a drop down cabinet for soils and a waterproof bench to keep the soils dry.

So we came up with a simple drawing and gave it to our client. After looking it over and seeing the rest of the yard come together so beautifully, (see the post on 'Relaxing Koi Pond') we decided to make the potting bench both functional and beautiful.


We redesigned it and started building in our shop.


We used hand picked select heart Redwood for the framework and the bench. The bench was constructed in a 'cutting board' style.

We used a nice bright Pine for the face of the cabinets and drawer.


This gave a wonderful contrast to the Redwood.


As I mentioned above, we installed a drawer for small hand tools, a cabinet for fertilizers and other plant food, a drop down cabinet for potting soils and two shelves for pots.


The bench was then sealed with Poly-urethane, delivered to the job site and assembled.

Asheville landscaping: Koi Pond Construction

Koi Pond San Jose

Although the majority of landscaping we do is in the Santa Cruz area, we just finished constructing an incredible Koi pond in San Jose. It features a nice simple waterfall, two 1/4 horse power pumps, a UV filter and a pressurized bead filter.

One pump feeds the filter from the bottom drain, the other pump feeds two mid-water return jets from the skimmer. The desire of our client was to have a more appropriate space for her koi & a pond that would require less pond maintenance.

Seeing a beautiful water landscape when we're done is one of our favorite parts of pond construction. 

I will post some project pics later.

Enjoy.

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Boulder Fountains

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Central Home Supply

 

I have been landscaping in Santa Cruz for more than 6 years now. I have, since the beginning, used Central Home Supply for all my stone, soils and bulk materials.

Central Home in Santa Cruz has an amazing selection of natural stone, as well as, pavers, concrete products, veneer stone and Allen Block, which we use for our retaining walls.

Central Home Supply has a friendly staff that has helped me on numerous occasions, get the product I need for my clients. Too, they are locals & know all the ins & outs of landscaping in Santa Cruz.

I recommend them for any of your landscaping or masonry needs, whether you are a homeowner or a landscape contractor. Central Home in Santa Cruz is an incredible business to be a part of.

www.livingwaterslandscaping.com 

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Vanishing Waterfall Construction

Santa Cruz Landscaping: Clay Lined Ponds

I had a chance this week to return to a project that we finished last year in Watsonville, which is just outside of Santa Cruz.

This project was an existing 50,000 gallon natural pond with a small stream flowing onto it. 

Our job was to re-work the pond, stabilize the edges and add a waterfall.

So, we drained and reshaped the pond and imported clay pond-fill. 

Using clay as a pond liner is great for natural ponds that don't need a contained system or a consistent water level. Bentonite clay makes a great pond liner, because it expands when it gets wet and seals in almost all the water.

We did some rock work around the edges of the pond for stability, and added a gravel beach area for swimming access. The pond was to be kept as natural as possible because it is going to be used as a turtle and frog habitat. 


Once the pond was complete we added a waterfall and a biological filter system. We wanted this system to have natural filtration only. 

We used locally harvested Limestone for all the rock work.

The waterfall runs off a 3/4 horse power external pump. We installed two 6 inch bottom drains that gravity feed into a small bog. 
The pump draws water from the bog and pushes it to the top of the waterfall. 

At the top of the falls we installed the biological filter. This is a small bog like area that the water percolates through. It is filled with gravel and has filtering and decorative aquatic plants. The biological filter works by allowing beneficial bacteria a place to live and help filter the water as it passes through.

We added some low voltage landscape lighting and landscaped the project area.