Asheville here we come!

Living Waters has officially moved to Asheville, NC!
We are still offering the same quality water features and hardscapes as we did in Santa Cruz.

If you are in the Asheville area or the greater Buncome county, give us a call for a free estimate on all your pond, waterfall, flagstone patio, retaining wall or Pondless Waterfall projects.

Feel free to browse our website for project pictures and ideas.

Thanks,

Jacob

Living Waters landscaping.com 

831-566-8346
828-633-0541

Stone Veneer Project

Here is a quick photo of an Eldorado Veneer Stone wall we are working on this week. It is a mix of Andante Fieldledge and Padova Fieldledge.

Although I normally prefer to install natural stone veneer, I like working with faux stone for its 'flexibility'. Its easy to cut and install.

Give us a call for a free estimate on all your stone work, landscaping and water feature projects.

Jacob

Living Waters Landscaping

831-566-8346

Japanese Gardening Asheville

We have spent most of our summer working on this Japanese style garden.
We were chosen, by our clients, to work on this design created by Bud Stuckey. 
The design called for a rather traditional style Japanese Garden in a small backyard.
Although I have only worked on a few Japanese gardens in my career, I felt that I learned a lot and was able to grasp some of the philosophy and patterns in traditional Japanese gardening. The pace, precision and meditation of working with this design, felt very natural to me. It also humbled me and gave me more respect for this type of gardening and stonework itself. I leaned that I have a lot more to learn!

Working with the design, we were able to create some beautiful features that are consistent with traditional Japanese gardening, but had our personal touch.

We installed a Stone Seat at the foot of the stairs to create a place to stop and enjoy the garden and even take of your shoes, if you want.

We also created a Stone Island feature using three hand selected boulders that created a simple triad. This feature was designed to bring a meditative center piece to the garden. 


This garden included a great deal of carpentry to bring a wood element into the space. We installed three Verandas, a deck and some custom planter box benches. 

One of my favorite carpentry features on site is the 'Butterfly Ramada'
that we built over the hot tub deck. It allows our clients some cover and privacy while soaking in the hot tub, and also leaves the sky open for nighttime stargazing. 

Our designer found this beautiful 700 pound slab of 
Cold Water Canyon stone that we used as a bridge from the 'Dry Garden' or Karesansui, to the hot tub deck.
The bridge also gives the illusion that the stream flows under the rock and disappears into the Karenagare, or Dry Stream Bed.  

We finished the project with low voltage landscape lighting throughout, and Japanese style plantings. 

Overall we really enjoyed working on this project, and are thankful to our clients for letting us 'play in their backyard'!

Pondless Waterfall Construction Cupertino

Below is a series of pictures from a pondless waterfall we just finished in Cupertino.
This feature is 4 ft tall and falls for about 15 ft into a pondless basin.
We built this feature complete with landscaping and low voltage landscape/ aquatic lighting.

The only part of this design I would have changed is the width of the waterfall mound. When we are constructing waterfalls on flat ground I like to make the width of the waterfall mound about 5 times the height of the falls. This gives the feature a more natural look. Anything less than this can make the feature look like a 'volcano'. 
This waterfall is approx. 12 ft wide and 4 ft tall. We were able to give it a more natural look with the plantings, but would still prefer to have it around 20 ft wide. 

We started this waterfall on flat ground, building up a waterfall mound of compacted road base and soils. 

    We installed a cinder block retaining wall to support the soils.

Then we dug out a 4x4 ft pit at the bottom of the mound to house the pondless basin. 

The size of your basin should be able to hold approx. 3 times the amount of flowing water in your feature. We assumed 120 gallons of moving water for this waterfall.

Once the basin is excavated we install the liner and 'Matrix Boxes'. The Matrix boxes will simply hold space in the basin to maximize the amount of water we can use in the waterfall. 

At this time we will also install the 'Snorkel' or pump housing.
We used a 15 inch PIP pipe that we perforated for the snorkel.
The snorkel allows clean access to the pump and gives us a place to pump out the basin durning routine maintenance.

Perforated Snorkel.

 With the pondless waterfall basin complete, we can now stretch out the waterfall liner. We used a 45 mil EPDM rubber liner. The liner is protected with a geo-textile fabric underlayment.

We start placing the initial waterfall stones using dry-laid stone work techniques. Stones and boulders are placed with minimal gaps between the stones. The stone work is backfilled with 3/4 inch gravel so there are no empty spaces.

We will occasionally use mortar or waterfall foam behind the rock to push the water to the face of the falls rocks. Predicting where the water will flow takes experience and imagination at this point in the construction.

When the the falls are complete, we can install supporting and accent boulders around the waterfall mound. We will take special care at this point to cover all the liner along the edges of the feature, and install cobblestones into the streams and pondless waterfall basin.

The feature is finished with plants, low voltage landscape lighting and cedar mini-bark.
Plants include a dwarf Japanese Maple, Hydrangea and a variety of grasses.

Redwood Fencing in Felton

Here is a before picture of a project we have been working on this week.
Our clients just recently had their septic system renovated to use the treated septic water to irrigate the existing lawn and new landscaping.

The installation of the new system unfortunately left them with an exposed yard with little plant life.
We installed a new decorative Redwood fence and a simple landscape plan to bring this yard back to life.

 The large box at the end of the path is the septic treatment system. We decided to accent the box and use it as a bench instead of trying to hide it.

We also installed a 'Good Neighbor' style privacy fence in the backyard.

Stone Veneer in Los Gatos

Here are some progress pictures from a job in Los Gatos we are working on.

The project includes a Slate patio, a planter box and a retaining wall.


We are using Multi-Classic Stone for all the features on the project. The ledger, slate and cap stones are all Multi-Classic Stone.

We have only finished the hardscaping in these pictures, with the finished landscaping soon to come.

All the stone work was sealed with a Low-Sheen
Stone Laquer. 

Here are some more progress pictures. Enjoy! 

Patio and planter box formed and ready to pour.

Forming the retaining wall.

Finished wall.

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or inquires about new landscaping projects in Santa Cruz County and the surrounding areas.