A Story of a Water Garden, Slothower.com

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For Fun - Water Garden - Introduction

A Really Fine Water Garden
by
Northern Water Gardens
The Story
Our back yard was pretty neat - private, sloping upward to a natural prairie grass area across a two level railroad tie retaining wall - but boring.

Our backyard before the water garden.
Click for higher resolution image (40K)
It needed a focal point. A waterfall and pond seemed just the thing to provide a little white noise, provide some new gardening opportunities and maybe have a few fish to watch.

We started asking around for contractors (my wife having decided she did not want to wait several years for me to finish the project by myself and living with a sea of mud in the backyard. No faith).

We checked out several contractors who came back with quotes that took our breath away. Maybe I would be on the wrong end of a shovel for the summer.

Then, talking one day with my brother-in-law, a cabinetmaker, he heard the prices we were quoted and told us he had been working on a house where a water garden was being installed and he was sure the cost was a small fraction of the quotes we had in hand. This was our introduction to Northern Water Gardens in Minneapolis.

Presented with the challenge of constructing a waterfall across a two-tier retaining wall into a pond they proposed a three basin construct with a falls/rapids with a vertical drop of about 6 feet and a horizontal distance of about 8 feet.
We really liked their approach to water gardens, learned from their advice and ideas and agreed upon a plan at very reasonable price.

In the late spring of 1996 they showed up one day, and in less than a week had completed the work.

The final project is a delight.

As a contractor and designer Northern Water Gardens:

showed up when and where they said they would
did everything they said they would do
also did more than the letter of the contract - finishing touches that significantly increased the over all quality of the job
were (are) friendly, helpful, and committed to quality work
readily available for any followup that is needed
checked back to see how the water garden was doing

Our backyard with the water garden, 6years later.
Click for higher resolution image (66K)

The following page shows details and a variety of views of our garden. The page presents thumbnails which can be clicked to display a higher resolution image. More Garden.

Visit Northern Watergardens Website

I have no association with Northern Water Gardens (other than having been a client) and receive no reimbursement or other compensation for posting these web pages. I have created these pages because I believe they perform excellent work, provide good value and want to share my experience with others.

Modified 10/03/99