When TLC contacted landscape contractors to discuss ponds, most wanted to tell us about something else first: pondless waterfalls. Waterfalls without ponds have become more popular than ponds, says Janie Morton, secretary/treasurer of Seminole Landscaping in Sanford, Florida. Close to 70 percent of the water features the company builds are pondless, compared to 10 percent to 20 percent two and a half years ago. “It seems like the trend is going toward that,” she says.

Jeff Thompson, president of Native Plant Source in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, has seen the same shift during the past two years. Last season, more than 50 percent of the water features his firm installed lacked a pond. Allen Williams, owner of Williams Wildscapes in Pharr, Texas, says single-rock waterfalls are his hottest seller. While he hasn’t seen demand for traditional ponds fall, Williams says requests for these pondless features have increased significantly.

Why pondless?
In a word, maintenance. “I think it has to do with lifestyle,” Morton says. “People are busier. They don’t want to spend time doing maintenance. They want things that look cleaner, but give them their water feature at the same time.”

There is also the safety factor involved with having a pond young children could fall into. With pondless features, the small reservoir is typically safely tucked underground, putting owners’ minds at ease.

Thompson says his clients are most interested in features that combine the sound of running water with low maintenance. “They’re looking at it [a pond] as something they have to maintain,” Thompson says. “They’ll have to take time out of their week to get debris out of it and do chemical maintenance.”

Upfront costs are a lot less, too, making them attractive to more customers. The price range for the pondless features Williams builds is $800 to $5,000, with the average job costing the customer $2,000. The average pond, on the other hand, costs $5,000 to $10,000, and some are as much as $30,000.

Pondless waterfalls also are easier to fit in the growing number of small backyards. A pondless waterfall in a 10-foot-by-20-foot backyard doesn’t take up all the space, Williams says. Thompson says corporations have begun requesting the features as part of “contemplative gardens” where employees spend time during breaks. They can listen and watch the trickling water while surrounded by flowers and trees. “It’s quite a nice escape,” he says.

How to build them
Constructing a pondless waterfall isn’t much different from building a small, standard pond. The first step is to dig a hole. Thompson says his company places a barrel or series of pails where the pond liner would go. A pre-formed plastic reservoir or vinyl liner of any shape or size will work, Morton says. Next, they place a mesh grate over the liner, then cover it with rocks. Thompson places lids with holes in them on the barrels or pails, covers the lids with filter fabric and puts river cobble over that. He selects larger stones to use in the waterfall structure. Thompson says his company’s waterfalls vary from 1 to 7 feet tall. The height of the waterfall should correspond to the contour of the property and the height of surrounding plantings so it will blend with the landscape and look natural. All-in-one pump and filter kits will circulate the water from the reservoir to the top of the stone structure, Morton says. When water reaches the ground, it filters back into the reservoir.