20 Stunning Garden Pond Ideas

A garden pond can be many things: an oasis, a retreat and a sanctuary, all in your own backyard. Add a lounge chair and settle down beside it with a book, or toss a cushion on the grass and meditate. Enjoy a cold drink as you watch the birds or feed breakfast to your pet koi. You can have the garden pond of your dreams; start by browsing through our tips on things to consider.

The Benefits of Having a Garden Pond

Stirred by the wind or a fountain, pond water sounds musical. Flowers, lush foliage, and visiting wildlife create a relaxing retreat that can reduce stress, put you in touch with nature and calm your mind. Creatures attracted to ponds help balance the landscape and make it come alive as butterflies spread pollen and dragonflies snap up mosquitoes. Ordinary yards become intentional destinations, and gardeners can grow many kinds of plants, from aquatic iris to marsh marigolds and more. Stunning garden ponds can enhance the value of your property and, if they're in your front yard, increase your home's curb appeal.

Types of Garden Ponds

Start by choosing the kind of pond you want, and consider your budget.

Ecosystem ponds can be large or small; instead of relying on harsh chemicals, they keep the water clear and clean with good filtration and circulation (such as a pump or waterfall), along with fish, aquatic plants, rocks and gravel.

Recreational ponds are usually larger and can be deep enough for swimming, floating or paddling around.

Formal and contemporary ponds use clean lines or geometric shapes and act as focal points. Some include fountains or sculptural objects.

Koi ponds focus on raising koi with special filtration and other equipment.

Container garden ponds are bowls, pots or half-barrels for a few aquatic plants and fish; they’re ideal for small spaces.

DIY garden pond kits come in various sizes. Some have premade liners, while others come with rubber liners, so you can dig the shape you want. You can also buy individual pond supplies and parts.

Choosing the Right Location and Size

“Place your pond close to your home, where it can be enjoyed from patios, windows, or seating areas,” says Jennifer Zuri, Marketing Communications Manager for Aquascape, a water garden manufacturer, designer and installer.

Almost everyone who installs a new pond wishes they’d chosen a larger one, she adds. Think about how you’ll use yours before you decide on a size. Do you want to attract wildlife, keep goldfish, swim or grow water plants? Also, will your pond get sun or shade? If you want to grow waterlilies, she says, they'll need at least six hours of daily, direct sun.

What to Know About Other Water Features

You'll find many water features, like pools, fountains and more, to add to your garden pond. Fountains can float in ponds or stand alone. Some are solar powered, have variable spray patterns or include lights. Emitters and spitters spout water and come in designs ranging from decorative oak leaves to whimsical turtles; they improve water circulation and oxygenation. Water can also be directed to cascade over rocks and walls, and into urns, for a pleasing, bubbling sound.

You don’t have to have a pond to enjoy features like waterfalls and running streams. Pondless® Waterfalls recirculate the water, require less care than ponds and help mask unwanted noises. Spillway bowls and basins can also be used individually or linked to move water without a pond.

Various water lilies float on the surface of this pond. Two attached planters make an easy transition from the water to the wood. French doors open to the owner's bedroom, so she can see the pond from inside as well as outside.

Keep reading for more ideas for stunning garden ponds.

Once you know where you want your pond, you can enjoy it as "an experience and a journey in a backyard setting," says Jennifer. "Paths and bridges invite you to explore all angles of the pond. Dangle your feet in the water while sitting on the bridge or at the edge of the patio to feed the fish. Cool off under the shade of the covered patio with a cup of coffee in the morning or while entertaining friends in the evening. The waterfall drowns out the noises of the neighborhood, providing a true escape from the world."

To find the right spot for your pond, consider the type of soil you have, the shape of your space and how close the pond will be to power and water supplies. If you belong to a homeowners' association, check their rules, and find out if there are local regulations or restrictions, such as fencing requirements, utility setbacks, permits or other factors.

In this gorgeous pond, a spillway bowl adds another waterfall to the one on the right; some ponds also have spitters or small fountains at the edges. The eye-pleasing plants boast a mix of colors and textures, with a smoke bush (Cotinus) and Japanese Maple on the sides of the waterfall.

This ecosystem pond has a contemporary flair that compliments the style of the owner's home. The straight lines of the patio and deck set off the jagged rocks around a waterfall at the far side. A tall, green-leaved aquatic iris offers architectural interest and will add color when it blooms. Golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea') trails around the base of an arrowhead plant (Sagittaria). You can also use right angles or geometric shapes, like rectangles or squares, for a contemporary look, and choose plants with vertical growth habits, like horsetails. Many contemporary-style ponds also use dark liners, gravel or specialized pond dyes to make the water look almost black and add a sense of depth.

If you've never grown aquatic plants, you're in for a treat. You'll find a variety that are useful, beautiful and attractive to birds, dragonflies, frogs and other beneficial wildlife. Aquatic plants help filter the water naturally (although you may also need filtration equipment, depending on the kind of pond you have, as well as its size and location and whether it has fish). Water plants like this bluebell (Ruellia brittoniana), growing in the stream, can shade the water and help absorb excess ammonia, nitrates and other nutrients that encourage the growth of undesirable algae. Submerged plants help provide oxygen for the fish through the process of photosynthesis and shelter and protect them from predators.

Want to take a refreshing dip? A deep recreational pond can be great for swimming and doesn't need as much maintenance as a small pond or an actual swimming pool. Unlike swimming pools that need a lot of care and aren't always unusable in the off-season, a recreational pond can keep its good looks year-round.

This pond, designed for a family with two boys who like to swim, is home to colorful koi, freshwater fish prized for their beauty. These friendly fish can become pets; patient owners have even been able to train them to eat from their hands. Others simply enjoy watching their serene movements in the water.

While some people enjoy swimming with koi, Jennifer says, others prefer not to have fish in a recreational pond. Before you get in a garden pond, consult your doctor or other health care professional to be sure it's safe for you to do so.

If you work late and get home after dark, or want to enjoy your pond in the evenings or early mornings, consider installing underwater and/or pathway lights to show off its stunning features. Be safe, and let a professional install waterproof lights with seals and a waterproof power supply. You'll also need an outlet with a ground fault circuit interrupter, commonly called a GFCI, to instantly shut off electrical power if it senses a leak to the ground; water and electricity don't mix.

Pond lights can come with different features, such as colored filters and automatic timers that turn them on and off. Others use photocells to detect natural light and control the lights when the sun rises and sets.

When your pond water is balanced--that is, when you have a healthy ecosystem with the right pump, good filtration and an adequate number of pond plants, and it's maintained, it should stay clear enough to see your fish swim around. While pond plants are part of the biological filtering system in an ecosystem garden pond, you'll also need a mechanical skimmer to catch leaves, twigs and other debris that might fall out of the trees or blow into the water.

Statues and other figurines can add elegance or fun to your pond. The owners use this alligator decoy to scare off any herons that might drop by to gobble up the koi.

Plants, both in the water and around it, add color, beauty and fragrance to garden ponds. The hardy waterlily in the middle of this one is the star of the show, while iris, water calla (Thalia) and sweet flag (Acorus calamus), among other small plants, which are also called marginal pond plants, have supporting roles. Here, Russian Sage (Salvia yangii) explodes in brilliant blue from the water's edge. Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), coneflowers (Echinacea) and Asiatic lilies (Lilium) are also standouts. Rushes, reeds and other plants can help keep the ecosystem balanced.

Pond plants aren't just pretty. They're also important for helping your watery ecosystem stay healthy. Jennifer recommends using enough plants to cover 30% to 50% of the pond's surface. They'll act like natural filters that take up excess nutrients from fish waste (if your pond has fish) and decomposing organic materials to help discourage algae. Algae grows fast in sunny spots and can smell foul, clog filters and other pond equipment and harm desirable plants and fish. Good water garden choices include water lilies, floaters like water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and lily-like plants like mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides) and yellow snowflake (Nymphoides geminata).

You can also find hardy waterlilies or tropical waterlilies; some bloom during the day, and others open their flowers late in the day and close them by morning. Many are fragrant, with scents that range from mild to very noticeable.

Outdoor chairs or garden benches provide front row seats so you can relax and enjoy your pond. The yellow and pink waterlilies in this pond will brighten the view when their blooms open; they're floating alongside water hyacinths whose roots grow down into the water. There's a carefully-placed piece of driftwood in this pond that helps conceal the skimmer while still allowing water to pass underneath. Skimmers help catch leaves, small sticks and other debris before they sink to the bottom of the pond and decompose into an unwanted sludge.

A wooded lot like this one is a lovely spot for a garden pond, especially when the rocks in and around it are placed in a natural-looking arrangement. Two waterfalls flow down into this peaceful pool, and a white pergola provides a place to sit and soak up the serenity.

Ornamental sweet potato vines ramble down the rocks at right, and Pachysandra thrives in the shade under the tree. As with terrestrial plants,give your pond plants as much sun or shade as they require. Read their tags to find out how to grow them.

If you opt for a pond with some shade, it will usually have fewer algae problems than a pond with sun, but you won't find as many shade-loving water plants as sun-loving ones. A few choices for shaded plants include the red blooms of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), blue-flowering water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides) and the feathery, blue-green foliage of parrot's feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum).

This rectangular-shaped minimalist garden pond and offers a healthy home for koi. For a minimalist design, stick to hardscaping in a limited color palette, using materials like dark concrete or pavers, and grow just a few well-chosen plant species. Also, repeat a few key materials rather than utilizing a wide variety. Minimalist ponds typically require less upkeep than other kinds because fewer plants mean less fertilizing and pruning, and less hardscaping needs less upkeep. By eliminating a lot of visual "clutter," they're striking and elegant.

Ponds can offer wonderful learning experiences for kids, although small children should always be accompanied by responsible adults to keep them safe around water. This pond, located in a suburban backyard, lets the children who live there use magnifying glasses, small nets and other items to learn about the environment and see how plants and wildlife interact in a freshwater ecosystem. They also watch the life cycles of creatures like frogs that go from eggs to tadpoles to adults.

A single waterfall near the sumac tree in this image splits into two streams that cascade into the pond, helping aerate and circulate the water. The owner installed a fence with spaced boards to let air circulate and provide some visibility.

There's a larger area on the other side of the bridge in this pond. It's home to the owner's large, much-loved koi, Goldie. Koi, which were developed from carp in 19th-century Japan, are valued for their ornamental patterns in colors like silver, white, orange, yellow, red and black. With proper care, they can outlive humans. The oldest koi on record, Hanako, reportedly lived 226 years (checking the growth rings on a koi's scales is one way to estimate age, like counting the growth rings in a tree.) Here, easy-to-grow purple pickerel (Pontederia cordata) blooms alongside bright green sweet flag (Acorus calamus). Clematis vines climb up the side of the house from a bed of hostas.

Early fall is the time to give the fish in your pond a little extra food before their winter hibernation, to help increase their metabolism before they go dormant. Even though they'll hibernate, they still need oxygen, so if you shut off a waterfall that you use for during the warmer months, add a pond aerator or small recirculating pump to provide oxygen. Depending on how cold your climate is, you may also need a pond de-icer. Once the water temperature dips into the mid-50s, stop feeding your koi. Do some research or contact a pond professional to learn more about how to keep your koi safe and healthy year-round.

As winter approaches, clean up your pond by removing dying leaves from your waterlilies and lift tropical waterlilies to store indoors, in water, throughout the winter.

Along with aquatic iris and pickerel, this medium-sized backyard pond features Dwarf Papyrus (Cyperus haspan, shown on the right, next to the opening to the skimmer) and Arrowhead plants (Sagittaria latifolia, also on the right, beside the iris). The plants help camouflage the edges of the rocks and make the pond look natural, so it blends almost seamlessly into its surroundings. Plants can also help conceal your underwater equipment. A privacy fence lets the owners enjoy their backyard pond as a "staycation".

Even a small pond like this one can provide color, movement and the pleasing sound of water. This one uses Creeping Jenny to help soften the look of the rocks, conceal the pond edges and cover the bare ground. Creeping Jenny is popular because it spreads quickly, is hardy in USDA Garden Zone 3 to 9 and likes moist soil. It grows just 2 to 4 inches tall but forms a dense mat that spreads from 12 to 36 inches wide. This groundcover plant is evergreen in warm climates and semi-evergreen elsewhere. Elfin thyme (Thymus serpyllum), Irish moss (Chondrus crispus) and Scotch moss (Sagina subulata) are also good choices for low-growing groundcovers.

This waterfall with a brick paver hardscape was installed near a few small trees, and their colors reflect beautifully in the pond when the leaves turn gold, crimson and scarlet in the fall. Many pond owners like to plant willow trees nearby; willows sway gently in the wind and grow well in moist soil. Red maples are also popular because their leaves make a vibrant contrast to the greens and blues of the water and aquatic plants. Just be careful to put your pond far enough away from trees so that their roots won't damage it, and use a skimmer or nets to catch the leaves and other debris.

For a pond that looks like a natural part of your landscape, avoid designs with sharp turns and corners; that will also make it easier to mow and edge. Mix trailing and creeping plants with perennials, annuals and woody or shrubby ones around the perimeter. Native plants are ideal, because they won't invade your ecosystem, and many help control erosion and attract local pollinators. In general, they need less maintenance than hybrids. For plants that thrive in moist soil, choose ferns, mosses, sedges, iris and hostas.