Bob's situation was very different from John and Cordelias. He has a long steep hill in has backyard, which leads to a large flat area - ideal for a natural appearing stream and pond.

This series will concentrate on Bob's stream, though we'll start with a few pictures of the pond under construction.

Bob has staked, edged and excavated the pond, and installed the skimmer. He has created shelves for plants and for easy access. The shelves vary in width, and each is about 9" deep. To the left side is a sloped area that will form a beach of small boulders.

The skimmer is placed so that the top of the mouth is about an inch above the edging, which is also the eventual water level.

The liner has been laid in, and stones and Rock-on-a-Roll have been placed.

It's important to note that, while Bob wanted a lot of stone in the bottom of his pond, all that rock is not needed. In fact many pond owners prefer to have no stone in their pond, as that makes it easier to clean.

The bottom pond is almost complete, and we'll turn to the details of Bob's stream.

Here you can see how the stream connects to the pond.

We are now at the beginning of the stream construction. The vegetation has been cleared, and stakes have been placed to outline the stream.

There is a circle of stakes that will form an in-stream planter. The drawn black lines indicate where the edges of the stream and planter will be.

Edging has been attached to the stakes with 5/8" sheet rock screws.

Bob dug flat spots for the waterfall stones. He placed them before laying in the liner to see how they would look. They had to be removed again, of course, to lay in the liner.

The liner has been laid along with Rock-on-a-Roll. The waterfall stones have be put back in, though not yet leveled.

The waterfall stones have been leveled and secured with black polyurethane foam (More about this with Yvonne's pond). Gravel and boulders of various sizes have been put in.

The stream is mostly complete, with the exception of trimming the liner and backfilling.

Bob decided to run the waterfall before backfilling, so that he could be sure water was not creeping over the sides.

The sides of the stream have been backfilled and mulched, and some landscape plants have been put in. The planter has been cut open and a small bush has been planted.

This is the upper part of the stream. A few larger boulders provide a nice accent.

The stream divides around the planter.

At the bottom of the steam, just before it enters the pond, Bob placed a beautiful weathered stepping stone.

The landscape plants have grown in, hiding the edges and making the stream look completely natural.

With all of Bob's wild flowers and other plantings, he has created a wonderful little natural sanctury for himself and his family.