Here's what John and Cordelia started with. The stones in the corner of the garages were a previous attempt at a water feature. The faint blue line marks the water line of the eventual pond.

They needed to build up soil for the waterfall next to the garage, but didn't want dirt touching the stucco. They used some old treated boards as a barrier.

There was some old stone and concrete that they wanted to get rid of, so John bravely volunteered Cordelia to bust it all up for use as part of the mound.

Figuring that Cordelia had the hard labor thing down, John thought he would play around with machinery.

Walk-behind skid steers are available at most rental centers. They are easy to use and save a tremendous amount of time and effort when it comes to digging and moving stone.

Sensing the inherent unfairness of the division of labor, management finally stepped in and put John to real work.

John began excavating the pond with the skidsteer, and used the soil to build up the waterfall area. Here, he is compacting the dirt to reduce future settling.

Stones were placed to retain the dirt mound along the sides. Flat areas were dug so that the waterfall stones would be stable.

A stake was set to mark the desired water height of the bottom pond. In this case, they wanted the water level to be just a little above the walkway that is seen in the lower left corner of the photo. This is important to keep rainwater runoff from entering the pond. String was run from the stake to the opposite side of the pond and leveled.

The purpose of the string was to determine the height that the skimmer was to be placed at.

The top lip of the mouth of the skimmer needs to be about an inch above water level.

A line level, available from most hardware stores, was used to make the string level. It can be seen hanging from near the middle of the string.

The stakes were pounded in along the eventual water line, and leveled with a four foot carpenter's level.

Stakes were also pounded in the waterfall area, and landscape edging was attached with 5/8" sheet rock screws.

The dirt should be built up on the inside of the edging so that there is no gap between the bottom and the soil.

There was one large gap next to the skimmer that couldn't be easily filled with soil, so John used a few stones instead. He also used stones and soil under the neck of the skimmer to support it.

45 mil EPDM liner was laid into the pond area and attached to the skimmer. The method of attachment varies among skimmer brands.

Here you can see the liner overhanging the landscape edging, attached to the skimmer, and going up onto the waterfall mound.

The liner was not quite large enough to cover the uppermost pool. Another piece will be laid in there, overlapped onto the bottom liner.

A piece of Rock-on-a-Roll has been laid along one part of the edge

Rock-on-a-Roll has been laid along almost all of the edges. Some soil has been backfilled to hold the liner and Rock-on-a-Roll in place.

Stones were laid in along vertical surfaces. There is much more detail about laying in stone on Yvonne's case study, the final in this series.

The waterfall was built from the bottom up. The round boulders were placed so that their tops were at about the same level as the lowest flat spot in the waterfall area. This was done to provide support for the waterfall stones.

This will be a divided waterfall, with a planter between the waterfall stones.

The bottom waterfall stones were secured with black polyurethane foam (see Yvonne's pond for more on this), then smaller round stones were placed on them to create a secure flat spot for the next waterfall stones.

Here you can see several layers of waterfall stones along with their support stones.

Split round boulders were set to form the sides of the planter.

Another view.

The final waterfall stones were placed, and gravel was put into the lower pond to fill the spaces between round boulders.

You can see flexible tubing just to the side of the waterfall. This brings the water from the pump to the top of the waterfall. Flexible PVC is usually the best choice as it is easy to work with and very tough.

Here you see water flowing for the first time over the waterfalls. The dividing planter has not yet been filled.

is shows the filled pond. The bottom waterfall stone is just above water level.

Another view of the flowing waterfalls. The pond edges have been backfill. There will be a thick layer of mulch, so the dirt has been left a few inches lower than the top of the pond.

Mulch and lights have been put in, along with a few landscape and water plants.

A few more plants have been put in, and a fence to keep out the family dog.

The planter that divides the waterfalls has been filled with impatiens, and John and Cordelia's son has been installed to add an air of hipness to the scene.

A walkway has been added along with interesting backgound plantings.

After about a month, the plants have started to grow in, and the impatiens have taken off.

The Japanese Maple in the foreground is a stunning addition to the plantings. The corkscrew rush also adds an interesting texture to the waterfall.

After just a few months, the landscape and water plants have grown so much that the edge of the pond is barely visible. The variety of plants adds tremendous interest.

Here you can see pennywort, parrot's feather, umbrella palm, corkscrew rush, thalia, iris, and a variety of rushes. The fish are happily swimming about. There is a stone just under the water in the top corner of the pond, under which the fish can hide.

The view from the deck.

John and Cordelia kept their waterfalls running through much of the winter. This is just after a freeze. As John said, "this pond just keeps on giving!"

A final winter view.