Koi pond design
Japanese koi pond design follows the same design principles as Japanese garden design, but of course there are also some important practical considerations. Here are some tips for designing a Japanese koi pond which will be a joy to you and a happy home for your koi.
If you're designing a Japanese style koi pond, you can use the same design principles that you're using for the rest of your garden – which means, it's good to work with nature, not against it. So, it's a good idea to pick a spot for your koi pond which seems like a place where it might naturally be.
Consider also that koi need plenty of shade, as they sunburn! So design your koi pond to provide that for them. If you can, pick a shady spot in your garden. If not, find ways to create shade. Overhanging trees aren't a great idea, as they'll shed leaves and pollen into the water. But water lilies and other koi pond plants are great for this, and look just beautiful with the fish swimming in and out under the leaves. Another possibility is a Japanese garden bridge, which will look lovely reflected in the water.
Ideally, place your pond somewhere sheltered – cold winds will lower the temperature of your pond very quickly, and koi become very stressed by quickly-changing temperatures.
Finally, if you design your koi pond to be near your house, you'll probably get a lot more enjoyment out of it than if it's far away. It's lovely to sit on a patio on a summer's evening and watch the koi swimming around!
Stones are the bones of a Japanese garden, and you can use them to great effect in your koi pond design. Think about where they would naturally go – for example, if you have a stream running into your pond, then the stream might curve around a boulder. Or your pond might have a stony outcrop. Or a waterfall might tumble over stones. Use them sparingly, though – too many will unbalance your koi pond design.
Another great idea for a Japanese koi pond design is to have an island, or a rocky outcrop. These can be beautiful with just a large stone or three surrounded by moss, or you can plant a single tree and some low-level Japanese garden plants.
A stone lantern adds a nice Japanese touch to your koi pond design. There are a few Japanese stone lanterns especially designed for ponds. A motoji lantern has long legs which create a beautiful reflection in the water – you place one leg in the water, and bury the other in the soil of the bank. A misiki lantern is a small lantern intended to sit on a 'spit of land' – a low-lying bit of land which sticks out into the water. And a rankei is designed to sit beside the pond – it has a curved pedestal so that the lantern sticks out over the water, creating a beautiful reflection. See Japanese stone lanterns for more info and photos.
Think about designing some kind of natural screen to hide the less attractive parts of your koi pond – the filtration system etc. Bamboo makes a great screen, or you could place the filter behind a hill of stones.
If you have a large enough space, one really lovely koi pond design is a multi-layered pond. You would have a large pond at the bottom, where the koi live, and two or more smaller ponds higher up, with the water tumbling from one into the next.
It's best to design your koi pond with plenty of curves. This improves the flow of the water, which makes the water healthier. Ponds with straight lines and square corners are more likely to have stagnant spots. Of course, you'll be aiming for nice natural curves anyway, to create the right aesthetic for a Japanese koi pond, so this should be easy!
