Douglas Knight UK Large Rock Landscaper & Water Gardener
Continued from page 2 of 3 One of his latest big commissions has been for the Malaysian government to design a series of public gardens in a mountainside forest near Kuala Lumpar that was formerly a rubber tree plantation. Because of the inhospitable terrain and the dangerous animals that would liable to be lurking in the depths of the garden, it wasnt a site that would be conducive to carefree ambling With his usual aplomb, he suggested linking the gardens together with a railway, with the stations as the staging post for viewing the gardens and socializing. The scheme is now well underway.
Article by Peter May
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Of course, we are all familiar with Douglas Knight from the spectacular gardens at the shows. Well although theses are effectively for sale at the shows and indeed he sells them sometimes seven times over, the main reason for doing it is to show off his skills so that you will employ him to do your garden. Then its time to get down to some really serious landscaping.
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Beautiful isn't it? Chelsea Flower Show
When Dougie comes to a new project he can see the completed project in his mind straight away. He does the excavating himself with a hired in tracked excavator, working mostly by eye. The footings for the large sill stones go in fairly soon, whilst the very large stones are placed in position. These will look an integral part of the waterway but in actual fact their weight would be too much of a liability to the structure of the scene, often coming in at several tons a piece. So instead they are cleverly (visually) linked into the structure with smaller rocks and twists and turns of the waterway.
How to Landscape with Big Rocks
The excavator and chains are used to move the big stones into position. The chains are looped around each end of the stone without having to go right underneath because the two loops are linked in such a way that the heavier the stone is the tighter the chains pull toward each other.
Once the bulk of the really heavy stones are in place then a thick render of concrete is applied to the excavation, between 4 and 6inches thick. The slope of the pools are quite shallow making it easy to create a beach effect, also water loss to the pool is not so apparent when the waterway is turned on. In really large-scale projects of this style pool, Douglas notes that the pool can actually make its own water. I presumed this would from a similar process that a dewpond maintains a water level, by precipitation from damp air convection currents over the pool. He does use a thick PVC liner under the pool excavation sometimes as insurance against water loss. The situations vary, but he would not like to think it was necessary if the site was ideal for the design in mind.
Cascading Waterfall Masterpieces
Douglass landscape creations are essentially the rock and the water, and how the two elements interact. The pool is almost secondary to the display and often with minimal planting. He never plants oxygenators, preferring the power of the waterfall and the gravel infill to effectively keep the water clear.
Water plants, fish and all associated filter systems are all the domain of the client or specialists in that field. He does insist though that water plants are quarantined for a good while before being planted in the pool. The power installation and a water top up facility are also left to other contractors, but must be up to a real top-notch standard.
For big displays, he prefers to use two pumps rather than resort to three-phase electricity to drive one monster pump. This has the added advantage of allowing the client to have a two speed waterfall, since for some and despite the initial appeal, a constant cascading torrent of white water can get a bit much after a time.
His once key useful tip for effective waterfall display was the double step waterfall. The water comes over one drop of just a short step, followed almost immediately by a much larger fall. He likes to think of this as his sort of signature and he believes that it is much more effective and natural than a single fall. Not only that, to my mind the water seems to gain more animation or even power from the initial short drop, although it may be my imagination or the illusion it creates. And then after all its the illusion that matters.