Create a Picturesque Outdoor Escape With a Pergola and Pond in the Cascade, MI Area

When you have a space in your Cascade, MI Area landscape and need a new feature to up the beauty and functionality factor, a pergola and pond can be the perfect solution. Having an outdoor escape can become your resting spot but it can also be ideal to entertain close friends in a casual atmosphere. See how this combination can work in your backyard.

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Adding a Pond to Your Landscape

A pond can occupy an area of your backyard that needs a focal feature. One of the advantages of installing a pond can be the low-maintenance need for a dazzling space where birds, butterflies, and all the surrounding wildlife find a home.

Ponds are a source of water for many animals and quickly form an ecosystem that becomes a sanctuary for wildlife. Dragonflies, frogs, and fish inhabit this space, bringing you hours of watching them flit around and swim about. Since ponds only need annual upkeep for the filter, there is little you have to do other than delight in this unique outdoor space.

Landscaping and Plantings Around the Pond

Attracting wildlife to your pond can be done through establishing microhabitats. The pollinators like bees, butterflies, and birds love butterfly bushes that produce long, colorful flowers where they can sip the nectar. Marsh lilies and Blueflag irises draw these creatures to your yard where they cross-pollinate all the plants. Native sedges and ornamental grasses add movement to the pond area as they sway in the breezes.

When you want to have plants in the pond water, lilies are a pond classic but also consider dwarf cattails, lotus plants, and floating plants that produce flowers. Digging small coves and holes around the pond’s edge can provide spaces for frogs and turtles to hide.

Placing a Pergola at the Pond

Adding a pergola to the pond area can provide a comfortable space for you and your family to relax and watch the pond activity. There might be nothing like the night sounds that come from the pond as you listen to the bullfrogs, crickets, and other wildlife that visit the nighttime water.

Paver Floor Surface

A paver floor surface creates a durable, stable surface with an intricate laying pattern where you can place outdoor seating to enjoy your new pond. Choosing pavers with the same colors and repeating some of the same pavers in your patio can unify the pergola with the rest of the landscape design.

In some cases, pergolas can have movable slats on top so you can adjust the amount of sun and shade to your liking. Wood pergolas boast hefty wood posts at each edge and are covered with decorative wood slats on top. Adding corbels and other decorative accents allows you to place your style stamp on the pergola.

Since the view from the pergola is unrestricted, you can see all the way around but you might want to add curtains that can be anchored to a post where you can drop them for a shield from direct sun. Having the option to tie them up or lower the curtains can be nice on days when the breeze is too brisk or the sun is coming in at an angle that makes sitting beneath the pergola too warm.

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