For nearly three decades I have been making recommendations for outside water features.  Single family home owners often have the most flexibility in utilizing outdoor space,  front or back yard.  Even apartment dwellers can use a porch or balcony as their outside space for water.

Does everybody need a water feature to have good Feng Shui?  No, not at all.  However, some places really do need water and some can enhance an already good space even more with water.  The water needs to be clean, and ideally circulating for at least a few hours per day.

Over the years, I have had clients build their own fountains and koi ponds.  Many go straight to their local garden center and buy ready-made fountains. Over 20 years ago we even began to see solar-powered fountains so that it was not necessary to have an outdoor outlet.

Ready-made fountains can be pricey and some people even like to use their own creativity to create their own fountain. You need a container and a pond pump and this could cost a fraction of the commercially made fountain.

The “horse trough” is a type of container used which can hold many gallons of water and it is fairly easy to maintain. I’ve written about making your own indoor table top fountain and just about anyone can make an outdoor fountain too.  I chose a large trough recently, scaling back on the size just so that I could empty it periodically with ease.  I also bought some plant holder rollers so that I can place a heavy fountain outside and have the ability to move it around on the rollers, if need be.

For non-students or non-practitioners, why do we even make such a fuss over having outside water?  Water can be a powerful element, with the capacity to change the energy inside of a house. Water can be placed strategically in directions relative to the house’s center which can increase the occupants’ financial luck, physical health, fertility, and other issues which are quite common and easily fixed with the addition of clean, circulating H2O.

Author: Kartar Diamond of Feng Shui Solutions (R)

From the Landscape and Exteriors Blog Series