Stream sides opinions wanted

[Pablo]

Finally a weekend with no rain so made some progress with the pond build. We were working on the small stream from the bog to the pond (about six feet). We will have the stream split to two small waterfalls. Once we had the gravel in we kind of realized the sides of the stream were not going to be high enough (or specifically I did but wife thought they were fine, lol), we did raise them a bit.
So the question is how to best to hide the liner on the sides. We could go stack small stones or maybe larger stones. Then I thought about maybe using wood instead. Happened to find a cedar branch in our woods that was exactly the right size. We were not sure if it would look right to have a branch on each side looking like guardrails. So thought I would open it up to your opinions. We have plenty of other trees that we could choose from or stones. I have attached a few pictures with the branch. We can re-configure whatever way is best since the pond is not filled yet.

 

[GBBUDD]

yoo8u appear to have a berm from the outside grade to the pond. But what you don't have are rocks that are 2 inches larger that the height of the liner. Why two inches ? so you can fold the liner and bury it still leaving the rock exposed at the surface and liner gets buried . same idea with the limb two inches higher and push soil against it or just build up under the limb making it taller

 

[Pablo]

yoo8u appear to have a berm from the outside grade to the pond. But what you don't have are rocks that are 2 inches larger that the height of the liner. Why two inches ? so you can fold the liner and bury it still leaving the rock exposed at the surface and liner gets buried . same idea with the limb two inches higher and push soil against it or just build up under the limb making it taller

Correct about the berm, when we built it a little higher we realized we needed to do some work to cover the liner that is inside the stream, the walls. So we thought about stones and then had the idea of the cedar limb. The pictures were just a rough idea of what the limb would look like, it was the end of the day so we decided to take a break and think about it. Not sure if we want two limbs of cedar on each inside wall of the stream.

 

[GBBUDD]

That wouldn't be my first choice. I do have 2 limbs that run the same direction as the ponds edge but they are larger and they look OK. But it's probably because I have so much shore line ill call it that I can get away with it

 

[YShahar]

You could dig out just enough to add some flat stones (think stepping stone-type rocks), and then pull the liner up on the far side of the stones and fold it over. Then you can put another row of rocks and maybe some drift wood on the outside, with the liner sandwiched in between. The rocks on the inside of the stream would have their feet in the water, but would stick up enough to hide the liner.

Here's a view of my stream-in-progress, with the stones added, but the liner not yet hidden to illustrate what I mean. You can see the liner fold on the left-hand side sticking up between the inside row of rock and the outside one. The liner was eventually hidden by some river stones, with a few larger stones mixed in to break up the straight line.

Here's what this looks like from the pond-side. Even without the river stones, the liner is fairly inconspicuous.

 

[j.w]

@GBBUDD and @YShahar
Your ponds make me want to break out in song they are so beautiful

 

[GBBUDD]

While I do enjoy sitting g out at .y pond and did so all day yesterday. Even after winning the Aquascapes DIY I can say I felt like breaking out in song LUCKILY for anyone around me. I had a voice back in music class back in 6th grade then I reached maturity and BASE no more singing for me well other than------ I found my freedom ,,,,,, on old blueberry hill.......

 

[Pablo]

@GBBUDD and @YShahar
Your ponds make me want to break out in song they are so beautifulView attachment 159700

Lol, they are amazing. While it may be difficult to re-create what they have done it is great to get ideas from them and they are so willing to help those who may struggle with the design.
Do like the ideas given here. Nice to confirm that having two limbs on each wall would not look right. Wife had been concerned that by adding stones to the walls that we would be making the width of the stream to narrow. We may be able to work around that with @YShahar suggestion.

 

[GBBUDD]

You could dig out just enough to add some flat stones (think stepping stone-type rocks), and then pull the liner up on the far side of the stones and fold it over. Then you can put another row of rocks and maybe some drift wood on the outside, with the liner sandwiched in between. The rocks on the inside of the stream would have their feet in the water, but would stick up enough to hide the liner.

Here's a view of my stream-in-progress, with the stones added, but the liner not yet hidden to illustrate what I mean. You can see the liner fold on the left-hand side sticking up between the inside row of rock and the outside one. The liner was eventually hidden by some river stones, with a few larger stones mixed in to break up the straight line.



Here's what this looks like from the pond-side. Even without the river stones, the liner is fairly inconspicuous.

I'LL add when doing the flat stones that you set them in a bed of waterfall foam so your water rides down the stream and not under the edging. don't worry about the foam being neat two ways to dress it. 1. when the foam is just starting to skin over you can take sand / dust and small chips of gravel and embed it into the foam . 2. let the foam expand and after it has dried you can use a multi tool to cut the foam with the scraper.

 

[Pablo]

I'LL add when doing the flat stones that you set them in a bed of waterfall foam so your water rides down the stream and not under the edging. don't worry about the foam being neat two ways to dress it. 1. when the foam is just starting to skin over you can take sand / dust and small chips of gravel and embed it into the foam . 2. let the foam expand and after it has dried you can use a multi tool to cut the foam with the scraper.

Thanks for the tip. That was part of my concern, the stream leaking over the sides. See so many people comment about losing water, and if it is not a problem with the liner then it seems like the next area is a stream causing issues. But maybe I raised the berms to high, they are probably about 4-6 inches.
I was practicing with the foam this weekend on some gaps in the pond wall and using that sand technique. Took a couple of tries to get the timing right, not too early that it collapses and not too late that it does not stick.