Gardens By Water Gems

Water Gems is a multi-award-winning Edinburgh landscaper and water features specialist based in central Scotland. We offer a full range of services including garden and water feature design and high quality landscape construction, from small gardens or ponds to full design and build packages. We have extensive experience, a very broad range of skills and an innovative approach which allow us to transform outdoor spaces and create beautiful gardens. We love problem-solving, relish a challenge and take tremendous pride in our work.

We design and build ponds from small garden features up to large scale lochs and swimming ponds. Our designs are based on first principles of water quality making them easy to maintain and sustainable. They are wildlife havens and we plant up ponds so that they provide the perfect habitat for frogs, newts, sticklebacks and other invertebrates, fish and insects. Many of the pools we build are lined with Firestone EPDM liners. We are approved installers of these high quality liners and have three trained liner technicians.

From small courtyard gardens we have designed in-house to multi-acre spaces where we have worked with independent garden designers, we cover a wide range of projects. Creative thinking, beautiful craftsmanship and an excellent working relationship with our clients are what set us apart. Since 2009 we've won two Gardening Scotland Gold Medals including Best in Show and six UK national landscaping (BALI) awards - we like to think it's testament to our skill and hard work. Our Gardens section gives the full range of services we offer.

Planting, sometimes called soft landscaping, is at the heart of every successful garden. Whether for a minimalist, contemporary design or an English country garden, plants complete a project in the same way that soft furnishings complete a house. We work with garden designers to supply and plant up their designs but we also create planting designs ourselves. We work closely with the client to help them select the best plants for their location, soil type, and taste. We then do border preparation, ensuring the soil is well prepared and ready to sustain plants as they grow.

Alan Titchmarsh's top tip for designing a garden is 'deal with your boundaries first'. He is so right! Replacing boundary fencing & gates is often an expensive undertaking so it needs to be done well. We build bespoke fencing as well as working with off the shelf products from a variety of different companies and the options nowadays are starting to get a lot more interesting. Slatted contemporary fences in cedar, painted trellis screens, solid pressure-treated panels can all be used to great effect.

Water Gems is not just a water features specialist but a well-established, award-winning Edinburgh landscaper. We have been building gardens in Edinburgh, the Lothians and further afield in Scotland for many years and have earned a reputation for quality, workmanship and excellent customer service. We work on landscaping projects of all sizes from small fencing or paving jobs up to full scale design and build projects. You can see many examples of our work in the pages of this website. Our portfolio displays the gardens we have built but we also build patios, steps, retaining walls, dry stone features, gates, fencing and we deal with drainage.

Garden lighting has been popular for many years but as clients spend more on their gardens, so they demand to see more of their investment during the long, dark winter evenings. Garden lighting is also installed to provide security and safety as well as for aesthetic reasons. We work with a specialist garden lighting electrician to design and install lighting systems which work and continue to work over time. We can install garden lighting either as part of a design and build project or as a stand alone project in an existing garden.

Increasingly designers and clients are asking us to create garden structures for them: rose arches, arbours, pergolas, summerhouses, garden offices, greenhouses, stylish sheds, log stores, outdoor kitchens, children's climbing frames, treehouses, housings for hot tubs, pizza ovens, fire pits, and much more. Whenever we are approached about one of these projects we get very excited! These garden structures give us an opportunity to stretch our imaginations and our skills. Whether working with bespoke structures or off-the-shelf arbours, we can build everything from scratch or assemble and install.

We design and build water features both contemporary and traditional using a range of materials from contemporary stainless steel to the more traditional cut sandstone. We can also organise the provision of power for pumps, filters and lighting so the creation of your water feature is a complete package. We are leading specialists in the design, creation and maintenance of water features in Scotland. We were founded in 1993 by Nick and Annie Benge and have a strong academic background. We are passionate about what we do.

Water Gems is the market leader in the design, construction and management of water features. We provide a full range of water features services. We take on a wide range of water-based work from creating small garden ponds through to the building of natural swimming pools, decks and boardwalks and the design and construction of wetlands and reed beds. We also work on SUDS schemes and the establishment of wildflower plant communities. We always use the best liner on the market which, in our opinion, is Firestone EPDM which we get from Gordon Low Products.

Beautiful, successful gardens don't grow on trees! They are the result of careful planning, good communication between the designer, contractor and the client, and the result of excellent workmanship. What we do and how we do it has been recognised by the leading industry body, BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) and we have been the recipient of six BALI awards. We have also won two gold medals and Best in Show at Gardening Scotland. We have worked closely for many years with garden designers, in particular Carolyn Grohmann of Secret Gardens.

We provide water feature consultancy in various ways ranging from an informal chat over the phone to site visits and advice on design and specification. Nick has a degree specialising in Ecology and a Masters in Aquaculture. He knows everything you ever needed to know about ponds and loves problem-solving and trouble-shooting wherever there is water. Clients who make use of this service include the garden designers, landscape architects, private clients and organisations including local councils.

Unloved garden ponds or water features are undoubtedly an eyesore and sometimes what they need is a proper makeover. We can assess your pond and recommend the correct makeover treatments: we can drain it, reserve the fish and plants, clean it and reinstate all the plants and inhabitants once we are finished. We can seal leaks, replace pumps and re-line if necessary and we can introduce new plants to improve the balance of the pond and restore it to its former glory. We have created some FAQs to help you look after your pond.