We had ducks on our pond in CT. Once they found the pond, they never went back to the cute house I built them! They did fine for a few years, and raised their own babies in the woods on the far side of the pond, but the weasels eventually found them, and killed all the ducks within a year.

Infinity edge is pretty easy I think. That would be your skimmer too. No fish, no plants but maybe a lily there isn't much to filter. Add a UV to stop green water and the muck it generates. Add a chemical like AlgaeFix to to stop macroalgae and you won't have that muck. I'd be surprised if you had to vacuum it more than once a year, if that. As a reflecting pool it can be very shallow, like a few inches if you wanted, with just a small deeper area for the lily. Then you wouldn't even need a vacuum, a broom would work.

Heartwoman, A local water garden nursery has a bog filter on their ponds. Here are their instructions for constructing a bog filter for your pond and they work great. We are currently building a pond with a waterfall & stream and we are definitely including a bog filter. I understand you want to include your bog filter at the top of your waterfall but we are putting ours to the side of the pond. The water will be pumped from the end opposite of the waterfall. At the waterfall, it will be split with part going to the waterfall and part going to the bog filter. Hope this helps, Joan (these instructions came from Nelson's website) The Bog Garden as a Filter Make the bog garden functional as well as aesthetic! By following the directions below you can create a bog garden that also acts as filter; henceforth referred to as the "Bog Gravel Filter". This style filter bog garden is really a variation of the traditional "in pond" bog but forces water through a perforated PVC pipe buried in the bog by a submersible pump located in the pond portion of the water garden. Follow the usual directions for building a liner pond. To provide for the bog gravel filter, just excavate this area to a depth of 12". Before laying in the rubber liner build a retaining wall to separate the 12" deep bog gravel filter from the deeper pond. This wall should be 1-2" below the pond surface. BE SURE TO ALLOW for enough liner to go over this wall. Put a submersible pump in the pond opposite the bog garden and run pipe to the far end of the bog. Select a pump which will turn over the volume of the pond every 2 hours. The outlet of the pump determines the size PVC you will use, i.e. a pump with 1 1/2" outlet would use 1 1/2" pipe. Create a manifold to distribute the water evenly throughout the bog gravel. Drill the PVC pipe with 1/4" holes spaced approximately 3" apart and cap the ends. Your line of holes should point toward the bottom of the pond at a 45( angle. Gravel bogs that are 2-3 feet in width can be fed by a single course of pipe. Wider areas require additional lines spaced 2-3 apart. Lay the PVC pipe matrix on top of the liner then add the gravel to the bog gravel filter area. This layout is similar to setting up a septic system. Lay decorative rocks or stones across the retaining wall but do not mortar in the joints. Follow the directions for planting the bog above. Turn on the Pump. Water filters through the bog, between the joints of the stonework on the retaining wall and back into the pond. You'll be amazed at how quickly the water clears and how lush the plants will grow! NOTE: An existing pond can be retrofitted with a bog garden by building a gravel bog garden nearby. The water can be circulated between the two gardens via pipework or a waterfall. The Border Bog Gravel Filter This is another variation of an "in pond" bog and is the most natural looking bog garden of all. Dig the pond, with a shelf 12" deep all around it's perimeter. This shelf can be as wide or narrow as desired. Vary the width of the shelf around the pond for a natural look. Lay liner into the pond excavation. At the edge of the shelf place tall rocks, if necessary these can be mortared into place. This creates a trench or planting pockets between the edge of the pond and the edge of the shelf bordered by the wall of the pond on one side and the rock wall on the other. Run your drilled pipework through the "trench" and attach to pump inside the pond. Follow directions for planting bog plants in gravel Steps 5-8 of the Gravel Bog Garden. In conclusion Bog Gardens and Bog Gravel Filters are both environmentally responsible forms of gardening. By setting up a Bog Garden you can create a lush garden yet use little water. And the Bog Gravel Filter works with Nature, you are in effect setting up an artificial swamp or marsh. Like swamps and marshes, the Gravel Bog Filter serves as a massive biological and phyto filter. Nitrifying bacteria thrive in the gravel bed reducing the organic wastes, while the plants effectively absorb the nitrates and other nutrients before they can be utilized by algae. You can jump start the bacterial activity by inoculating the gravel with any of a number of good bacterial starter products on the market. Maintenance is typically restricted to a little light pruning during the growing season and a thinning out of the plants each spring. This allows for plenty of room for the plants to grow and continue absorbing the free nutrients in the pond. Some Bog Plant Selections: Bog Plants Arrowhead Assorted Taros Bog Lily Cannas Chinese Water Chestnut Creeping Jenny Dwarf Horsetail Dwarf Papyrus Dwarf Variegated Sweetflag Giant Melon Sword Japanese Iris Lizard's Tail Lousiana Iris Pickerel Rush Red Stemmed Sagittaria Ribbon Grass Ruby Creeper Ruby Eye Arrowhead Sensitive Plant Siberian Iris Spider Lily Spike Rush Star Grass Thalia Variegated Spider Lily White Bull Rush Zebra Rush Plants that are invasive in the Bog (Think Twice Before Planting) Horsetail Aquatic Mint Chameleon Plant Parrot's Feather Red Stemmed Thalia Cattails Umbrella Palm Yellow Iris Other Plants (experiment!) Bishops Weed Crocasmia Hostas Astilbes Fox Glove False Sunflower Primulas Ligularia The rocket Leopard Plant (Ligularia) Day Lilies Helleborus Meadow Rues Hibiscus moscheutos Hibiscus coccineus Bergenia False Dragonhead or Obedient Plant Liatris Polygonums Forget me nots Calla Lily Violas Trilliums Goats Beard Joe Pye Weed Butterfly Ginger Society Garlic Ground Orchidis (Bletilla) Suggested reading: Gardening with Water by James van Sweden Pond and Water Gardens by Bill Heritage The Water Garden a Practical Guide to Planning and Planting by Peter Robinson Waterside Planting by Philip Swindells The Stream Garden by Archie Skinner & David Arscott

The steps? Honestly? I brought a really comfy set of chairs one day and a good bottle of wine and my wife and I sat in the sun and talked. Then, by chance we met an architect who we knew in round about way that this project was perfect for. He's been so helpful for us. Then we started talking as a group. But he has done much of it. Neither my wife nor I knew exactly what we wanted but he helped a lot and made some of the decisions for us. Then he did his thing. We tweaked and then tweaked some more. Now, we need to tweak even more because he came in $200K over budget. But the final designs are awesome. See new photos.