The filter for this can be done easily and cheap. I have read on filters made for going around a pump such as two colanders with quilting batting or nylon scrubbie inside. These will filter and add area for beneficial bacteria to grow. I have one that came with my set up and have altered it to my own needs. It's a 300 gallon setup that I put a bigger pump into since I went to a 1000 gallon pond. I also have made a skippy filter that is the waterfall. This is a rubbermaid storage tote that has a pipe put in the side for an outflow. I placed rocks around and over it to hide it although many people actual use the bin to grow plants in that will give you more room for growing. The pipe that comes out of mine is just pvc but since it extends out and over the pond I have cut up bamboo pieces only a quarter inch wide by 7-10inches long and glued them to the pipe to give it a better look. In doing this I made the bottom pieces in and extended and uneven manner to get the water broken up more and give a better sound to the waterfall rather than the faucet sound that I first had with all at the same length. You can find a info on the skippy filter hopefully attached, but if not a search on it will direct you to it. I follow the basic design but scaled it down from the directions. I ended up using the clear totes you can get for storage and a shower drain connection for the out flow connection then the pvc as said before. I will warn you that trying to make a clean and precise cut was much harder than thought. The container started to cut then ran a crack out about an inch some aquarium silicone and the fact that the drain kind of pulls it back together have kept it from leaking. If you do a search in this forum for colander filter you can also find the type of filter for building around the pump. As for the bridge I have looked at a few online and it seems that they are for decorative use only due to wood type or sizes. If possible you could cut some pieces and attach to the underside so they are hidden but are still reinforcing the actual structure. If this is not an option you could cut pieces to attach to the bottom but set back from the side and use it to contain soil under the bridge which should give you the support needed, but give the illusion of a void under the bridge. As my last suggest on the bridge you can fill the area under the bridge and use creeping jenny or some other very low growing plant to hide the dirt. One last thing I will mention is to test the amount of water you can push through any waterfall you might come up with. The higher the water has to go (head heigth) the less water flow you will get, and you want the entire pond to travel through the pump at least once and hour but twice an hour is best. You may want to do a test of this before getting everything setup. You can do this just by setting up a simulated heigth and timing it while it fills an old milk jug and doing the math that follows. Keep on reading on this forum and you will find a wealth of knowledge as I have, not to say that I am a pro at all but I'm much better off now than I used to be. Here is a link that might be useful: skippy filter

Oooo, Ooo, that red sandy loam looks like central/east Tx, like around Columbus, Halletsville or Giddings. ANYTHING grows there. The HEB roses are a bargin, but the roots are chopped pretty short. The first year I planted a Duchesse from them it sulked it's looking good now. Pinkie is a bloom machine once she gets established. Ducher is great, Caldwell Pink is a workhorse (& it roots easy--let me know if you'd like me to send you one). For companions, I've had very good luck with dianthus. I pick up the .25 single pots or $1.00 six-pack plants that Lowes throws away on a regular basis. Within a year each plant is a huge clump. Native wildflowers are wonderful, too. Since it looks like you have a pasture, dig up some bluebonnets, coreopsis, mealy sage, etc.--whatever is blooming in your area, as they bloom, & transplant into your bed. They LOVE living in a cultivated watered bed. The little native "rain lilies" make a beautiful border when they are thickly planted. Alyssium does well in my zone until the heat really sets in. Looks like you have a wonderful space to fill. Have fun!

I have a 20 year relationship with RDV, so I couldn't bring myself to tossing it. I dug a hole in the slope where I have my other old garden roses. I dug up the RDV and there was a large, deep tap root so things didn't go well. I put it in a bucket of water and planted Peace in the hole. Things went well; plant and soil came out of the container undisturbed and the plant wasn't root bound. I took the soil from the hole and mixed it with soil conditioner and planted RDV bare root in the container Peace came in. If it survives the summer, I'll transplant it next winter.

If you really want to embrace the MCM look, go with a charcoal grey on the garage and front doors. Choose a more structural/sculptural type of plant than lavender. Lavender is English-cottagey, not so much MCM. Simple gray concrete with scored lines is very MCM, as is large concrete rectangle pavers. The triangle area should have a low profile planting, not more than a foot in height; something dense and massed together, possibly with a black/purple leaf. I can't see the porch light or house letters in detail, but please research period looks and replace those to capture the zeitgeist.