MILLION DOLLAR BACKYARD POND!!

this is a man of extremes and speaking of extremes probably the piece de resistance that we haven't shown that was drawing us all the way in from back there just stop right here and turn the camera right now to see if you got to see the view that I'm looking at are you kidding me to somebody's backyard in Indiana we're in Crown Point Indiana so we're not in Chicago and hmm we built this nine years ago 2009 started it finished 2010 because that's how big it is we didn't finish it in one season no I'm Greg would suck the pond guy this is my channel Greg would suck the pond guy which is all about living the aquascape lifestyle this is Edie blue aquascapes chief sustainability and director of field research and this solution it just push today you guys are in for a real treat this is probably no I'm gonna say this is definitely the most incredible backyard residential water feature we have ever put a hundred percent check it out the most incredible water feature [Music] Hey hey Greg goodness me senior listen to that sound and look at this is somebody's backyard this is unbelievable down here how many actual aqua boxes you put in what is the system 2000 aqua box under here 30,000 gallons of storage the net because this was traditionally gets a lot of rainwater coming in it's actually a curtain drain that goes along the entire south edge of the property that captures some of the water from the neighboring properties and it reroutes it came to here the mint overflows and continues going forward point storm water man is very part of the system yeah but we have another 20,000 gallons of storage there's 50 tokens holder so this is the first thing you see when you walk into your backyard and it just keeps getting all more incredible but that's not impossible [Music] 31 years you've been living here over the last nine years or cell you've had this I mean this this is quite a vision my man it's a vision I had though the only reason I was able to build it say cut down six hundred trees next door so we could bring the heavy trucks and we brought in 1500 funds or 1500 from the old arts I'll start my name encompass going to line the beds and all that there's no way we could have done this because we're landlocked yes now your land elected yet yeah thought the house right right this man actually went down and tagged his own rocks from steel to rocks that's right so if we're in here this is a career steel guy but he created this masterpiece in his home and one of the big inspirations was your family wasn't that absolutely does your whole family it's really stressful job when you come off in the steel business you want to realize this is a place to relax this is unbelievably expect that one of the reasons I've built from what we call a rock house it's like a tree house that's my outdoor man cave last one inside but there's not play looks like a nice place to smoke cigars right up there [Music] so six the last time we were here three four years ago he's turning into a fairy garden why not something new the wood sculptor took one of my statues the urns that we got from Atlas great yeah as a statue looked like our daughter that we lost and we said make my daughter it's a fairy castle this although very special this is such a magical yard build a very experienced and look they call it our Nia in Narnia yeah I mean this is a perfect description this is Narnia you would never believe that we are in Indiana stone's throw from Chicago just outside of all the hustle and bustle of everything and you have this little hidden escape how big is your property to this long long and narrow street go soon Edwin the design you guys really spread this out I mean I'm standing here right now and I am looking probably a hundred yards plus away and I'm seeing the big mean waterfall yes exactly although cool cuz it just draws you in because it's hidden so this this is the part of the thing we're talking about is you have this winding matter there's not a human being on earth that could stop right here and [Music] it's just a cornucopia things to look at and there's always his little spaces like this little space right here so you see the lights here at nighttime you think you're inside of a restaurant because I got the canopy of the leaves that the light shines upon no this is like the place to read a book a place to read a book it's right here this was done since we left here their garden look at this garden I mean it's I love the two chairs here to see you guys next week so there's a fogger right here there's a fogger up there so I'm looking at these foggers which is perfect for a fairy garden and then you turn your head right over here and that is your waterfalls gosh okay I got to ask this question what do people that come to your yard for the first yeah they don't believe we're not in Indiana I mean it just doesn't style and drives it I mean I need the whole day does it take you half of it [Music] oh now their little area Oh another little seating area Oh going in the wetland look at how big it is you have one in ours and it's not doing anything we're sitting on top of the wetland filtration system that's responsible for the water quality of this entire future so the main waterfall doesn't run all the time the wetland never goes off right tank Eclipse and the waterfalls whenever he's got a party or people over and then it goes off and then this one runs 24/7 yeah I mean this is awesome I love all these grass stuff growing inside and part of the filter is all part of the filter as well as this tree so this thing is what is growing down inside of the filtration sort of it's just constantly fed nutrient right this is a beautiful area this is why you have a little seat right here there's another another cocktail area [Music] so ad when you came in it looked not too much different at all so all the trees were recently cut down and this was the staging area for all of our stone but basically it was flat they actually create a little contour but this is the same exact size lot is what we're in here from what's interesting is look how much bigger this one feels because of all the little hidden ring nice because you get relative so this is a three acre lot next door same size lot John Nancy's and yet this one looks a fraction of the size of this one because it creates mystery over Europe so this is the perfect little man cave if I've ever seen one big man cave I see this sign here five o'clock somewhere an arborist 23° telling us the story you tell the story of this place oh well they first told me that he was having a gazebo and then one day I came out and I said got a big cement slab gazebo he's still caught we've been married 53 years this is the first time I relied to my wife this is such a nice way up to the sky pavilion of the man cave hey you see this tree here bending the railing everybody down yeah no that's just like a tree I mean really I agree with that can I set it before this is somebody's backyard this house is actually on an island completely surrounded by water see there's the other stream you can't buy a house on water you just make the water around the house [Music] I have enough memories to write a book about this project I mean just because of the sheer magnitude of it John actually had to talk to the power company they had to bring an entire special feed we have three-phase power here just so we could power the pumps for this massive feature once our excavation was done we had the challenge of setting all the stone if we had a 40,000 pound excavator sitting on top of our aqua blocks I have rocks many tons of rock sitting on top of the Aqua box and then I got a 40 thousand pound excavator sitting on top of that so the pressure of all that stuff was pushing the limits of this system and we're reaching across we get fences we have big mature trees for us to do this stuff we had one spot we had one exit point and you're reaching that machine out to its farthest extent setting multiple ton boulders so I was sweating it a little bit I knew it was all gonna hold up but man it sure made me think twice about all my decisions so that's just one of the challenges that we have with this little feature as well as putting that big puzzle piece together as we continue to work from here up to the top so let's take a walk up top to our next stop [Music] the other thing that we did here was we knew that there was going to be some sort of a seating area here didn't know was gonna turn into this massive mancave but we knew there's gonna be a little seating area over here and we wanted to bring fish from the main pond into this area so this section of stream here is what we would call it deep stream the koi will come all the way up into the stream now koi are a riverine fish normally found in the rivers of China that's where they originated from so for us to create this environment where we have 8 to 12 to actually 16 inches of water the koi love coming in here because they like to feed in that you'll see them just kind of lazily swimming back and forth in those currents they could basically graze on the bottom its food comes to them but what I like about that is it brings the fish right up next to the main viewing area so you have views from the top from inside you could see fish and all this stuff kind of converges and then the other important part of this is all of that water is blasting back into the pond right at that opening you could see those koi feeding them right in front of that rock now again as a fisherman that's a spot that I would go for I mean these are the things that you naturally think about but whenever I'm designing I'm using all that stuff all of that knowledge from years of fishing hiking going out in the woods and understanding fish biology what the fish are gonna look for here's more and more fish they're all converging right in that one spot schools of the koi are coming in got a little bit of a dappled sunlight coming in but the koi are just focused there and it's bringing in that flush of food that's washing down from the screen [Music] we took all of that water that all that the home felt thick it's just thick I mean look it I mean this looks like a truck screen and then you have that big turn I love creating those peninsulas yeah just look at the current their registration kind of creeping over it's unreal I fed it once I've said it a hundred times I cannot believe this is somebody's backyard and he built it in edy this is a million-dollar backyard oh yeah but think about this how much do people pay for land yeah that's odd something like this I mean you've many many millions and there's access would be insane he designed the waterfalls that his health looks over if you go to Montana you wouldn't be able to find that you're not that's a million dollar views that to me is what this job is all about seeing people that are able to live their lifestyle because they choose to live the aquascape lifestyle and not everybody needs a million bucks so either you can have that st. for $10,000 you could do something John yes very very extreme but this could be done anywhere on any budget and it would make a massive impact this has been an absolute pleasure being here again so Nancy I want to ask you a little bit because John was telling me how I asked him how he's doing in retirement he goes listen I would never bring my work home I would need an escape in my yard and this is basically what this has become from correct and he's always done other places we lived in New Jersey as our first house yep and he did a lot of landscape there it's therapy so the work that you do back here is therapy that this is because I would think if you're a high-powered executive that's worked your entire life and you retire it's a big change but you've always been a guy that's enjoyed your home at the sanctuary and now this is a fun change because I get to keep going but I really like to do best and I have my grandkids and that's why you don't have a second vacation home because your grandkids are in the area so your vacation home is your home my oldest grandson like I told earlier helped me pick out all the trees and all the rocks he's part of those art his fingertips up are part of this and he's gone kayaking on this hasn't he yeah how many grandkids could say they go to Grandma and Grandpa's a Gokai that's just amazing this is our art so basically for you gave us a palette to work with that is second to none and so this to date had would you agree with this this is our most extensive and favorite residential backyard absolutely so for that I thank you sir thank you for the hospitality this is what they're dead was the Monet of yes and I taught him everything he knows nothing hey if you want follow log and see cool people with phenomenal backyards with incredible designers like that blue like comment subscribe to this channel because more people need to know what living the obfuscate lifestyle is all about wife is good and I love my job [Music]

Channel: Greg Wittstock, The Pond Guy

Views: 803,073

Keywords: Aquascape, Ponds, Garden Pond, Backyard Pond, pond design, pond goals, pond construction, pond builder, koi pond, greg wittstock, the pond guy, pond, pond installation

Id: 1TOMbsvXjX8

Length: 15min 24sec (924 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 27 2019