Plastic ponds have the advantage of being lightweight but sturdy, and relatively simple to install to get a nearly immediate water feature. You may pick a pre-formed pond, offered in a selection of sizes and shapes, or even buy rolls of PVC vinyl or butyl rubber to form the lining yourself. Either way, the pond will not look natural until you dress up the plastic borders with some sort of cover.
Plants
Although they might take a while to become established and need more care than other substances, plants offer texture, movement and, if they blossom, color to the water garden’s perimeter. For those plants to cover the bare plastic borders of the pond, they ought to be planted close enough to the rim to get their leaf to drape over the pond’s edge, but far enough away to enable the plants room to grow. Mounding ornamental grasses may fill the bill. If your water garden has a fountain, then the following grasses echo the movement of their water, as the leaves rise up from the center of the plant and cascade downward. Lush, large ferns like leather fern (Acrostichum daneifolium) can also help conceal the plastic rim of the pond.
Rocks
Artfully arranged, rocks can form a distinguishing border around the garden pond and conceal the plastic borders at precisely the exact same moment. Pre-formed ponds generally have a plastic lip that needs to be slightly above the surrounding ground to prevent dirt from washing into the pond when it rains. You may put in a layer of sand only under this lip and outward a couple of inches. Then rocks of various colors, sizes and shapes may be put together in rows to cover the edge. Some rocks should protrude over the rim to get a natural look. It takes some experimentation to find the rocks to fit together naturally. It is possible to use ordinary mortar as a paste to hold the rocks in place, if needed.
Bricks, Pavers, Flat Slate or Hewn Rock
The flat surfaces of brick, pavers, slate and trim rock slabs makes them simple to fit together to form a low edge to cover the pond’s edge. They may fit naturally on the ground or can be put on a base of sand to keep the underside layer level. Once the base layer is laid around the perimeter of the pond, then it is possible to lay another course by starting the very first brick, paver, slate or slab concentrated above the junction of two of the underside edgers. The bottom class could be laid lengthwise, end to end, and the second class turned so that the narrow end faces the inside of the pond. The second class will then protrude farther towards the water.
Combination Edging
The many natural-looking ponds have both plants and rocks around the edge, often with some sections that are plain rock, pavers, brick or other hard stuff, and a few sections in which the plants are the stars of this series. Pebbles, bricks or stone might still be placed over the edge, but the plants should all but vague them from view. Flexible polymer sheets with a rocklike veneer are a lightweight alternative to real rocks, bricks and other heavy, tough edging materials. These sheets readily conform to the shape of the pond’s edge and kept in place with dirt or rocks on the beach and a couple of rocks within the pond. Since this liner appears like a natural stone wall, then it can be left plain or you could add plants or seams anywhere along the rim.