The water features are part of an idyllic swimming pool enveloped by rocks, boulders, and lush landscaping that you’d expect at a luxury resort. That’s where Good Earth Water Gardens comes in. The landscape design company, owned by brothers Dan and Kevin Stanza, specializes in creating and building low-maintenance water features that immediately alter not only the look of an outdoor space, but also the feeling of and experiences within that space.

“The most traveled destinations on Earth are typically around water,” Dan says. “Having a water feature of any sort will bring you outside more and give you so much more enjoyment than if you only focus on landscaping or features like a fire pit.”

The Sauses originally envisioned a fiberglass pool in their Northland back yard. They quickly realized that they wanted something with a more natural look, so their landscape designer connected both the homeowners and the pool builder with Good Earth Water Gardens. Once Doug and Angela started exploring the company’s portfolio, they realized their preference for a more natural concept could be achieved.

Collaboration ensued, but Dan says that Doug took the prize for the most involved.

“He learned a 3D CAD program and created the best, most accurate design that showed how water would flow over the rocks,” Dan says with a laugh. “We all agreed that he captured the essence of the project.”

Approximately 50 tons of boulders were brought to the site as the water features took shape around the already-completed pool shell. Dan and his team took into account the backyard terrain and opted for a full-length design to offer differing views depending on where someone is sitting.

“We decided on multiple waterfalls: a main grand waterfall in the middle, then two cascading waterfall tributaries on each side,” Dan says.

Every project starts with a plan, but Dan explains that it’s equally important to let the natural materials guide in-the-moment creativity.

“We always say that you have to let the rocks talk to you a little bit,” he says. “That’s where you use your artistic abilities to make it all fit and work together.”

And for the Sauses? That’s exactly what happened, and the resulting masterpiece impresses every time.

“It stuns people when they come around the side of the house—you don’t know it’s here, and all of a sudden you’ve got this oasis,” Doug says.