What is a Rill? And Why Do I need One?

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There I was....minding my own business scrolling through gardening instagram when I came across this post from....guess who?  Yep.  Erin the Impatient Gardener.  You know....the online gardener who gardens in Southern Wisconsin who I have posted about a bunch and continues to show me/teach me new things.  Here's her post below:


Wait....What the what?  What's is this?  A Rill?!?!  


I am going to admit something:  I have NEVER HEARD of a rill.  Like...this was that time when a girl in like 2nd grade mentioned something called a "Panda Bear".  I was blown away.  Never heard of a Panda Bear.  And...then..... *boom* Suddenly, this cute black and white bear was in my life.  

That's how I feel about a garden rill.  This is NEW TO ME.    Sure, I've heard of water features.  Ponds, streams, waterfalls.  Even fountains.  But a rill?  I had to look around the Web to find out that a Rill is a "man-made garden canal that creates garden ambience through the pleasant sound of moving water."


Why have I never heard of a rill?  From this post, there's more details about rills:
Gardens of all shapes, sizes and styles can accommodate a rill. It is basically a formal channel of water that can either be still or flowing. They should be placed anywhere in the garden that they can be viewed to appreciate. Use them to link spaces, or lead the eye to a particular view of feature. Surrounded by plants they can become feature in themselves.
How do you build one?  Again...from that same StoneWorld post:
As a general guide a rill should be 30-60cm wide and 24-45cm deep. The length of the rill is entirely up to you and the size of your garden. Concrete is a suitable base and then line the space with a butyl pond liner. Edging stones are what give the rill its elegance.

More from this Site and Insight post: 

A rill is usually a formal channel used to bring a bit of water into our gardens. They come in every shape and size and are so simple and easily customizable that they can work in pretty much any style of garden. 

Whether you have a small, urban garden or a vast, bucolic pile, the rill is an effective way to bring water into your outdoor space.

The idea of a rill is (suddenly) very interesting to me.  Rill + waterfall + pondless reservoir?  Like this one?  Certainly worth including in my 'garden dreaming' file, right?  

I can't help but think about the stock tank ponds I was talking about last week in light of this new information about a rill.  I mean...isn't the low/long one (2' wide, 1' deep, 6' long) with some coping around it to hide the lip....(if buried in the ground) is *BASICALLY* a rill, right?   That's where I have to start, this year, right?  

Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA

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