Water flows out of eight smaller columns while fire emanates out of the dominant centerpiece column, all of them made of basalt, in this water/fire feature designed and built by TDH Landscaping of Maryland. The bench in the foreground is also made from basalt and capped with basalt that has been polished.

Most of the columns range from 4'-6' in height, but the fire feature is 7' tall. All of them were pre-drilled. The fire kit was manufactured by Backyard Blaze. A Goulds submersible well pump and a Maryland Aquatics Aqua Force Pro pump circulate the water.

Two of TDH Landscaping's clients encountered an unusual situation while the contractor was building a custom fire-water feature on part of their property in Phoenix, Md., about 20 miles north of Baltimore.

Nine large basalt columns were required for the project, as were 8-10 pallets of fieldstone boulders, and all the materials had to be trucked into a remote site. And this drew the attention of outsiders as the work was in progress.

"It sent up a red flag," and Rosalie Taormino, marketing manager for TDH Landscaping, who believes it was the FBI that investigated. "They flew over his house and saw all the pillars going up, and they have holes in the pillars, for the fountain."

Later, some inquisitive investigators knocked on the clients' door and said, "We think you are building a bunker, can we see your property, please?" They had to explain what was being built there, especially the basalt, "because they're so strong and they look like grenade launchers," Taormino said.

The types of basalt used were Grand Coulee, Red Bluff and Black Canyon. All the basalt columns and benches came from the Coverall quarry based in the state of Washington. The hand-carved tree that sits in the background was an art piece the client added to the project.

A lot of rockwork went into this project including a mixture of Pennsylvania and Tennessee fieldstone boulders. River Jacks and Mexican pebbles are the smaller stones in the water feature. The solid brass underwater lights are from Hadco. Shemin supplied the landscape lights. Koi and frogs lend a feeling of authenticity to the pond. A Japanese maple tree sits in the background, with a Creeping Jenny underneath.

The retaining wall in the foreground was built with a mixture of Tennessee fieldstone and Pennsylvania fieldstone mortared together. The water/fire feature can be seen and enjoyed year-round, including the winter months.

The project started out innocently enough, though. From the outset, TDH Landscaping knew only that the clients wanted something both "natural and artistic."

What unfolded was a novel fountain whose main features are the basalt columns, one of which emits a flame instead of water.

"The clients came to us with no set plans," Taormino said from TDH's headquarters in Mockton, Md. Russ Irvine, who runs the landscape division of TDH, had many long conversations with his customers to get an idea of what they wanted.

"The clients allowed me to express my creativity without too many boundaries," Irvin said. "Both of them had great vision and input into this project. It was exceptional to be able to use creations of nature to create this work of art and not something crafted by manmade materials."

"It all started from the basalt columns and expanded on their use," Taormino noted. Most of the basalt columns range from 4'-6' in height, but the flaming column in the middle, the focal point of this feature, stands 7' tall.

TDH provides landscaping design, installation and maintenance services for virtually any sort of project. It also designs and builds hardscapes, and specializes in using natural products, such as fieldstone, flagstone and bluestone. The company also claims to be eco-friendly, because it strives to use only native boulders and rocks.

TDH built the water-fire fountain from scratch. They first designed it, a process that took several weeks, picked out each and every column and boulder with the clients, and excavated the site, hauling out several loads of soil to make way for the water fountain.

"We had to source our boulders from a quarry in Tennessee," Taormino said. TDH spent many hours painstakingly looking at photos of boulders before selecting the best ones.

The contractor also hauled in two basalt slabs that were carved into benches and placed near the pond. Because of the trees and vegetation surrounding the site, the workspace was limited. A crane was used to move the boulders, which were then set in place individually by hand, enhancing the beauty of each stone.

TDH was also responsible for the pond liner, plumbing and lighting systems, skimmer boxes, pumps and conduit, and all other amenities necessary to complete this project.

One of the customers is an art collector and he commissioned several pieces of artwork to place near the fountain, including a hand-carved tree that towers over it. Finally, vegetation and perennials, including a Creeping Jenny, a Japanese maple tree, a Japanese Lilly of the Valley, creeping blue mazus and water lilies complement the water fountain. Koi and frogs now live in the pond. TDH completed the project in four months, but even now the clients continue to "tweak" it a little here and there, as another piece of commissioned art was added recently to the center of the island.

The contractor was recently named one of the top 12 landscapers in the country by Total Landscape Care magazine. TDH has been in the landscaping business since 1965 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary.