waterfall, especially a series of small falls, consisting of water descending over rocks or boulders. It may be natural or it may be artificial. The cascade has often been used as a feature of formal gardens.

A garden cascade properly employs a natural supply of water and a sloping site; but the site is usually adapted artificially to take advantage of the stream, and sometimes a cascade that strives to appear natural is dependent on a head of water artificially created by pumps.

Natural cascades can be the chief reason for a garden's existence in a particular place, as at Tivoli in central Italy, where the fall of the Aniene River was made into the garden of the Villa d'Este. Cascades can be used in architectural gardens in the form of water stairways, as at the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola, Italy.