Didn't think I was ever gonna get any color,other than white in the bog garden
Flowering water hyacinths
Glad you got some blooms. Dixie
Wow! Those are worth the wait!
I really like the deeper color that yours got compared to mine this year.
I'd be happy with either one of those lovely blossoms. I just pray I get some. :)
Bogweed,never saw one bloom on such a small plant,mine are huge before they bloom here,I pour compost tea over my bog,best fertilzer there is.
I'll be darned ... yeah, we had a profusion of these little buggers blooming back in late May/early June. By the time the fall comes around, I enjoying tossing every last one of them into a compost heap without a single thought of saving one for next year.
I should add that this is a really small variety of water hyacinth, though. We had a normal larger variety at the beginning of the spring, and I honestly have no idea where it went to after blooming. The deep end of my pond is COVERED in a thicket of water lettuce and hyacinth that all the younger fish (and especially the fry!) seem to enjoy. I have to keep them all contained with a piece of cleaer aquarium air tubing that is anchored to either side of the pond. It's sorta funny, though, because they're really stretching that thin piece of tubing and have now bulged out to being about 3 or 4 inches from my skimmer.
Yep there are fast producers of babies,and take over your pond quickly,but you got love those flowers
Not as much as my Jack Russel loves eating these (if I throw them for her to catch) ...
:shrugs:
There is something wrong with this breed of dog ...
My water hyacinth have done nothing this year :( I am beginning to think they are duds. LOL
Looks like she's ready to go in for a swim!!!
Ndebt,still have august to go,more heat next month,might make them flower.
I think she is a cutie and I've never seen a lazy JRT.
Bogweed, I use a piece of 8 pound test monofilament fishing line with about three wine corks spaced every 3-4 feet on the line to hold back all the water hyacinths instead of the tubing (same idea just slightly different). Receipe is as follows: drink 3-4 bottles of wine; save corks (if you can still see them); drill largish hole thru each cork (lengthwise, sidewise, otherwise); string monofilament thru corks (very difficult after the wine!) and tie the corks in place so they don't slide; anchor line ends somewhere on either side of pond - I use those plastic spikes they use for holding down landscape fabric. Works like a charm keeping them out of the skimmer yet still leaves enough droop in between the corks to allow floating pollen, leaves, etc. to make it to the skimmer. It's also high enough in the water so it doesn't get tangled up with all the finned-folks down below.
For some reasong the water hyacinths are growing very fast this year! Have already pitched over 100 plants on the compost heap plus given away 8 trash bags filled with them! Luckily we don't have to worry about them over-wintering around here!!! Some of mine are largish, some are smaller - seems to depend a lot on where in the pond they're growing. The smallish ones generally are in the area with the most sunlight whereas the large guys are in and around the lotus or partially hidden by a few boulders. To help keep them a nice, dark green I toss in 1 tablespoon of 5% liquid iron (at the inlet side of the pump) for 2000 gallons every other week along with 1 tablespoon of muriate of potash. Works like a charm, doesn't hurt fish or anything else and the plants look very, very healthy.
DRH2,
Do you know if there are different vareities of these?
Yours looks a lot bluer than mine.
There probably are different varieties although I've not come across anyone talking about one versus the other - you say you've had white ones and I believe I came across a reference to a pink one at some point. Given it's 'invasive' classification in a number of states I doubt we'll see anyone hybridizing these babies!!! :-)) Mine may be bluer due to the iron I've added. I don't know.
Yes the iron probably will make the bluer,thanks.
My Newfoundlands eat this stuff like crazy too! When I am working on the pond, they sit on their side of the fence and beg for water hyacinth.
I guess that's one way of getting a bit of fiber in your diet!! :-)) Do they eat the 'furry' roots also??
Mostly they shake them to death so the roots fly all over the yard. They pick up and eat all the leaves and spongey parts, but I find dried out roots every where. They make such a mess but it is so funny to watch and they are having such a good time that I can't resist giving them some now and then.