First nymphaea bloom

wow, what a difference an hour makes! I was taking pics of the bud this morning, it was just spread enough to see down the center, and then a few minutes ago my daughter came out where I was watering on the other side and said "did you see the water lily opened?" I said, yes, that I had taken some pictures, that I could just barely see the color, and she said NO! It is OPEN! LOL So here is my first flower, she is sooo pretty to me, probably old hat to you pond pro's, but I am thrilled! If I had hung around longer I probably could have watched it open. I will know for the next one. :~)

It is beautiful. I know how you feel. I am new to ponds, too, and hope I get a water lily bloom this year, so far, lots of pads, but no flowers.

I sure hope you get one, it is the coolest! I keep going out and looking at it. All the goldfish were at the surface around it, like they were checking it out, LOL, so apparently I am not the only one that is impressed. LOL

Pudgy, that is heartrendingly gorgeous. How overwhelming to have it right there in your own backyard.

No, no, no, I'm not jealous. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not.

Thank you Brigidlily, lol, you can be a little bit jealous if you want, lol, I don't mind. :~D

I have so enjoyed watching this flower. It closes up in the evening and slowly opens when the morning sun hits it. I had no idea that it would last this long! It is getting a little darker every day.

I hope you have more to follow. It's good they bloom long.

I hope so too! No sign of any more buds, but I can be patient with those flowers as a reward! LOL

Gorgeous! I have counted 7 pads with one more peeking out from beneath, but no flower buds so far.

I have a lot of pads with a couple more poking up. When I was cleaning the filter, I pulled the pot out and saw a tiny nub on it that looked different from the leaves. How do you know the buds while they are still underwater? What do they look like?

Will this be your first year with these JoieM?
Fireant, sadly, I am in the beginning of my pond and my water is a dark green, has not found its happy place yet, so I cannot SEE under the water. LOLOL
My friend in Ohio just sent me pics of hers that are blooming, looks exactly like mine, but there are pads everywhere in her picture, thick as hair on a dogs back. It just amazes me that with their cold temps that she passes me up with all her plant growth. Almost like they know they have a shorter grow time and really speed themselves up. LOL

Do you know the name of this water lily? It is lovely thanks for sharing the photos. Do you use a certain brand of aquatic fertilizer tabs? If so, how early do you start feeding?

This one is called Nymphaea "Attraction", I also got a double pink Nymphaea "Darwin", but no signs of blooms on that one yet. No idea on the fertilizer, I saw some at Lowes in the pond supplies, but I did not buy any. Hopefully someone else will jump in with that answer.

I bought it last summer. It had one bloom soon after I bought it, but not yet this year. Around here, they bloom in late June, July I think. We too are working on the water quality. I regret that we did not install a commercial filter when we built our pond. We were told that if the ecosystem is balanced, we wouldn't need one. Unfortunately, it is too close to several deciduous, blossoming trees and the falling debris is too much for us to keep up with.

My pond, as well as my whole property, suffers from too much sun, which causes too much algae to control. I also have left it alone for the past few months, no chemicals or additives. I added the plants hoping to help the situation. It hasn't, but the plants are doing well. I had a few blooms from the water iris. In a couple more years, I hope to put an arbor over it to shield pond a little. The goldfish are still happy, and they do eat the algae on the sides, but they always beg for food, so I end up feeding them. I have cut back on how much and how often I feed them. Every couple of months, I empty the pond, clean the algae from the sides and refill it. But the water turns green within a few weeks. The pump isn't very much help. I use it to spray water into the air to keep the cat from going fishing. According to MerryMary, tadpoles help, but I haven't seen any frogs around lately.

It is odd how the plants take longer to flower here than there.

Your lilypads are speckled, how pretty! Our water could be twins. LOL I was told the same thing about find a balance, and that it could take up to a year for it to happen. I am not a patient person. The only thing that is keeping me from draining it is that I will have to start over and with it being in full sun, it will be green before I get the hose turned off. LOL I am planning on draining it before winter, I set the preformed liner in before I added the sod and now it is too low. I figure if I wait until Fall, the sun will not be able to "green" the water and it will have all winter to find it's balance before the sun blasts it again. Flawed logic, I am sure. LOL Oh well, live and learn.

Hey, you might want to check at the Lowes in your area, the one here is clearing out all their bulbs and pond plants for a quarter.

Fireant, we are in the same boat with the sun. It is blazing hot. I am glad you posted, now I know what to expect.
There are no frogs in my area here in town, so I am gonna get tadpoles from my mom's pond next Spring. I put in some Chinese Algae eaters and the water looked a little better for a couple of days, and I got lazy about putting up the beach umbrella and now the green is even brighter. LOL

You guys are lucky it is warm enough for Chinese Algae eaters. I had one in my fish tank before I moved all the goldfish into the pond. He was only about 1 1/2 inches long, but that little guy took care of any and all algae. I had to give him away because 10 months out of the year, it is too cold for him in my outdoor pond. That should help A LOT.

What is a Chinese Algae eater? I've never heard of one of them. Do pet stores carry them?

I sure hope so Joie, I really want that green water gone!
Fireant, I did not have any trouble finding them around here, all the pet stores that have fish had them, they were $1.49 so I got 5. They will die in the winter though, so will have to be brought in.

Great thread Donna, I will post a few nice photos of mine, and I think you are right, I do believe they are nearly identical, can't tell for certain as mine is soo old and no clue what it's name was, but here is my bloom.

here is another shot of them, you can see on mine, the ones that have been opened the longest are starting to lighten in color a little (there were 7 blooming same time, I tried to get them all in, but believe I missed the far off left one)

photo shows a bud not quite ready to open to the left of the bloom

OK Donna, do you still think they are the same?

meant to ask Donna, I didn't see it's name above, did you post it and I missed it?

That nub still under water might be a bud then, just not as large as the one in your pic.

Thanks for posting Laurrie, I appreciate it. Mine is called "attraction" and they do look like yours. I can hardly wait until my pond is as covered in pads as yours is. That will probably go a long way in ending the algae problem. LOL

yes those pads sure took over the one end of my pond but it was the deepest area, so that is where they went, on the other end are the cat tails, pickerel rush, some water lily, and some parrot feather (rec'd from DG) as well as water lettuce (traded for as well) it's really looking nice!
Mine last a few days of opening and closing then by the time those few are done, a new batch opens, these will go on like this clear up probably until near frost time if I am remembering correctly, keep a watch, you will probably get more soon :)

I got some of those Chinese algae eaters and one free guppy that couldn't be pulled out from the bag. They were kind of small, so I don't know if they will be up to the job. I tried to find tadpoles, but the only thing available was an African frog.

LOLOL, a free guppy, too cute. Yes, the algae eaters I got were small too, but apparently they are quite the eaters!

Fireant.....I'll be back from Ohio in a few days....I can meet up with you somewhere and give you a ziploc baggy full of tadpoles to add to your pond if you want.
Mary

Thanks, Mary. I can meet next week.

Do you still need water lettuce?

yes, I do

I get pretty good water clarity where I am. I use a U.V. light on my pond in the spring and that helps with the green water. I also use a product called 'Clarity Max' produced my Winston Company, Inc..
Winston Company, Inc. is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I think I remember seeing an ad saying the Playboy Mansion used their products on Playboy koi pond. The Playboy koi pond had ducks landing in it too (yuck).

I also put all my plants in plastic pots with NO HOLES. Why? I don't want to fed any algae. I want the fertilzer I buy to stay with the plants and not the water.

There are two magazines I enjoy which are 'Water Gardening' and 'Aquacscape Lifestyles.'

You can order on line the 'Water Gardening' magazine at www.watergardening.com and the 'Aquascape Lifestyles' by calling 1-877-206-7035. If you all enjoy any other pond publications, please let me know about them.

Thanks, good info! :~)

I had mine bloom also, this is the second year and with the first bloom I had two come up at the same time..I just love the color.

beautiful! It looks like you have a lot of goldfish. I have two, but I guess the pond could hold one or two more. How do you keep your water so clear?

LOL, my question too fireant! LOL LUCKY! :~)

Desperate for clear water, I bought the Chinese algae eaters without reading about them. They can get 10 inches long! I asked the shopkeeper if they get aggressive, and she said no. Since the ones I got were so small, I didn't think they would be a problem. I hope they stay small.

Fireant, they cannot live in temps under 70 degrees, if I remember what the gal said. She also said that if/when they get full size they CAN be territorial & aggressive. So maybe when you scoop them out for the winter, find them a new home. Maybe back to the same place you got them, trade them in for small ones again. LOL

I must say, since I added them, my water really is getting a bit clearer every day. It is a preformed pond with 2 levels and before the Chinese Algae Eaters came, I could not see much at all below the water. Could only see the fish when they surfaced, but today I could clearly see the top level, even the grains of sand sitting on the ledge, and could make the shape of a pot sitting on the murky bottom! So they are my new favorite fish! ok, maybe that is an exageration, they are really creepy looking, but their WORK is good. LOL