Congratulations on your new pond. You will really enjoy having it and watching all the critters! Cute frog!
What's in bloom today?
If your Mallard was real, he'd be trimming them for you! :)
Great pics everyone~ love seeing them all!
Lilies are trimmed, but need to go back in today. My favorite & only yellow Koi was acting lathargic yesterday and now I can't find him/her. Would not eat and stayed to him/herself. I fear the worst!
:(
The Black Princess finally opened - I have been waiting for her all summer! I bought her on a whim last year and paid more for her than I probably should have. I think there is a lot to be said for impulse buying! ^_^
Carolyn
Wow, Carolyn, that black princess is gorgeous!
Brenda
To answer the question "WHAT'S IN BLOOM TODAY?":
Absolutely nothing!
After patting myself on the back earlier in the month because as a new "pondeer" I had several lilies blooming and a mixture of other aquatics really lush and growing well: lettuce, hyacinth, pickerel weed, parrot's feather --- now I'm left with only TWO lily pads, a few sparse parrots fether, one pickerel weed, and little else. Where'd it all go!
Could 4 Koi have eaten everything else? They are fed well four times a day.
Jim
Merchantville
hmmmm, Jim... the koi can do a number on the pond plants... sorry to hear that. I have many lilies that never see the light of day because the fish keep eating anything that tries to grow..., and I have some other lilies that they leave alone. Also, rushes, elephant ears, ruellia, papyrus, bamboo go untouched. They like some of the lilies, though.
Brenda
After my koi do a number on my plants, I take them out (they're planted in big tubbies...and put them in a big rubbermaid tubbie and fill it with water...leave them there a month to grow new leaves, and put them back in the pond again once they're healthier.
That's a good idea, Merry Mary!
Oh how I would love a warmer climate...lol a whole month in another tub would be half my best growing time! :) Just poking fun, I am just jealous!
I had new lighting exchanged in the pond for the "old but only 2 month old" lighting and boy does it make a difference. I can actually see everything!!!!! The koi are CRAZY at night ripping up my plants and tipping over the containers. I would need to put a few pounds of rock over the plants to stop the mess and destruction!!!! And I thought my dog was getting into the pond to look at the fish and making that big mess. I was SO wrong!
Jim,
Do you have salt in your pond? That will make a big difference in your plants. Even if you have the salt at a level where the paper that comes with the kit states that you are at the right salt level for plants. Salt can make a big difference in a pond. We used to salt the pond and kept the salt levels at specific readings and we have come to the conclusion that we will only use salt when we are shutting down our pond in the winter. We are finding this is making a tremondous difference in all of our plants and also there are some medications for your fish that cannot be used in conjunction with salt.
Also, as the others have mentioned, koi are quite destructive with plants. We have found that it helps to keep a layer of egg rock on the top layer of the pot. It's harder for the koi to move the egg rock, however they are strong little buggers and have been known to move egg rock. We plant our waterlilies in pea gravel and have had a couple of pumps ruined becuase the koi have removed enough of the egg rock to allow the pea gravel to get out of the pots and into the bottom of the pond. We have recently started putting the pumps into the type of waterlily basket that is like a sieve in an effort to keep the pea gravel out of the pumps.
Best of luck to you - let us know how you do.
Carolyn
