Pitcher Plants

I got these from my sister last year and grew them in a pot on the edge of my pond.  They are pitcher plants she got from an old beau who works with the Department of Natural Resources.  In December, I lifted them from their ceramic pot in the pond, for fear it would burst, and moved them into an old cracked recycling bin and filled it with peat moss.  This is how they look now--at the end of April (April 24).  I plan to dig a hole, line it with leftover strips of pond liner and transplant them there.  They love sun and wet feet.

This is actually March 19

Also March 19

A few days later

This one is in April after the flowers opened, April 21.

The pitcher still closed.

The Fish in The Pond Go Round and Round

The fish are doing well.  They're getting a little too tame and rush to the edge to be fed anytime someone walks near. I'm scared they'll be a snack for a raccoon or cat or bird with that mindset!  I made a little lotus pond next to the bigger pond, a place where the toads can lay their eggs and they won't be gobbled up by the fish.

This fish swimming among the water lily leaves.

 We have 4 shubunkin and 10 comets--two with fantails and one with bug eyes.

 This is the frog pond, taken a few weeks ago.  Today there was a toad sitting among the plants.  There area about 8 lotus leaves shooting up out of the water.  I hope they bloom this year.

Fig Cuttings Finally Send Out Roots! Well, Root Buttons!

Let me confess up front, this is my second go round with trying to root fig cuttings.  The first go was a bust as I had no patience or time for it and neglected them terribly! I also may have pitched them out to early as patience is not my strong suit.

That was probably about 5 years ago.  So this time, I carefully researched how to do it and watched a number of youtube videos and read some articles.  I bought some off ebay.  They seemed expensive to me--a few sticks (5 to be exact) for just around $18 including shipping.  Actually, I ordered 3 sticks of Italian Honey variety for around $13 including shipping. I decided to try a lasagna method following the guidelines of a youtuber's guidelines.  I cut them into 3 inch pieces and buried them loosely in peatmoss and kept them damp.  Nothing happened.

 A week or two later, after more researching about good varieties for my area, I ordered some more:  Violette de Bordeaux, Conadria, Alma, and Italian Black.  I got them in the mail around March 18.  I stuck them in a glass of water as things had gotten busy at work.  I put them in a sunny window and changed the water every day or so.  I kept th e peat moss damp in the clear shoe box where I had put the cut pieces of Italian Honey.  So one month later they plants in water have finally put out some little root buttons.  They all unfurled little leaves not long after I got them, but so far only the ones in water have gotten the little root bumps.

highly sophisticated rooting system!

non-working rooting system--at least so far

Root buttoms

Spring Break Pond Remodel!!!!

I love Spring Break!  A week of wonderfully warm weather in which to work in the yard.  When we lived in CT, it was a week of chilly, muddy weather in which to wish we could go somewhere warm and sunny.  Here, though, it is full blown spring.  So we decided to enlarge our 11 x 3 pond to 11 x 6 and then add some fish and a fountain/waterfall thingy.

What we had:
a mucky 11 x 3.5 foot rectangular hole with uneven paver edges full of dead leaves and water and algae and our pond plants

What we wanted:
a 11 x 6 foot pond with two levels
     one level for fish (2 ft deep)
     second level for marginals (1 ft deep) and water lilies
a flowing water feature--no rocks for a waterfall so something that was simple and keeping in line with the modern style of the pond
a separate area to grow lotus
a separate area to grow pitcher plants
a flat patio area around one side to walk on

Free or already had:
Pond liner--13 x 10/bought from online pond supply company last year
Comet Goldfish and Fantail--10 free from my sister's pond
Plants--iris, arrow plant, pitcher plant free from sister's pond
Hornwort--free from local ditch
Horsetail rush--bought 3 years ago at a local gardening club's plant sale
Creeping Jenny--bought last year and still growing
Charlene Strawn and Pink Beauty water lilies from last year (last year bought online at 1/2 price sale for $22 total including shipping)
4 lotus (waiting to see if they survived) that I grew from seed last year (ordered 6 years ago in CT and never tried to grow until last year)

Budget for this year is  $200 max (a work bonus)

pump/filter/hose from  Amazon  $118
A concrete bowl  (with hole for fountain) from Smith Concrete  $45


Even though we got fish, we're going to Pet Warehouse on Thursday morning to see new shipment of Shubunkin. That's what I had in my pond in CT and I did so love them!

I would also like to get a few more pond plants.

What the pond looked like a month ago during the rain.  When we dug the first hole, I actually planned it for the roof runoff to go in the pond so it would stay filled.  It's a cascading effect in rainstorms that I like.

So the weekend before Spring Break started, Sam began the tedious job of draining the water out bucketful by bucketful and dumping it on the plants to fertilize them.  I helped him out some, but not too much--as he will be quick to tell you.

A different photographic angle of the pond as we begin to drain it.

Many small metal bucketfuls later, he finally reaches the bottom!

Next step, remove pond liner and clean it off as it is covered in slime and pollen rings.

At this point, it started raining like crazy and we were forced inside.  The dirt pond filled up with water and we had to wait for it to drain and dry out a little.

Then checking for level to make sure the edges are about the same height.  A step we had trouble with last time and it  continues to plague us!

Looks level enough!

 Liner back in place.  Still need to pull out some wrinkles and adjust a little at the corners.

We stacked the pavers to the side when we drained the pond and took out the liner.

Sam laid them back in, attempting to make them flatter and neater than the first go round.  We didn't have any sand to lay a bed for them to lie in, but the soil is pretty sandy already so they aren't too wobbly.  After the soil settles some, we may go get some sand to re-lay them so they are very flat and even.  Or we may not.  Depends on what else comes up that we have to do.  We'll look at it awhile and see if we like it.  

So all the pavers are laid out in place.

And then the sun came out.  We still have some landscape work to do, but it is a start and we were able to put fish in.

 These are four fish we got from my sister's pond.  They did so well, the next day we went back and got another six.  That's pollen floating on the surface of the pond.  I think it is from the nearby pecan trees. In a day or two we'll install the pump and filter.  The bowl waterfall will have to cure for awhile before it will be safe to use, I think, as it is fresh concrete.