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