Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[j.w]

Fabulous gardens/pond area you have made there Linda. I love the look of it all and you have a ton of nice ferns! Neat that you have your green house right there near the pond too!It really looks like you are in a tropical place and not in Iowa :razz:

 

[LindaKay]

Thank you. It's just 91 right now but has been hugging 100* all week. That is why I spent yesterday reading the forums. Love this forum. I can't take the heat like I used to.

 

[CountryEscape]

Linda, when I see "mature" ponds like your, I'm sooo envious! And, I love seeing other ponds, too, as I get so many new ideas. Love your ferns and the plants you have in and around your ponds, too.
I have to apologize, as I am a legal secretary, been so for 23 of my 27 working years, so I tend to type and type and type .... I can imagine how long it would have taken to read it all. I do like to take pics, too, so at least you had that to look at and not just reading material. LOL Glad you enjoyed it. It's a non-stop joy for me, all year long I'm learning.
Took this pic tonight of a bullfrog on the overflow of the goldfish pond bog. The sun was getting low in the sky, and it looked neat how it shone off of him!

Oh and here is the other hibiscus in the bog. It's more yellow/orange colored, really pretty!

 

[j.w]

Cool photo of the frog CE and that hibiscus is quite pretty. Too early for mine to bloom. I had a great big bloomed one w/ dinner plate size blooms but it died.......rotted over our winter last year. It was so pretty the first year it bloomed and then no more the next year and then dead. Darn guess it was just too wet for that one! Have one that I'm going to train as a tree and some that Larkin gave me as seeds that I started. Those are still small tho as we are just now getting regular sun.

 

[Shoestring Ponder]

Lovely pics CE! The bullfrog looks happy and what a beautiful flower! Is that a day lily? i don't know much about flowers, but love them.

:goldfish:

 

[brandonsdad02]

I like the sharing thing. I've got some pretty big lizards tail, some strawberries and cream grass, dwarf cattails.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, I'm going to have a really hard time remembering who wants the Karly Rose grass, so I'm going to send a PM to those of you that want it, no need to reply, but just so I can go to my messages to see! Brandonsdad, do you want some of the Karly Rose grass, too? I'll include you on the "list" if so.
Brandon'sDad, what is strawberries and cream grass? Sounds interesting and like something I would like! I got my first "cattail" from my dwarfs I planted last year, Separated them so would have several bunches in each bog, and still got a cattail earlier this year.
Shoestring, the yellow/orange flower is a hibiscus. They are sometimes hardy, but usually touchy I hear, even if they are hardy, maybe need thick mulch if we have a "normal" winter. I got 2 really nice full plants with lots of buds on them for $8 each, and plopped them into the goldfish bog. They are doing great in there. Probably won't even try to over-winter them, just buy new next year. Seems plants overwintered in the basement or garage, I give them light and they don't want it, or visa versa. There are a few plants I will bring inside for the winter, though, if they continue to grow well.

 

[brandonsdad02]

Yes I'll take some of the Karly rose grass. The strawberries and cream grass has creamish with a little bit of red hue leaves with green running up the center. I have mine at the top of my falls. I'm sure it would do great in the bog. I have some of the pickle rush that I'm going to put in the bog next spring.

 

[brandonsdad02]

Here is a picture of my strawberries and cream grass that I have. Its at the very top of the picture.

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, that's really pretty, Ryan! If you don't have very much of it, wait until it multiplies more. If you have it in several places, I'd love a start. Just one shoot is good for me! I'm patient and will wait for it to multiply. Thanks!
BTW, can someone tell me if there is a way to make sure that if I share plants from my bog, where there is algae, that I can clean the plants so no algae will transfer to other's ponds? I don't want to have people get mad at me for give them algae problems. Not sure if a dunk in peroxide of peroxide and water mixture would do it, or if that would kill the plants. I'm talking water clover, water parsley and penny wart at the moment.

 

[LindaKay]

I keep a lot of the plants you see in my greenhouse in the winter. I didn't know you could put hybiscus in the bog, nice to know it can take that much water.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, I heard that hibiscus liked the bog setting, so I figured I'd give it a try. The 2 plants I got were really full, lots of buds, and only $8. They are doing super well, especially since we've had triple digits for the last 2 weeks or more now. Supposed to get some relief tomorrow, thank goodness. A good 2-3" soaking rain would be much appreciated, but anything we get will be welcome.
Here are some of my bog plants that are really taking off this year (must love the heat!) and I'll be happy to share for postage only:
This is Creeping Jenny. I got a start of this from JW last spring, and it's done really well. It has a little yellow flower in the spring:

This is Penny Wart, or at least I think that's what this is:

Water 4 Leaf Clover:

and Water Parsley. This is white and green and has pink shades in it at times, too. May be too hot for the pink right now, but it's still pretty!

 

[LindaKay]

I love hibiscus. I even made a special trip to Kirksville Mo. last summer to get some from Home Depot. We don't have Home Depot in Iowa. They were really nice plants for $5. Of course that wasn't all I bought. My sis went with me and we had the car so packed that it was crazy. I'm sure the guy that helped us pack all those plants in the car thought we were two crazy old women. ) One of the hibiscus trees was so tall we had to lay it down in the back seat and it just barely fit in from one side to the other. I was glad hubby wasn't home when we got home because he really doesn't like dirt on our leather seats.

 

[LindaKay]

Love your bog. All of the ponds I have checked out are really beautiful. I didn't know there were that many people that had ponds. It's going to take me a long time to check everybodys out. I've been watching whisky's and another one that is in progress right now. Can't wait to see them finished.

 

[brandonsdad02]

Lindakay, where in Iowa are you located. I'm in Indianola. I get most of the stuff for my pond from Menards and if they don't have it I run down to Home Depot.