Getting closer....

[CountryEscape]

Guppies .... LOL!
I'm with you, Jen. I call my black Kumonryu (I think) Shamu, and refer to him as "he", even though I have no idea. Actually from their belly sizes this year, I think my only one that looks female is the large yellow one. No chasing yet, so have no idea for sure. Need to make a spawn mop, just to give them more of a chance to survive.... Weather is warming up nicely, lots of rain, but that's ok, warmer temps is what I was hoping for and got it!

 

[JenH]

Yes it is supposed to be in the 80's the rest of this week, cooling off some for the weekend. Got my pass today so gonna take advantage and take my boys to the zoo Thursday! Hurray for warm weather!

Finally was able to blog about building my pond today. Gave you all credit for all of your help. Wouldn't hold my breath that its gonna create a lot of new traffic here though since my blog is fairly new and not a lot of followers. But just wanted to let you all know since you've been so helpful and I'm sure will continue to be cause I'll never have all the answers ;-) Thanks!

 

[JenH]

Busy running around yesterday with the boys. So no chance to do any reading! The boys got to feed the giraffes at the zoo though. Man those things have some freaky tongues! Anyway.....

Looks like I'm starting to get an algae bloom. We warmed right up yesterday to almost 90 and very sunny. Still no leaves have made it to the surface with my lily, but several have poked out at the bottom. So zero shade. Had my water tested and stil have zeros for nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and chlorine. pH has stayed the same, water hardness and alkalinity went up quite a bit since last time. I'm thinking it must be from the rain we had raising the water hardness. What I just don't understand is why I have an algae bloom starting. My bog must be working as a biofilter for everything to read zero, and I haven't been feeding the fish at all since it got really cold and temps started going back up again. I was gonna give them some food yesterday, and saw the water, so decided not to feed them if algae is starting to take off. They are all quite the little beggers today though. So what gives? Whats with the algae bloom all of a sudden?

 

[JenH]

An update....Hubby got the rest of the mulch over the weekend so that is finally done. The grass seed we planted outside the edging is starting to grow (this truly is a miracle since we tryed planting several times lst year with no luck) My water lily has got a couple leaves up to the surface finally!! And today I went to the pond store and bought another water lily as well. The one I bought is called Colorado Salmon. I tried to describe mine to the woman at the store and she thinks it will either have red or yellow blooms, so I think the new one will look great if I ever get blooms from both at the same time. I also picked up a java red weigela today, it was only $17 from Walmart!! It was dark when I got home though so will have to add a pic of that later. Here are some pictures of the lilies, the 3 little mottled leaves are my original lily, the big ones and the flower are the new one:

 

[addy1]

Very nice jen, that is a pretty bloom
I have almost finished off my mulch too, all 20 yards, at least cut down on some of the weeds that went crazy this year.

 

[CountryEscape]

I need to get more mulch, but first need to decide how to redo the center part between ponds.
Your lily is gorgeous, Jenn!!! Love that color. And, I'm sooo jealous of your crystal clear water. I'm working on mine, much better this morning. On your new lily, if that stem with a bud on it is an old bud, you might want to reach down and snip (or pinch is what I do) the stem off. It's kind of like dead heading flowers. It promotes more blooms to the plant! Same with old leaves. Your new lily was likely grown inside a greenhouse, so it is far ahead of your lily in the pond. Yours will catch up, I bet! They will look very pretty together.
Can't wait to see your new weigelia, too! I bought one that is yellow and lime green varigated leaves, with deep red flowers. I still don't have it planted, darn it. It's on the side of the house and I forget it's there! Maybe tonight ....

 

[JenH]

My water went through a bit of an algae bloom last week when it got up to 80, does seem to be clearing up pretty good now. It was so weird. I couldn't see through the water during the day for probably 4 days, but in the evenings and at night it looked perfectly clear, just to be cloudy the next morning. I was dying to dump some Algaefix in there and get rid of it, but I managed to pull some patience out of nowhere and wait it out. I just hope it really has cycled now and when it hits 80's and warmer doesn't do it again!

The pond store keeps their lilies outside year round in a shallow lily pond, probably 12" deep if that. So it is acclimated to the weather, but not to deep water. No slow release fertilizer, but they do use lily tabs. I have it on a rock to lower it gradually as the leaves get longer. They said I didn't need to cut off the spent flower, but I will do it since it can help get more blooms. I always remove the dead leaves so they don't muck up the water. They really promote planting the lilies directly into the rocks on your pond bottom, not in pots. I'm still not sure if I want to do that or not. Maybe I will try it with the mini lily if that is what it turns out to be. I'm worried though, if they can tear through pots, couldn't they tear through my liner? That would be a nightmare!

Here are some pics of the weigela. Walmart had ones like yours Addy too, and they were even bigger then the one I got for the same price. I couldn't believe it, the nursuries sell them at double the price and smaller plants!! Took me forever to make up my mind cause yours are so pretty. But I decided since the other one I want has variegated leaves and bright pink flowers I'd get the one with darker leaves.

Also, my parents ordered some trumpet vines (hummingbird vines) from the internet and I will be able to get one when I go up there Sunday, and maybe another Iris. My parents weren't impressed with the shipment of the vines though, they were bareroot just in a box, and looked dead to them. We will see if it grows.

 

[sissy]

looks good and bare root stock can be a challenge but most pop and start growing like crazy .My passion flowers are blooming already and have even gotten 2 pieces of fruit from it ,this is the earliest I ever got fruit from it and hummingbirds have been going nuts .They go from feeders to flowers and back again .I had 8 feeders but now only 6 2 of the fell and broke in the high winds we had .

 

[JenH]

Any special tricks you know of to help the vine along when I get it Sunday?

 

[j.w]

Trumpet vines are very pretty but I would not put it near your house at all where it can reach it. They can become so strong that they can rip the gutters off your house among other things. I would build it it's own very strong trellis away from the house. They can send off runners underground also looking for a place to grow. I have one on it's own climbing place way far from my house but the darn thing never has bloomed yet and every year it dies down to the ground from the cold and has to start all over. I wonder if it's just not hot enough here to get it growing strong so it can have some stems that will make it though the cold? They love sunshine!

 

[addy1]

don't put it near a septic field, they will destroy it. It takes 4-5 years for them to start blooming jw, not sure how long yours has been there.

I have the red weigelia and the variegated pink They are sure pretty right now
The red in front the variegated in the back.

 

[j.w]

I have had it for more than 5 yrs but I moved it away from the house a couple yrs ago so I guess I have to start counting the yrs over!

Those 2 Weigelia are very pretty!

 

[JenH]

Those weigela's are very pretty! I can't wait till my garden starts looking like a garden someday! I knew the trumpet vines were strong. I'm going to plant it next to our fence on the right of the pond area. It'll be about 12 feet from the corner of the fence. That corner goes to our house but not for another 24 feet, so it would really have to work to get to the house. Although after reading all that, is it a bad idea to plant it near the pond? Will it bust through my pond liner underground? We don't have a septic field here, but my parents do, so I will be sure to tell them not to plant it anywere near there.

 

[j.w]

I don't think it would go through your pond liner. It'll turn away to the soil instead and just march onward that way,lol! I've heard it can go underground in your grass and wander, wander, wander! I'm still going to keep mine for a few more years and if doesn't bloom it's coming out!

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, Jenn, your new Weigelia is almost all flowers! That is a beautiful plant. And, Addy, your red one is to die for. I love deep red colored flowers on anything. The weigelia that I got has red flowers, but not near that dark, but the light green leaves, so I'll have that light green contrast in the flower bed after the blooms are done.

Jenn, sometimes plants transport better if they are bare root, so give it a good chance and I'll bet they will grow. Good to know how invasive they want to be, I'll stay away from that type of climber. I'm hoping my clematis grows for me. I've never had luck with them in the past, so we shall see. I got my favorite color ... burgandy or deep red! I don't want it to go wild, would prefer for it to stay nice a calm on my arbor next to the deck, so purposely chose a color other than the most popular blue/purple, hoping this one will not be quite as vigorous.