Ponds in Canada

[callingcolleen1]

This was a mistake post!

 

[callingcolleen1]

April is here and the early flowers are blooming nice. I cleaned out the pond filters and increased the flow of water in the pond to simulate a natural increased spring runoff flow. This clears the pond of natural buildup and washes it into the marshes. Increasing the flow also helps to get the plants growing too. Today was the warmest day so far, temperature was 20 c or 70 F.

 

[addy1]

Very nice colleen........we are cold, but sunny, slowly warm coming

 

[callingcolleen1]

Feels cooler here today to. I got lots of sun yesterday and got lots done around the pond, but there is still so much to do and so little time!

 

[j.w]

Colleen this is what I have and I need to ask you again if you think it is the same as your Iris that grows in the big clumps and floats? I'm confused on Sweet Flag Iris and Yellow Flag Iris. Are they the same? Here is a link and then I posted a photo of mine blooming in my pond one year or so ago.
http://waterplantsforponds.com/Yellow_Flag_Water_Iris.htm

 

[callingcolleen1]

JE, there is no such thing as a sweet flag iris. The Yellow flag is an iris, and that is the iris you have in your picture. The Sweet flag is NOT an iris, it is an Acorus calamus and you have the dwarf varigated version growing in your bathtub. I have the large green original version and it is not varigated. The dwarf and the varigated version are not as hardy as the original large green version that I have. (varigated versions have two colors, green and creme, running up and down the spear shaped leaves)

(Last picture) The sweet flag is in the bottom pond and the yellow flag is in the middle pond. The sweet flag has the duck swiming in the bottom pond and the yellow flag is at the edge of the middle pond with dried pieces from last year. The last picture was taken yesterday, the other pictures are from last year and are of the sweet flag. (They look similar till they bloom and the color is different too)

The yellow flag iris floats in my pond. I hope it is clear as mud now!

 

[callingcolleen1]

I think it is confusing cause they look so similar and sound so similar but are not even in the same plant family! Only the Yellow Flag Iris blooms pretty yellow, the Sweet Flag rarely blooms and then you may not even notice cause it does not look like a bloom.

 

[sissy]

lady bugs here when they come they come in huge packs and can cover a section of my vinyl siding in minutes to get warm and they have even damaged it with stains that are hard to get out

 

[j.w]

Colleen,It just seemed like your Iris were arching over so nicely and mine seem to grow straight up and the sweet flag arches over which I really like. I want mine to make a nice island and arch over so we shall see if it happens when they are bunched together.

Sissy I have seen the problem on shows on tv where those lady bugs invade the walls of houses and it is not a pretty site.

http://www.wvagriculture.org/news_releases/2004/10-28-04.htm

 

[sissy]

you should smell it when a bunch of them all die good gosh it stinks .They have even clogged up vents and sewer vents on roofs here .I put window screeng in and over my vents and on the sewer vents I put elbows on them and a piece of screen .My neighbor had her vents pipes on the roof clog up with stink bugs and it cost her over 400 dollars to have them all cleaned out .I protect all my from day 1 in this house .She thought it was her septic tank and had it pumped by rotor rooter and that did not work and then he cleaned the drain lines and then finally looked at the vents for the sewer lines on the roof and there it was ,all clogged up and she had to pay for all of that work .Cheap window screen and abs elbow and no problems here .Everyone was having just about the same problem except for me . :razz:

 

[callingcolleen1]

Wow! Never knew that you could get overrun by those ladybugs! I still like them and never seen that many ever here, maybe down south there is lots or more....

The fish were active again today in spite of some cool overnight weather. I am starting to get very excited for spring now that the fish are moving around and eating the algae and I noticed they have been eating the hornwort like crazy too. Good, cause I got lots of hornwort, so may as well let them eat the food from their garden!

 

[callingcolleen1]

JW, most peoples yellow flags (iris) don't get bigger than three or four feet! I have given chucks away and those chucks don't seem to get as tall as the one in my pond. Different growing conditions affect the plants height. If you have all day sun, the plant will only get about three or four feet at the most. If your chuck is dense and large, the plant will grow taller too, to reach the sun.
My pond gets morning and some afternoon sun, but not all day sun, so the plants grow very tall. When the plant gets very tall they tend to bend over at the top.

JW, about your sweet flag, it is known as Acorus gramineus. (Japanese rush or otherwise known as dwarf sweet flag)
It is hardy from zone 6 to 11.

My sweet flag is Acorus calamus. sweet Flag, zone 4 to 11.

 

[j.w]

Aha, my iris are in full sun so guess they don't need to reach like yours do. Makes sense about bending over when tall and lanky. I'm gonna bush mine together on some nice warm day when I can sit our there and do it.

The sweet flag behaves itself nicely as it just sits there through all the seasons looking pretty much the same all year long. Love that stuff and glad it helps keep the water clean!

Colleen here is a very long read but I found it very interesting about Acorus calamus : http://www.herbcraft.org/calamus.html

 

[callingcolleen1]

Today I woke up and found ice covering most of the ponds. Temperature was minus 10. Was not too happy about that! Spring is off to a rather slow start when compared to some previous years.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Everything in my greenhouse growing nicely with the increased amount of sun these days. I have put colored gravel in the miniature sucullent dishes. Newly transplanted tomatos going nice too.

The old tankfish tank in the greenhouse had pea green water, but happy to report that Sissy's idea of cotton batting in the filter has proved to be just the trick needed to rid the tank of pea green water. I placed a net filled with the batting where the water pours from the filter, and it worked great. Water is all clean now!