What does your pond look like ... Today?

[sissy]

and snow

 

[addy1]

The snow is still pretty.....................up there!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Here's a video I took yesterday.

 

[brokensword]

Looks nice, JB; think you'll get any video of ducklings? Mama duck seems to trust you as I was wondering how far you were in taking the video...if you don't have one yet, get yourself an inexpensive go-pro/copy and take some underwater pics too; you'll like the view from 'down there'. Especially if you end up having ducklings swimming over top!

Michael

 

[sissy]

 

[Troutredds]

Wonderful overkill! His financial investment in PVC alone is impressive.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Marsh Marigold is doing great in my bog. Definitely glad I added this one. Not much else is flowering around the yard, so it's definitely nice to see.

Unknown sedge. Don't know what kind it is, but I've had it for a few years. I have it both in my pond and in my bog and it looks great. Seems to be pretty well behaved in the bog.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Looks nice, JB; think you'll get any video of ducklings? Mama duck seems to trust you as I was wondering how far you were in taking the video...if you don't have one yet, get yourself an inexpensive go-pro/copy and take some underwater pics too; you'll like the view from 'down there'. Especially if you end up having ducklings swimming over top!

Michael

It's hit or miss whether I'll get any duckling videos. They'll leave the day after they hatch, so we'll see what happens. Last year, they never went into my pond. Mrs. Duck immediately took them to another body of water; likely the pond that's in the woods behind my house.

I'd love a Go Pro someday, but for now I use a 2.5 gallon aquarium that I can set my camera in and partially submerge to get underwater video/photos. This frog shot from 2015 is probably my favorite of the underwater photos I've taken.

 

[sissy]

I wondered about his electric bill and water bill but the pond sure looks clear and fish are huge .I am guessing but I really think he went pond nuts .I wonder if he had to sell the house what people would think .I even wondered what his wife thinks .Especially all that stuff next to the deck .I guess he went a little over board but he is proud for sure of it all

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Mrs. Duck keeps getting chased away by another pair. Same as last year. They refuse to share. She gets chased away, then tries to come back about 10 minutes later. Sometimes she can sneak back to her nest, other times she has to keep trying.

Two eggs are hidden. She didn't have time to cover them, so I took a photo of the nest.

Bullfrog and Blue-eyed Grass

Fish and lily pad.

Common Blue Violet. I found a colony of them in my yard. They're native, and they're also Wisconsin's state flower. I added a few to the pond area and dozens to my native garden. Over time, they should spread quite a bit, which is good news for fritillary caterpillars.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Here's all of my bog natives, and almost all of my bog plants other than a hosta and Golden Queen Globeflower. As some of you know, I lost a few plants this winter, so I'm hoping to add another native, Bogbean, to the bog. I'll be heading to a nearby pond place sometime next month in hopes of finding it.


Swamp Milkweed. I'm especially happy to see this one doing well. I grew it from seed two years ago and it wasn't doing well. It was quickly losing all of its leaves so I planted it in the bog and hoped for the best, but honestly expected it to die off. Looks like it's gonna fill in nicely this year.

Great Blue Lobelia. I just added this one from my native garden a few weeks back. It seems to be doing well.

Sensitive Fern. I added this one last year. I wasn't sure how it would do in full sun, but I've read this fern can handle full sun as long as it's in a wet place. Did ok last year and made it through winter, so we'll see what happens this year.

Marsh Marigold

Spiderwort, Horsetail, and Blue Flag Iris

 

[MitchM]

You are handy Mitch why not build your own wind turbine like on you tube

I looked into that. The hard part isn't the turbine, it's engineering a substantial enough tower that can be raised and lowered safely for turbine maintenance.

 

[sissy]

True but saw it on a show where they had a windturbine in Texas that had a system set up to lower it to the ground and guessing it does cost a lot .But he said the inside is a sealed unit so did not need anything done to it for 10+ .He said company stood behind it .I guess he will see .It was on the weatherchannel when they were doing stories on alternative energy .I saw now they have solar panels that are light weight and you roll them out like a blanket .Everyday some one comes up with new stuff .I signed up to have my house be a test dummy .

 

[JBtheExplorer]

As I posted in another section, I seem to be having some fishues.
Times like this, I appreciate the bog even more. With the bog, there's nothing to stress about. I just enjoy the plant life, the water, the birds, and the frogs. The Marsh Marigold is looking great. I wish it bloomed at year long.

I've said it before and it's still true: Although I love my pond, if I were to move or if I were to shut down the pond and start a new water feature, it would without a doubt be stream and a bog. I'd probably have a small pond attached for frogs to hibernate in, but the main water feature would be a nice stream that would flow right through a native garden. It would largely be influenced by some small streams in the Scuppernong Prairie, like these two:



It'd also be influenced by @RobAmy's stream. Their stream looks like it's right out of the Scuppernong Prairie. I love seeing all the different types of birds their stream attracts, and as you know, native wildlife is what it's all about for me.

 

[callingcolleen1]

My outdoor guppy pond in front yard just today!