My first pond build - in slo-mo

[j.w]

CE the plant I gave you gets a yellow flower.

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, yippee! I'll watch for that! Just saw my first cattail on my dwarf plant. Posted a pic on my goldfish pond thread. Woohoo! Love that yellow flower, and I have this plant from you separated this year, too, so have it in about 10 places at least.

 

[johnnyi]

I mentioned honey bees in an earlier photo. Check out this Youtube video that I made this afternoon. The bees are very thirsty! It is 97 degrees F when this was made.

John

 

[CountryEscape]

Neat video, John! There are hundreds of them. What in the world did they do before your pond? They look so desperate for water. Very cool that they have chosen your pond. Maybe you have the cleanest and freshest water around. Are there any bee keepers in your area? Makes me wonder if they have a hive nearby. Maybe they will share some honey with you, since you are sharing your fresh water with them.

 

[addy1]

How neat johnny! thanks for posting I had them drinking out of my arizona pond, not so much here.

 

[johnnyi]

This is a huge leap in bee traffic from a couple of days ago. I imagine it is the current high temperature. I don't know where their hive is but it can't be much more than a mile and probably less.

John

 

[johnnyi]

And our latest water lily bloom:



It's supposed to be pink, but it is barely blush.

John

 

[j.w]

Very cool John and they sure love that nice pond and plant area that you built just for them! They look so happy buzzing about

That lily is such a pretty pastel pink and oh look there's a bee getting in the photo again!

 

[CountryEscape]

I really like that really pale pink color, John! I have dark and light pink, but no pale pink like that, which is very unusual. Love it! And, I also noticed the bee on the lily pad getting a drink.

 

[johnnyi]

I wanted to update my build thread with pictures of the more mature pond. I took these since last Summer.

These were taken around the first of September:

Note the Mosaic Plant on the right:

A close up of the Mosaic Plant:

This is a picture of the floating island my wife made:

Yours truly doing pond maintenance:

This picture is in the last couple of weeks and shows that we've re-potted the lilies and created a new one:

This is a view of the pond as of last week with Lura working in the background:


The projects that remain are to finish the edges of both the pond and stream, and to hide the pipes a little better.

John

 

[addy1]

Looking good there! love that mosaic plant, very pretty

 

[j.w]

Your pond looks great and that Mosaic plant is really cool! Don't think they will grow here tho. All your plants are growing good.Lucky you and your warm California sun!

 

[johnnyi]

The Mosaic Plant is a tropical variety that can be planted when water temps get near 65 degrees F (I think) and will last into the Fall. Though they are perenial where they come from, they become annuals here.

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, darn, if they are annuals in CA, then they will never make it here. Love them, though. I have to rework my stream, made the sides too slanted to keep rocks on them, going to make a "shelf" on the edge to put outer edge rocks on, to hide the liner better. Have fun with your "finishing touches".