Beautiful Ursula, I can't believe how red some of the Cypripedium acaules are.

Ken, yes - we see quite a variation in shades from very pale pink to almost red, and it is not always due to levels of maturity.

Waterford Gardens is a wonderful place to buy gorgeous Waterlilies, Lotus and other aquatic plants and it is only a 15 min. drive from our house.
http://www.waterford-gardens.c...
It was that time of year again to pick out some pretty tropical Waterlilies. Here is my pond thread from last year to give you the background.
http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...
The water temperature needs to stay above 70 degr F as not to stress these plants. The people at Waterford don't like to sell the tropical varieties until June 1., but since we are having Summer weather, it was not a problem today. As I mentioned, we moved the Golden Gouramies out 2 days ago and they are loving the extra room. I was able to purchase 12 young Paradise Fish today at Waterford, which thrive in their warm greenhouses and multiply readily there. They are now happily swimming along with the others in our pond.
Kathy, to answer your questions - the tropical Waterlilies from last year did not survive and it was not for lack of trying. The hardy Lotus made it and has been in the pond already for a couple of weeks and started to grow. I didn't purchase any hardy Waterlilies last year, we really love the larger beautiful blooms for this kind of set up. I really wish to be able to store the Tropicals somehow during the Winter.
Here are some snapshots, it is by no means complete.


Some more outside pics of the very nice place -


And the last picture shows the young fellow scooping out some Paradise fish for me. The Golden Gouramies do not eat the snails which always seem to come along, but the Paradise fish do.


I bought the following: Antares ( a night bloomer), Ruby, Blue Beauty, Marian Strawn. I have to check the spelling...

Wonderful place!!!!
I hope the ones you got were from the second row. They just glow!

I got a nice mix. You know I am at the stage where I find them all gorgeous, I just try to pick different color.
I managed to pick a really pretty large blue, the fellows had potted it up for me , it was just about going to the car already, when the boss made them put it back. It had been the only one, it had won a special award and was kept for propagation. I was wondering why they don't tag those with a different color as Orchid greenhouses do. I just picked a different blue and it was ok.

Gosh! That owner better get his act together or he will lose one!

I had a surprise this morning - I left the jar of fish food on the table ( lower shelf) in the backyard next to the pond. It was tightly closed ( screw cap!!) and the slider on top was close and secure. None of us left it open, 100% sure. This morning the empty and open jar was on the floor, with the slider on the cover also open all the way. Fish food eaten!!
I am impressed! Which animal is able to do that? Squirrels, Raccoons?

Raccoons have opposable thumbs and can open a jar. That's my bet. Squirrels and mice and chipmunks have to chew into a plastic lid. I always had raccoons in NJ when I lived there. They were amazing with garbage! Here in the boonies we have bears and coyotes. The raccoons and opossums must have enough to eat, cause you rarely see them. Only as road kill.

I had a friend who fed the raccoons dog food every morning. They became like pets. Her neighbors didn't like it much but they got to know the family and offspring each year and accepted what she did. She insisted the rabies thing was not the issue folks think it is.

Raccoons - then I am glad we covered up the pond again right away with large grid chicken fence. I don't like the look, but we really don't have a choice. Last year we had Big Mama Raccoon bringing her 4 or 5 babies to the pond every night trying to take a swim.

hahaha! They sure love water and .....fishing!

New thread. http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...