MoonShadows said:Beautiful, Cal! Your pond pics, slide shows and videos are always beautiful! I believe I owe you an email...keep forgetting once that alert goes away. I'll get to it, though. Best two days of the year this weekend. Spent them outside. Sore today, but it's a good sore!

Thank, Jim! Lots more to upload. I'll try to do one slideshow and/or video per day.

So far behind! They (ducks & plants) keep doing stuff I have to record, and still keep juggling watering,
planting, fixing this or that.
I'm pooped after a few hours, and need a nap.

Have to get in (vs fall in), and feed the lotus's & lilies.
But now B&C (Bonnie & Clyde) are out there already ...video to follow.

So have to wait till tomorrow morning.
Always fun.

jmorth said:Squirrels there much?

Too many.

Today....
Bonnie & Clyde, our mallard pair, preening & strutting their stuff,
while a little Fly Catcher steals the show...what chutzpah!
Plus closeups of the lotus in the pond and in a 40 gal tub.


Right now, B&C and another pair are vying for ownership of the pond,
while a lone male stands & watches, thinking, "I'm not mixing in".
Video to follow later.....never a dull moment.

Beautiful . What a paradise you have created, full of so much life and always a good laugh watching all the ducks. Thanks for sharing. Always Enjoy your channel.

Oh yeah the iris spread in my pond so thick after 10 years , it was a huge rats mess. Last year I dug my iris out from the whole bottom of the pond up thru the other plants. I wore my fishing waders. 👍
Then added several gallons of water to replace the roots removed the pond . The water level was 4" lower after removal. Sent them to a pond shop to resell. Way to much for me to unravel several feet of iris roots. It took several days to balance and clear up again, after pumping out most of the muddy water, I recycled and watered the garden with it.
This spring the few iris left have already doubled in size and ready to bloom soon.
The resilience and beauty of pond plants. Don't ya just love it ! 😍 always a challenge.🐳

bumplbea said:Beautiful . What a paradise you have created, full of so much life and always a good laugh watching all the ducks. Thanks for sharing. Always Enjoy your channel.

Thanks, Bea!

Oh yeah the iris spread in my pond so thick after 10 years , it was a huge rats mess. Last year I dug my iris out from the whole bottom of the pond up thru the other plants. I wore my fishing waders. 👍
Then added several gallons of water to replace the roots removed the pond . The water level was 4" lower after removal. Sent them to a pond shop to resell. Way to much for me to unravel several feet of iris roots. It took several days to balance and clear up again, after pumping out most of the muddy water, I recycled and watered the garden with it.
This spring the few iris left have already doubled in size and ready to bloom soon.
The resilience and beauty of pond plants. Don't ya just love it ! 😍 always a challenge.🐳

I agree....the most fun & rewarding project ever.
What color is your iris?
I never knew they grew in just water till we did the pond. I tried to cut them back last year, but they're huge,
and in the deep end. As long as they stay afloat, I'll let them be.

Any pics of your pond & iris?
I run the fountains a few hours in the daytime to aerate & recycle the water.
I like it best though when it's quiet, or just the fish fountain going.

It's very pleasant when the water is still, and there's just a few ripples from
the fish (goldfish, rosy barbs, mosquito fish) or the breeze.

Any updates on the duck pond, Cal?

Johannian said: Any updates on the duck pond, Cal?

Thanks for asking...so much has happened since my last post.

The lotus are growing quickly, and will bloom in a few days.
I need to get in an feed them again tomorrow. It's a little nippy at first, but
not too bad after a couple minutes.

I've spent the past month cleaning up the pond, planting new lotus & lilies.
The cattails were out of control, so had to get in the pond with my boogie board
& fins to hack them out using an Asian style knife (rectangular). I tried to do it from
the coving, but couldn't get enough leverage.

I will try to bring everything up to date with images & videos from 2020 till now to show changes.

Here is a video from last week to show the almost daily drama...
It starts off with a few crows & ducks...mallards, "boys"....then at 5m50s, a girl
flies in on the right, and her mate, who was hanging out with the boys, goes over to
her. I think she was sitting on eggs, and he came early to save them a place in the pond. That's Bonnie & Clyde, and they rule the pond.

It's ~2hr edited down to 23 min....short clips, 15-30 sec. It shows a little bit of everything.


More later.

King Clyde and Queen Bonnie.

I assume the koi take care of the bug larvae? I know other pond fish like largemouth bass, crappie, goldfish, etc. are put in ponds to maintain mosquito population, but I don't know anything about koi. I just assumed it was the same.

Johannian said: King Clyde and Queen Bonnie.

I assume the koi take care of the bug larvae? I know other pond fish like largemouth bass, crappie, goldfish, etc. are put in ponds to maintain mosquito population, but I don't know anything about koi. I just assumed it was the same.

Sorry, just realized I didn't reply.

Those are just goldfish, though some have koi-like markings. They were just
"feeder fish" from an aquarium store. We started with 10 x ~ 1.5" ($0.25ea),
adding them in April 2018....by August they were already 5". Now there are at least 50, and the largest are 8".

I decided against koi as they can be destructive to lilies.

I don't know if goldfish eat mosquito larvae, but we also put in 7 "mosquito fish",
and they do eat the larvae. Also I add Mosquito Bits to tubs with standing water, and it's very effective.

Rachel the Great White Egret has been coming around lately. We hadn't seen her for months, but now she comes daily.
I let her take several small fish...she has babies to feed.
47 min video


But I had to draw the line when she got on the lotus tubs.
2 min

Hi all,
sorry I've let this go for over a year, but am finally getting my pics together,
and will be posting hopefully every few days as I put together some slideshows,
and upload videos to YouTube.

We had the best lotus & lily bloom yet....at least 30 lotus blooms, and the tropical
lilies, Queen of Siam & Foxfire have been blooming none stop, though just one
bloom each at a time.
Also had an amazing bloom just the last 2 weeks of water hyacinths. I thought they were done earlier, but then surprised us. They're also getting taller now when I thought they would start to die back.

I will have many pics to share showing how the pond has evolved since we
started it in Feb 2018. Hope you won't get too bored.

The worst of the heat is over (though wildfire season with hot dry desert "Santa Ana" winds are due in October), and the nights are getting cooler, so the dragon flies have probably mated & laid eggs by now.

When I cleaned out our small 6ft pond in 2018 to provide plants for our large pond, there must have been at least 50 or more dragon fly nymphs in the muck.
Our lotus tubs make the perfect incubator for them now, too, and we had what seemed like swarms of the large reds, and the little blues buzzing all over on hot days, constantly playing tag, and king of the lotus pod. Videos to follow.

I haven't decided if I want to get in and haul out the lilies to repot them now or wait till spring. It will be a shock either way as I get in.
But it has to be done, as they're totally root bound, and was barely able to poke a hole in the soil to put in a pond tab to feed them.

The lotus are easier to feed, but also will need to be divided, at least those that are 3yrs old. We got several viable seeds of from one of the large lotus ('Holy Fire' ?) this year. They're easy to germinate.

Just nick them with a knife or file & put in a glass of water to start. Might take a few years to get a bloom, but satisfying.

This is a slideshow I did today (see link below) with pics from Feb & April this year.
They're all taken with the security camera outside the kitchen that covers the
pond. The date of each image is in the upper right.
BTW, there are lots of ducks in the morning....the pair in the slideshow just stayed longer to mate, eat, nap, mate, eat, nap, etc.
During winter & spring we go through 2 x 25lb bags of scratch every week.

Next I want to post a slide show that shows the pond over the past year. I program the camera for different views so when put into a slideshow, you can see how the lighting changes during the day, e.g. the canna lilies light up as the morning sun
hits them against a dark background.

No ducks now, but they should be back in a month or so. It's a cycle of life....the ducks come as the plants are going dormant, and are gone by July, giving the plants a chance to grow & bloom. So far it's worked out amazingly well. It kind of does it's own thing with a little help.

So here's the first of several slideshows I hope to share with you from now on.
I have terabytes of pics & videos, so no danger of running out, but hope it will not
be boring same old same old. I know I'm not bored with it. Still the best, most fun,
challenging & rewarding gardening project....ever.

Hope everyone made it safely through COVID...we did...getting 4th Moderna later today.

Wow, Cal, absolutely gorgeous.

beautiful

Thanks Joanna.....good to "see" you again!

And thanks, too, Cinda!....hope you will stay tuned, too.


Just got home from grocery shopping, and going to upload at least one video in the next hour so you can see the whole pond as the camera moves from view to view during the day. Some things are in shadow early, then light up later. Kind of a time lapse effect.

Will post the link asap.

Wind chimes between 2 large rocks next to the pond (4 min 21 sec)

Slideshows...
On a sunny day the cannas light up.
https://cal3d.com/POND2022/092...

The last of the lotus, but the hyacinths were putting on a finale even though
it was cloudy.
https://cal3d.com/POND2022/090...

More to follow tomorrow.

Wow, I just watched your slideshows with the wind chimes playing in the background. It's like a meditation video! Everything's very beautiful.

Are you eating the lotus seeds?

Great updates. I enjoyed those slideshows, Cal. Your pond is so nice. I love all the plants. I assume where you are they keep going just about all year. Our water lettuce and hyacinths are looking so ratty. I have to research to see if I can overwinter them in the basement. I cut back our mock bamboo, cattails, and lilies already. According to what I have read, the frogbit and hornwort should overwinter right in the pond. We woke up this morning to our first frost of the season as it hit 32 degrees overnight.

Hi everyone,
sorry I wasn't able to update this as frequently as I would like, but I will
try to add at pics, slideshows, videos at least once a week from now on.

joannakat said: Wow, I just watched your slideshows with the wind chimes playing in the background. It's like a meditation video! Everything's very beautiful.
Are you eating the lotus seeds?

Hey Joanna! I'm sorry I meant to reply sooner!
I'm so glad you are enjoying the videos & the chimes. I'll upload several more "zen" videos.
It really is very pleasant in the afternoon with a nice breeze making the chime sing.
I put them where they would catch the wind better.
I only wish you all could come over to be here in person with us. The invitation is open if you ever get out here for a visit.

re: lotus seeds...I haven't tried eating the seeds....have you had lotus seeds before?

BTW, this is the first year we've had mature viable seeds, and anyone is welcome to
try to grow them....just send me a treemail with your address.

They're very easy to germinate...I tried with some seeds I bough online a few years ago, but I haven't successfully grown them to a mature plant yet.
BUT will try again with these fresh seeds. These are large primo lotus, and worth trying to grow. Wanna try some??

MoonShadows said: Great updates. I enjoyed those slideshows, Cal. Your pond is so nice. I love all the plants. I assume where you are they keep going just about all year. Our water lettuce and hyacinths are looking so ratty. I have to research to see if I can overwinter them in the basement. I cut back our mock bamboo, cattails, and lilies already. According to what I have read, the frogbit and hornwort should overwinter right in the pond. We woke up this morning to our first frost of the season as it hit 32 degrees overnight.

Thanks for the nice comments, Jim!

woke up this morning to our first frost of the season as it hit 32 degrees overnight.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! That's earlier than usual, right? Great you stacked so much wood!
Your new stove should make it nice & toasty inside. Looking forward to some
fires in the fireplace, too, but still too warm here.

I really haven't planned that much....just let the plants find their niche, e.g. the
cannas in the middle of the pond are just on a little floating tub, and are now enmeshed in the hyacinths. Everything is able to live during the winter here...rarely freezing. The only plant I lost is called "Mosaic Plant" from Bergen Water Gardens in NY.
It was growing nicely in the small round black floating lotus tub, but I let it get too dry...my fault. The tub won't sink, so all I have to do it tip it with a poll to add water. But I ordered more for spring....in fact, got the last one.
I'll make sure it gets propagated & established this time!

Amazingly, the tropical water lilies are still blooming....in October!
Hope to divide & repot to have a lot more in 2023.
I espeically like 'Foxfire' with the variagated leaves that have upturned serrated edges. I bought it & 'Queen of Siam' (hot pink) from Bergen Water Gardens, too.
They also have a nice selection of lotus, AND carnivorus plants, e.g napenthes pitcher plants.
10 Mile Creek nursery has the largest selection of lotus, though.
Both are excellent nurseries.

The hyacinths have had a growth spurt the past few weeks...I though't they'd be
going dormant, but are just getting taller. I'm not going to take out so many this time, so they'll have a head start in spring...they're the best water filter.

We didn't have as many water lettuce this year, and they weren't as large & "buff" as last year....I don't know why. But the bees like them best for getting water...
I think they have small hairs that wick the water for the bees.

I want to make more islands that will sail across the pond like they did the first
2 years. The irises got so large they basically sank in the back, and don't sail.
So making more sailing islands in 2023.

Below is an 18.5 min video of the pond a few days ago on 10/7/2022.
I tape it almost 24/7 to see who comes at night, and the way the light & shadow
change during the day. Unfortunately no sound, but I may add sound eventually.

I just edited it to show 5 sets of 20 views of the pond (10 sec each) at 9am, 12pm, 4:45, 5:15, & at 5:45 (see the time stamps on the videos).
Next I will take screen prints of some of the views to create a few slideshows so you
can see how the lighting changes.

Please click on the little square in the lower right
to see the video full screen.

BTW, thanks Jim for showing me how to embed video in the thread!

The tub of water with toy boats in front is for the raccoon family that comes frequently...videos to follow.

Hey Cal, never any worries about not replying quickly. It's a lazy time of life for me!

Here's a bunch of info on saving and eating lotus seeds. I understand they're very healthy. Yes, I used to eat them as a snack while in college.
https://www.google.com/search?...

Always love the videos and slideshows!

joannakat said: Hey Cal, never any worries about not replying quickly. It's a lazy time of life for me!

Here's a bunch of info on saving and eating lotus seeds. I understand they're very healthy. Yes, I used to eat them as a snack while in college.
https://www.google.com/search?...

Always love the videos and slideshows!

Thanks, Joanna!