Pond Life

It's almost time to start moving our koi fish into the new big pond. But the pond is already full of life.
The new filter system is almost complete and the goldfish we put in already seem to be enjoying their new home.

The lotus is growing and blooming. 

 

 

The newest resident is "Flip" the green frog. He likes to float in the shade under the lotus leaves.

 

 

A big dragonfly larvae.

 

 

 

 A wonderful surprise. . . the first goldfish we put in the pond have already spawned and we have little baby goldfish! These tiny goldfish will be brown in color, for protection, until they get a bit bigger. They are able to hide amongst the rocks around the side of the pond.

 

 

Trap door snails, collected from a local garden center's big natural pond, will eat algae from the sides of our pond and act as nature's cleaners.

Pond Progress - Finally We Have a Pond!

We made great progress this weekend on our new backyard koi pond project. 

 

The ground has dried out from last week's rain and we were able to finish the side walls. 

 

Next we unfolded and fit the protective underlament for the pond liner.

 Then it was time for the big moment, actually laying in the pond liner.

It is very heavy, I believe the shipping box said 70 lbs. My husband and I were able to lay the folded liner into the pond and then he climbed in to unfold it. It's a thick, rubber-like material and since it's black, it got hot to the touch very quickly.

 

 The next big thing was to get one of the lotus plants out of our smaller koi pond and move it to the new pond.

So our first water plant is in place and we've added enough water to cover the lotus plant.

 

Still quite a bit to do:

build the filter system

run an electrical line from the house out to the pond to power the filter system

collect rocks to finish the edge of the pond

collect some native water lilies to go in the pond

Then, of course, move the fish from the smaller pond to their new home. . . I think they'll love it!

Weekend in the Garden

We are really enjoying the new koi pond and the water plants in it are thriving. The water lillies continue to bloom every day and the lotus are putting on quite a show!

 

The huge pink lotus buds and blossoms tower above the tall, round, upright leaves.

Each new bloom last for about three days before the petals fall off.

The gorgeous flowers are pink when they first open, then fade to a pale pink, almost white, when the petals are ready to fall.

Once the petals fall off, the center seed pod continues to grow!

I hope to be able to harvest and save the center seed pods, dry them and use them in dried flower arrangements.