I’ve not been satisfied with the pond chemistry—nor have the fish, who are in hiding. So I drained off 2400 gallons and refilled, rebuffered (addition of calcium and other elements to stabilize the water ph), dechlorinized, and helped Jane help out our neighbor, who’s suffered a flare up, apparently, of an old knee injury: he’s laid up, the weeds have grown along the fencerow, and in exchange for four nice Wenatchee apples Jane and I took the weedwhacker to the fence area on his side. I hope this will help him out. We’d have gotten a few more, but our whacker ran out of line, and I’ve got to get more. But if they like, we’ll do that chore now and again. I rather like running the weedwhacker, far nicer than a lawnmower—at that, I draw the line; but I learned to use a good old-fashioned two-handed long-handled scythe (and the short one) when I was a youngster, and the weedwhacker has a little of that satisfaction. I love doing in weeds.
Our waterlily bud that has been hanging fire since May has opened for the 4th of July.
Joan’s husband Buzz stopped by to be sure we have our invitation to their lawn party tonight (view of fireworks downtown) —we certainly do—and we gave him the tour. I forgot that Buzz hasn’t seen the garden since he helped us move dirt a long time ago.
The one tree we planted is a chocolate mimosa: a mimosa with dark bronze leaves: it will shade the walk near the fence, and the other is a Japanese flowering cherry, fullsize type, that we are trying to site. We think we know where we want it. We think we are going to move the arch (and its clematises) this fall to be a gateway to what will be a separate water feature in the back—a running stream, for which we have the gradient—and a lotus pool. I have always wanted lotuses. Or A lotus—they’re quite large.
As I told Jane some time ago, if you folks ever run short of money, throw up a couple strategically placed signs and charge admission to the fabulous Fancherryh Garden. I’d pony up for a guided tour.
You’ve got a free one any time. 😉
You could always try running a landscaping and water gardening business. Hire some nice guys and gals to do the heavy work and you two rake in the dough. — Not kidding, you both have skills, talent for it.
Japanese flowering cherry? Is that a sakura? Very, very pretty.
I had no idea there were black iris. My mom had purple iris, which took over an entire bed. I wish I’d kept some when I moved. Small mistake, but one I can remedy.
Nice that your neighbor was willing to have some help…..apples! Nice exchange! (And knee problems are the pits.)
I used a scythe to clear low growing huckleberry when we moved out to our land, sans electricity, 25 years ago. Once you get into the rhythm, it’s easy to use and quiet.
Things are finally beginning to grow and bloom. Lilies are blooming, morning glories are budding. (I had to buy plants this year. The cold and wet rotted the seeds.) The petunias and marigolds that reseeded from last year are up and blooming. I think I’m going to throw a bunch of seed in the garden this fall and see if they come up. 😉
Do you use city water for your pond? We have a well. I haven’t done much with the water yet beyond aerating and basic filtering. But then the only fish we have are battery powered. 8) I imagine balancing it will be the same process as the pool using different chemicals and levels.
Hope the 4th was not all work and that you had time for some R&R! 😀
Does it get hot enough for long enough in the Spokane area for a lotus to bloom? I know that over on my side of the mountains I can’t even consider it without a heated conservatory-type environment. Thankfully, there are enough hardy waterlilies with lovely flowers to keep me happy although I do lust over some of the blue tropical lilies. And, you are right….you have to like immense water plants to deal with a lotus. I admit….my favorite waterlily is the ivory mini ‘Helvola’ which is on the other side of the waterlily-type size spectrum (*grin).
You are ahead of me with your waterlily blooms. I have 4 buds in the shubunkin tank but nothing open yet.
My next-door neighbors have a man-made stream on their acre+….with 3 ponds connected. The great blue herons LOVE them! It’s relatively easy to foil the local bald eagles with well placed trees but the herons are sneaky! I’ve seen them walking under my deck checking out the live culture tubs on my patio….so I have heavy-duty wire dog crate floors over my fish-stocked tubs and stock tanks.
Our local aquarium society is having a whitecloud mountain minnow ‘race’….put 12 whiteclouds outside in an outside water feature and the person who rears the most fry wins (wink). I put my guys outside yesterday in a tub with water clover (Marsilea quadrifolia) and some threadfin Myriophyllum. These are fish I overwintered inside from a line I’ve been propagating for over a decade. Thankfully, my daphnia cultures are blooming so I can stuff the breeders full of live food!
You are so lucky that power equipment doesn’t make your hands/arms go numb for weeks. But the people-powered push mower on my acre+ is an awesome workout and sitting on my butt along the fence row trimming with scissors is quiet, vibration free and meditative. (Yes, rationalization is at play here…)
Ow! squeeze type clippers make MY hands go numb, But it’s all that typing exercise. 😉
Oh, it does get hot enough long enough in most summers: it won’t on this one, I fear: we’re still having 55 degree nights, and there’s still snow on Mt. Spokane. But most summers, yes, up in the 90’s as early as late June and up in the hundreds for a week in August.
Hey, CJ…it’s all your fault (always better to have someone ELSE to blame). All this talk about waterlilies and by coincidence I’ve set up some new fish tubs on the patio. I ordered a new-to-me dwarf lily….Mexicana….more yellow than Helvola.
https://www.pondmegastore.com/shop/product.php?productid=16629&cat=249&page=1
And the lotus talk got me checking out the blue lilies again. Oh my….
https://www.pondmegastore.com/shop/product.php?productid=16345&cat=276&page=1
I have the full sun, especially if I set up another stock tank and move the black goldfish (those that never changed to orange) out of my current tanks. Wonder if overwintering in a tub in the garage would work?? I already do that for Nymphoides cristata. At least until the solarium gets built (could be YEARS).
Was the scythe of your youth one with a straight snath and overhand T-handles, or a curved snath with vertical handles? I’ve been getting scything lessons from a 90 year old who lives near our little farm, and have begun to long mightily for a straight-snathed overhand grip scythe.
Curved, the very old-fashioned sort. We used it on weeds, on ground so rocky and uneven the mower couldn’t make it. The one handle was a reach for me when I started learning. 😉 OTOH, as a weedwhacker, it’s never out of cord, and it’s much quieter. I’m not sure I could still do it, but as exercise, it’s a workout.