Dragon's Orchid Garden

We built a small backyard pond four years ago, originally to hold our large Butterfly Peacock Bass, Jack.  After Jack's demise, we bought koi for the pond.  Moby is now almost four years old and 2 feet long. Last summer we enlarged the pond, replacing the rigid pond liner with flexible liner.  We also upgraded the filter system.  The one piece we haven't had in the budget is a UV filter .  We've had such a hot rainy summer, that the pond has had a perpetual algae problem.  Cleaning it is a big job. Wayne saved the rigid pond liner, which he set up and used to hold the fish while emptying the pond.  Lots of muck on the bottom was removed and the filter medium thoroughly cleaned.  After refilling the pond with water from our well, we let the filter work for a day.  In the meantime, Wayne set up a sun screen so the temporary pond wouldn't get too hot. Shaded temporary pond on the left a really big net Moby now has a nice clean clea...

With apologies to Douglas Adams , the last title in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came to mind when we found Orenji floating in the pond.  I imagine poor bereft Moby swimming around alone looking for his companion. From pond Actually, Moby seems quite okay, though every time he makes a circuit of the pond I can't help but anthropomorphize his feelings (too many readings of Charlotte's Web as a child).  Do fish have thoughts? Coincidentally, the day he found Orenji deceased, Wayne went to our local Wild Birds Unlimited store to pick up bird seed.  Amy said they needed to thin out the goldfish in the store pond.  They are really pretty goldfish with really long fins and tails.  She said to come and take some of them for our pond.   I don't think Moby minds the goldfish, but I wonder what they think of this white whale . From pond Moby gets to know his new pond-mates. From pond From pond I made a little slide show of our pond which sta...

It's been raining for what feels like 2 weeks, but is probably more like 5 days.  I love a rainy day, but really,  we're in sunny Florida, and it's rare that we don't see the sun AT ALL for this many days in a row.  And it's Independence Day weekend, which means two whole days off.  What to do?  Make avocado cupcakes, of course.  What could be more American than that?  The recipe is from United Cakes of America by Warren Brown.  I borrowed it from the library, but really want to add this wonderful cookbook to my collection.  The cakes have a lot of nutmeg with fresh ground cornmeal, buttermilk, raisins and pecans (walnuts were called for, but I had a lot of pecans that mom gave me). They are wonderful with cream cheese frosting and a cup of coffee. Then I planted the seeds, saving a few for you, Kim.  We've had at least 6 inches of rain in the past few days and the plants are loving it.  Several orchids decided to bloom. From...

When we bought our house in 1992, the yard was a wasteland.  Literally.  It was awful.  If it hadn't been for the great neighborhood, and the big family room with 2 sets of french doors, a fireplace and a 1953 Brunswick regulation pool table that came with the place, we would have passed.  The yard needed a lot of work.  There were no plants except for several large oak trees and a camphor tree in the front.  There was no grass, just sandy dirt and a big burn pile in the back. One of the first things we wanted to do was create beds.  A dear neighbor gave us a whole pallet of bricks.  She and her soon-to-be-ex had purchased them, but didn't use them before they had to divide property and sell their house. Pam just wanted them out of her yard.  We dug trenches and laid the bricks to edge beds, setting the tops level with the ground so that mowing would be easy. From Garden Thank you, Pam, for the bricks. Neighbors Bob and Donna had a sto...

It started as a hole in the ground with water in it.  We wanted our Butterfly Peacock Bass, Jack, to live there since he was too big for his indoor aquarium.  He didn't make it, but two koi and a pleco have done well except for the time the big white koi decided to try his hand at air breathing and jumped out.  Luckily, Wayne was there to scoop him back into the water.  This was probably a sign that all was not quite right with the living environment.  Apparently, one should have proper filtration, maintain a certain PH, feed koi on a certain schedule depending on water temperature and make sure the pond water does not resemble pea soup. Granted, these are not pedigree koi.  They're Petco koi, the kind of inbred scanky koi that are sneered at and made fun of by their expensive cousins at Pondscapes .  But, they deserve a life and to that end, we've undertaken a project to educate ourselves on how to keep them and the hole in the ground healthy. ...

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, sunny, 70 degrees.  Today is cloudy and rainy with thunderstorms and cooler, with a high of 68.  Yesterday Wayne built a pergola over the pond.  The pond and all of the landscaping around it took a beating this winter.  It was unusually cold, with one memorable 10 day stretch of freezing temps at night.  The pond has turned an alarming shade of green.  The pergola is meant to keep the strongest rays of the sun off of the water.  I know we need a stronger filter, and to add some more underwater plants.  That will help.  At least the koi are still swimming and eating.  Not sure about the plecostomus.  He (she?) is pretty big, but we can’t see into the water and he tends to hide anyway.  What a difference from last summer, when we built the pond.  Apparently, we have much to learn.   From Backyard Pond From Backyard Pond The plan is to plant some kind of flowering vine at each o...