Well, it's hard to believe I let June and July go by without taking any pictures, but there you are. Here's an overall view of the pond now, the first of August. The first thing you might notice is that I added a flowerbed sort of thing on the west side of the tank. I did this so I could take two of the bigger plants out of the pond proper, and make things a little less crowded. I was also curious to see how the cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) would do in regular soil w/normal moisture levels, compared to the potted one with constant wet feet. The other plant I took out was a smooth beggartick (Bidens laevis).

This is taken from a more southerly angle, so you can see pretty clearly what's happened: the soilbound plant has stayed shorter but stockier, and the watery one is tall and lankier. By the way, the cardinal flower in the water has also put an unbelievable number of roots out!! The pot can't even sit straight any more. I know it could use repotting, but that's not going to be a total solution.

Here's the flowerbed, or planter box, or whatever you want to call it. I just took some white limestone blocks I had sitting around (from another construction project :-) ) and made a box about a foot high, a foot wide, and 2 feet long. Lined it with double black plastic sheeting (to hold in water and dirt, since these are water-loving plants). Then filled with half landscaper mix and half the native dirt -- mostly limestone/caliche.

This (to the right) shows very clearly the long blossom/fruit heads of the lizard-tails (Saururus cornuus). There's no color, but they're very attractive in a textury, languid kind of way. In an earlier picture (in April), you could have seen my cowlilies with their one or two skinny, lonely pads floating there. Now the coverage is quite good, as you can see from this picture (to the left). The cowlilies provide not only resting places for little frogs and toads, but puddling opportunities for insects -- hmm, mostly wasps, at this season. And they also shade the fish. Couldn't get any pictures of the fish, but 8 of the original 10 goldfish are still alive and thriving. They're each about 4 inches long, up from about 2" when I bought them (for a dollar. For all ten of them).

So, our most fun and proudest accomplishment with this pond is the frogs and toads we are hosting. We have three tiny frogs of the size in this picture (less than an inch) -- and yes, we've seen all three at once! -- plus a larger frog of at least 2.5" in sitting length, plus an even larger toad who likes to sit in the pots on the moist soil. They're funny; they all leave the pond when it rains (heck, then they can go anywhere!! it's all wet!), but within a day or so they come back. We like to see 'em. The big frog is a wily devil; he'll stay still as you move around to get a better look, but he disappears at the sight of a camera.

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