Messages

1

Pond Chat / Re: Lets take a poll on lilies.....

« on: April 06, 2008, 10:57:12 PM »

I'll second Red Flare (or Antares)...red tropical nightbloomers. I had an Antares given to me several years ago from Craig Presnell that was awesome. Unfortunately, it didn't make it thru the winter : (  I especially love them because I can enjoy their blooms in the morning before going to work. All the other lilies, I have to wait until the weekend to see them blooming.

For hardy, it has to be Mayla for me.

2

Pond Chat / Re: Pacific Treefrog

« on: April 06, 2008, 10:47:52 PM »

Actually, one of my next door neighbors caught me this morning as I was picking up the newspaper, to complain about my frogs being too noisy. I had suspected that the noise was bothering them because one of their children is about 3yrs old, and a few weeks ago, he was yelling "be quiet frog! be quiet frog!..." I told her I sympathized, but didn't offer anything beyond the fact that we can hear them inside the house, but with our double-paned windows, it's not really bad. I said I didn't introduce this frog, but it just showed up on its own. If I could catch the one in front (which is the one that's bothering them the most, I think) I would, but I never see it. I have tried the flashlight at night, but have not been successful finding them that way. I was just lucky to catch this other guy the other day.

Anyways, I do want to be a good neighbor and try to relocate the frog(s) out front to the backyard where I think they wouldn't bother my next door neighbor. Any good frog trap ideas?

And I do worry about the frogs in back multiplying so much that it becomes a noise problem. I was telling my wife that I need to find some natural predator to keep the frog population in check. Then she told me that she had just seen a giant lizard prowling around in the backyard. Never seen a lizard that big around here. It may be getting big on frogs!

3

Pond Chat / Re: help i have a leek.

« on: April 03, 2008, 06:11:52 PM »

How fast is your water going down?

If there is no sign of a leak outside the pond (wet spot of dirt), it could just be evaporation. If it's very hot and windy, evaporation can be quite high. You can test this out by filling a large container (or even not so large) and placing it in your pond so that the water level on your pond and in the container are the same level. If the level drops the same amount for the container and pond, then you know your water loss is just due to evaporation.

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Pond Chat / Re: Pacific Treefrog

« on: April 03, 2008, 06:07:47 PM »

That reminds me of when I was a kid that we used to go down to the local creek to catch frogs and tadpoles during the summer. We filled up one of my friend's doughboy (one of those big plastic affairs) pool full of them. That was a blast.

Several years ago, I bought some Leopard frog tadpoles at a local fish store, thinking that once they grew up into frogs, I'd release them into the pond. I don't believe they are native to CA, but in any case, they didn't last long in our fish tank 

I wonder if anyone here has successfully raised tadpoles in their indoor fish tank to become frogs...

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Pond Chat / Re: Pacific Treefrog

« on: April 02, 2008, 09:22:39 PM »

Thanks Maryvonne. It's good to see you here.

Warren

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Pond Chat / Pacific Treefrog

« on: April 02, 2008, 09:11:37 PM »

A couple of years ago we were very happy to hear that a frog took residence in our pond. We never saw it, but heard its calls. Sometimes we'd hear it by the backyard pond and other times we'd hear it by the frontyard pond. Never did see the frog though. Then we didn't hear from it for a long time. It wasn't winter, so we figured it died or went somewhere else.

The the frog came back this year. Only it was clear that there was more than one. And they were in both the front and back yards. Finally, my son spotted one of the frogs a couple of weeks ago. A little guy, not more than 1 inch.

I was doing some cleanup in the pond this past weekend, and as I was moving some of the rocks around the edge of the pond, I guess I surprised several of them and they jumped in the pond. I caught one of them to take photos of it. Here is one of the photos. I did a search and it looks like it's a Pacific Treefrog, sometimes also called a Pacific Chorus Frog.

Never did figure out how these frogs came to be in our pond. We live in the middle of San Jose. It may be that some eggs came together with some plants. I guess that's most likely. For awhile, I thought a maybe a bird dropped him off!

7

Pond Chat / more lotus photos

« on: August 10, 2006, 10:46:28 PM »

I have posted nothing but lotus photos this year. You are probably getting tired of them. I wish I could post some nice lily photos, but my lilies have not been doing so hot this year - maybe partly because this Chawanbasu lotus has taken over part of the pond where I have most of my lilies. They are in separate pots, but the lotus leaves do cover up a lot of the lily pads.
 
By the way, the literal translation of 'Chawanbasu' from Japanese is 'bowl lotus.' I always thought it was because it was a small lotus that could be grown in a "bowl," but looking at these photos, now I think the cupped blossoms are sort of bowl-shaped, and that's how it got its name. Also, ever since this lotus jumped the small container I had it in and started growing at the bottom of my pond, I've realized that this is not a small lotus!