Topics

1

Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Looking for a dwarf hardy?

« on: June 01, 2008, 04:16:13 AM »

I'm looking for a small lily for a preformed pond on my deck. Open to suggestions or ideas! 

I don't have anything to trade, but I can do paypal or payment however you prefer. 

2

Pond Chat / First Black Prince Bloom

« on: July 25, 2007, 02:12:40 PM »

It opened halfway on Sunday morning, then closed up tight a few hours later. Monday and Tuesday I kept checking on it, but nothing- still closed tight. I thought for sure I'd been duped on my first tropical day bloom, but when I arrived home from work today there it was, standing proud!!!

Thank's Kat! (And timgod, for the perfect growing instructions!)   

3

Pond Chat / Need input/advice- bulkheads filters??

« on: July 20, 2007, 02:50:38 PM »

I am thinking of bidding on these to over-winter the fish that are in my small ponds (would put in basement):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=020&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=300132128405&rd=1&rd=1

But, I have no idea what kind of bulkheads and filters/pumps that the 100 gallon tubs would need. I emailed the seller and all he sent back was they needed 2" bulkheads for the holes. Does anyone know what items I would need, and where I would find them at??

4

Terrestrial Gardening / Trumpet Vine- doesn't flower

« on: July 16, 2007, 03:38:12 AM »

I've had my trumpet vine for 7 years now, and it's never had a single flower on it. (I was never warned how invasive it was when I ordered it.) It grows huge every year, and the foliage is very healthy. I've read everything I can find and followed every growing instruction, but still no flowers. I'm about ready to try and eradicate it since it takes up a large full sun area that I could be utilizing with something else that would bloom. Any suggestions?

5

Chit Chat / Suggestions for a nice, yet affordable digital camera?

« on: July 13, 2007, 05:53:51 AM »

I'm starting to look for a new camera, but I am clueless as to what I'm looking for. 
Any suggestions for an affordable cam that takes good pics would be greatly appreciated!

6

Pond Chat / Can anyone identify this water snake?

« on: July 09, 2007, 01:42:27 PM »

Over the weekend we went fishing and saw several LARGE snakes swimming in the water (okay, not anacondas, but at least 5 feet long). We found this baby in the grass near the water and snapped some pics before turning him loose. The markings were the same as the adults. All these years in Mi, and I have never seen a water snake before. Hmm.

7

Pond Chat / My first bloom (for real this time)

« on: July 09, 2007, 01:35:56 PM »

My Red flare bloomed on the night of July 4th, but I haven't had time to post pics til now. It was dusk so the pics didn't turn out so great with my cheap cam, but here she is. It was actually much more red, for some reason the pics look dark pink.

8

Pond Chat / Took a drive to The Pond Shop.

« on: July 04, 2007, 04:12:35 AM »

The DH, DKs and I took a drive on Sunday to The Pond Shop, in Milford, MI. I wanted to show DH a few ideas for building some new pond areas with landscaping. The place was okay, although nothing to write home about. The landscaping outside was nice, but the staff seemed clueless, IMHO (and I thought I was clueless). I asked one staff if they had any wakins; she said "no, but you should only put goldfish or koi in your pond anyway". I just smiled at her and said "okaaaay". Obviously the girl had no idea what a wakin was, and she seemed so confident of her silly self that I didn't want to burst her "I know everything" bubble. Another staff tried to convince me floating plants such as water lettuce "absolutely worked just as well as anacharis as an oxygenator". (I'm sure this was because they were out of anacharis and had plenty of water lettuce.) Not to mention prices were very expensive.
 Anyway, all in all, it was a beautiful day for a road trip and we had a good time. Here's just a couple pics of some of the ponds there. My camera really does not do justice to the shots.

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Pond Chat / My first bloom (well, almost! :)

« on: July 03, 2007, 03:48:06 PM »

I'm so excited!  The Red Flare that Bonnie (bunny56lbc) sent me has a big bud that popped up out of the water today! I wonder how long before it opens? I think I read somewhere it's a night bloomer?

 

10

Wakin, Shubunkins and Goldfish... / Other fish in small pools/ponds?

« on: July 02, 2007, 03:06:45 PM »

Has anyone kept small tropical fish such as guppies in small outdoor ponds or lilly pools? How about plecs?

11

Pond Chat / A great site for lilly identification/reference

« on: June 29, 2007, 05:30:14 PM »

I ran across this site while surfing. It has a large collection of pictures of various lillies!

http://www.geocities.com/lilypage808/index.html

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Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Does anyone have a Dauben for sale?

« on: June 29, 2007, 05:17:11 PM »

I'd like to add a Dauben tropical to my small collection. If anyone has one for sale, please let me know- or if you know of a reputable place to order them from.


Thank you! 

Amanda

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Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' seeds (solid white "bleeding heart")

« on: June 29, 2007, 04:30:08 PM »

I have white bleeding heart seeds, if anyone would like some. Trade for anything perennial, or you may just have some. 

Perennial USDA zones: 3-9

White heart shaped petals on the outside and white petals on the inside. Three to fifteen flowers hang on racemes on arching stems. Partial shade, full sun if extra moisture is provided but better if shaded from hot midday sun, likes moist, fertile, humus rich soil.
 
Propagation Methods: Sow in containers and keep at temperatures of 64-71ºF (18-22ºC) for 2-4 weeks. Then move to reduced temperatures of 24-39ºF (-4 to +4ºC) for 4-6 weeks. Then move to temperatures of 41-53ºF5 (-12ºC) until the seeds germinate.

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Photo Album / BUGS! :)

« on: June 28, 2007, 05:55:07 PM »

The first pic is of a neat red dragonfly, the second is an a odd bug with a southwest design on it's back (any attempts at id??), and the third is an unidentified hovering bee (fly?) that kept pestering me.

Oh how I wish I had a real camera!!!

15

Terrestrial Gardening / Growing an Avocado Tree from Seed?

« on: June 28, 2007, 01:37:02 PM »

One of my favorite foods is avocados; any way prepared- I love them. I just halved one while preparing dinner and noticed the seed is starting to split open and grow. Has anyone grown an avocado tree from seed? If so, how did you prepare it for planting, etc. I'm obviously not in a zone where it would survive outdoors, but I thought it could make an interesting house plant!

Amanda

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Chit Chat / Calendar of member photos?

« on: June 28, 2007, 04:09:24 AM »

Someone should make calendars using some of the beautiful shots posted here (with individual permission of course- or by submission). Maybe a lilly one, a pond one, a koi one, etc. Proceeds could support the site or a charitable cause? I know I'd love to have a lilly calendar! Anyone here creative like that?

Jerry- What do you think? 

Amanda

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Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / bunny56lbc!!

« on: June 27, 2007, 03:41:11 PM »

Bonnie, I received my box today- Thank you for the best plants I've received yet!!! The red flare was such a pleasant surprise. I love the dark red pads! I just got them planted and in the water (still have to clean up my mess- ugh).

Thank you, thank you! 

Amanda

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Photo Album / new pond pics

« on: June 27, 2007, 03:28:10 PM »

A couple updated shots of one of my ponds. I have more plant life in there for the fishes now.  

19

Terrestrial Gardening / Sedum Matrona

« on: June 27, 2007, 03:20:02 PM »

I love the pinkish stems, I wish my cheap camera could capture the lovely purple/pink hues of the leaves!

20

Photo Album / A few pics of my lily ponds

« on: June 27, 2007, 03:12:36 PM »

The first pic is of my tropical lily pond, with the blues that Kat and Bonnie (bunny56lbc) sent me (and a red that Bonnie so sweetly threw in!!). 

The second pic is my small fish pond with a Pamela that wouldn't fit into the tropical pool.

The third pic is my "pea soup" hardy pond. 

Can't hardly wait till they resemble Timgod's ponds...  (yeah right)

21

Pond Chat / Help! Nasty, slimy pea soup lily pond water

« on: June 22, 2007, 03:00:27 PM »

  I did (I think) everything I was supposed too with my kiddie pool lily pond. I put it together maybe a week or so ago (?), and I just can't keep the algae at bay. (I put in the oxygenator plants and a few feeder fish, and planted the lillies as Timgod suggested.) I even resorted to a chemical algae remover a few days ago, but it's as slimy as ever. Today I finally couldn't take it anymore and stuck the hose in there to flush it out. It looks a little better, and I added more algae remover. Any suggestions to helping keep the water clearer would be GREATLY appreciated......

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Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Lily of the Vally for trade (plus some other land plants).

« on: June 17, 2007, 07:47:38 AM »

Have lots of Lillies of the Valley. Hardy shade ground cover, with beautiful, very sweet smelling white flowers in spring. Would like to trade for something different, maybe some other shade  plants- or basically anything hardy in zone 5 (or not, I'm not really picky).  I have an area full of these, I would like to clear some out and add more hostas to the area (a trade for hostas would be great).

I also have some other plants/trees. If you are into herbs, I have tons of spearmint and lemon balm- have to check but I did still have chocolate (mint/balm?) too.  I am going to take a walk around and see what else I have and post back. Pretty sure I still have a ton of white lilac seedlings.

23

Terrestrial Gardening / Anyone ever purchase from Hirts?

« on: June 17, 2007, 07:23:19 AM »

I ordered some ladybugs from them on ebay (for amphid control) and visited the link to thier site. I was pretty impressed with thier selections!

http://www.hirts.com/

24

Terrestrial Gardening / Where I got my green thumb..

« on: June 16, 2007, 05:54:21 AM »

  Mum would kill me for posting this early morning pic of her, but I had to share how beautiful some of her roses are this year. I've been trying to convince her she needs a water garden too. I think she's weakening; wait till she see's my lillies this year, and I bet she'll be begging me to start digging for her next year.
 

25

Terrestrial Gardening / Blooms n' bugs

« on: June 15, 2007, 03:14:21 PM »

From around the yard today; a daylily and "friend", mullberry bush, and sweet smelling dogwood blooms.

26

Pond Chat / Gotta love those garage sales!!

« on: June 14, 2007, 12:14:19 PM »

I found a preformed waterfall/spillway thingy with a 10'x10' liner (new) at a garage sale for $10!
There's ALWAYS room for one more wet spot around here....
Wait till hubbie gets home from work and see's the mess I'm making... Hee HEEE 

27

Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Wanted blue, purple, or similar tropical

« on: June 14, 2007, 04:39:23 AM »

I've decided to give tropicals a try! We don't have a very long growing season here, so I'm looking for mature plants, hopefully ready to bloom. If anyone has any available for sale, please let me know.
 
Amanda

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Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Dark purple or blue hardies.

« on: June 12, 2007, 06:19:30 PM »

I've been looking at all the varieties of hardies, and I haven't seen any colors other than red, pink, and yellow hues. Are there any hardies in purples, blues, or other unusual colors? Are all the "beauties" only tropicals?

29

Pond Construction & Filtration / Stock Tank Waterfall Filter

« on: June 11, 2007, 03:59:52 PM »

A really novel idea using Rubbermaid stock tanks, with instructions. Take a peek!

http://www.koiclay.com/diy/pg1.htm

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Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Shipping succulents?

« on: June 11, 2007, 08:04:46 AM »

Has anyone had experience shipping delicate succulents? I'd really like some advice on how to safely ship one to a member...