Four months of growth.

[mascot]

This picture is from when I first planted these Tropical Cannas (or whatever they're called) and the second picture is the violet stem taro that I planted.  Note the heights.  They were planted in mid April.


and these two pictures were taken the other day:


and in May I had just four water lettuce plants and I gave two of them to Songbird.  Now look at my pond...this channel is filled under the bridge with water lettuce, and the main pond has several as well.

[CT]

Wow..look at the growth    And look at that lettuce..I am sick of my two little ones that just sit there looking like they wish they could die and get it over with. Pitiful..thanks for the picture of how they are supposed to be 
Glad to see you posting again

[barb]

Very impressive!   

[mcp]

Simply amazing how prolific some of these water plants can be with the right growing conditions. Thanks for posting photos. Love your pond.

[Kittyzee]

How beautiful!!  I've never seen water lettuce that healthy!  Like Kay, my lettuce just sat there wanting to die, so I pulled it out and threw it over the fence into my pasture.  There, see if you can do better in here   Your cannas and taro are very nice...I think I'd like to try my hand at the taro next year too.

LuAnn

[mascot]

How beautiful!!  I've never seen water lettuce that healthy!  Like Kay, my lettuce just sat there wanting to die, so I pulled it out and threw it over the fence into my pasture.  There, see if you can do better in here   Your cannas and taro are very nice...I think I'd like to try my hand at the taro next year too.

LuAnn

thanks...the weird thing is that I had a few water hyacinth and they all just died and faded away.  I wanted that channelt to fill up with hyacinth, but it never grew beyond an inch.  Then I gave two water lettuce to Songbird thinking maybe she will have better luck and then I noticed it taking off.  I mean, that was just TWO single plants!  I would have liked to see some blooms on the hyacinth, but the main thing was to provide cover for the channel since it's shallow and the fish like to swim up under the bridge.

The taro I got was listed as violet stem, but then I got others that were called violet stem and they didn't do well at all.  This particular large one has velvety leaves, rather than shiny, and I put it directly in the flow of water.  I stacked a couple large rocks to hold it in place and, well...you see what happened.

The other thing that really took off was the pennywort.  Currently the catch pond has lots of pennywort growing in it and it started with about three or four small dying plants that I just shoved behind some rocks without fertilizer or dirt/sand.  It filled the area and I like that because now all the water passes through that and I've had very little algae to deal with this summer...even during the hotter months.  I have a little now, but nothing major.

Good luck with yours...if there's anything I can help with just give me a holler.

-Michael

[Kittyzee]

Thanks Michael.  My experience was the opposite of yours..my hyacinth went NUTS and like Ky Kim, some of my plants are a yard tall!!    Seems they like crowded conditions like in my veggie filter.  I've given BAGS full away, took bunches of them back to our swamp/pond and then I've just started pitching them over the fence into the pasture too.  My DH said we should put a sign in the yard selling them, we could have made some bucks I tell ya!   This is not a very good pic, but I had never seen hyacinths bloom before, they are very pretty

LuAnn

[mascot]

oh, I like that.  I wish mine would have done that.  I have never had a hyacinth bloom.  Well, never is too long of a word since my pond isn't a year old yet.  I wonder if there are other varieties of hyacinth that don't grow tall and don't bloom?  Mine never got pas a few new leaves, and they did spread but never got higher than a couple inches.  I will try next spring again, but if the lettuce takes over then fine by me!

yours looks great....

[Ky Kim]

Michael, what zone are you in I forgot.  Hmmmm, I might have an idea in a couple weeks or so, if your a higher zone.  My ponding season is almost over.  :'(

Kim

[mascot]

Michael, what zone are you in I forgot.  Hmmmm, I might have an idea in a couple weeks or so, if your a higher zone.  My ponding season is almost over.  :'(

Kim

hmmm...what zone am I in.  Let me get out my "spin the wheel o'temp zone" again!   Iv'e been told everything from 7 to 10, so I'm going for zone 8.5BR549. 

that doesn't help much, does it? sowwy

[barb]

This was my first year as a ponder, and I bought 6 water hyacinths.  I guess they loved my pond, because they have about taken over!  They have really multiplied, and I had 7 or 8 blooms from them this summer.  They are not hardy though, are they?  I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I have been wondering about them....I am in zone 6 in Connecticut, should I remove the hyacinth before a frost?  Immediately following?  I am new to all this.   

[mascot]

don't worry, there's no such thing as hijacking my thread, I don't own it!   

I hear that they aren't very hardy but since they're supposed to take off like they do most people just pitch them at the end of the summer and buy a couple plants in the spring and let them take over again.  I guess that helps to keep them from taking over indefinitely.

I threw out about 20 water lettuce yesterday because they aren't allowing any space for the water lilies in the main area.  But yes, I'd pitch them over winter and then buy a couple in the spring...5 - 10 bucks isn't bad for a yearly expense on them.

[reptilegrrl]

First the bud, spotted early one morning:



Then the bloom, several hours later:



It seems to me that WH need lots of sun to bloom.

[bunny56lbc]

Your water lettuce looks great ! I've never had any luck with it myself, it always died.
But the water hyacinth goes nuts , I usally end up throwing out buckets & buckets of it .
Love the Taro !

Bonnie