Irish Moss (sometimes called Scotch moss in this color)

I didn't realize this moss had a lovely small flower!  The moss survived the cold winter very nicely and has naturalize around the stones lining the pond this year.

snake on the prowl

This little garter snake was very unconcerned that we were watching him.  He obviously is looking at something in the water

Quail keeping watch

Quail come to our bird feeder and pond and always have one bird who stands watch over the others.

THE SNAKE FINALLY CAUGHT A FISH!

We watched them hunt last summer, but here, finally, is a shot of one of the snakes with a goldfish.  Too bad it was one of the pretty ones!  For over two hours I kept an eye on the snake's progress:  he was very camera shy and would retreat under the rock if he spotted me lurking behind the cattails with my camera.  Apparently the snake could not swallow the fish in that position because he always came back out when I left.

Spring 2013 plantings

In a continual effort to keep down the weeds, I decided to try pea gravel this year.  Bags of gravel have been dumped all around the back of the pond.  I moved the white legged pot up to the top of the hill (well, Renee actually moved it for me) and am trying maroon sweet potato vine which I hope will spill down the front of the pot, and papyrus, which I am hoping will add tall interest to the back area.  The Japanese maple survived the very cold winter (reddish leaves in the upper left), and the golden creeping Jenny is naturalized all around the spillway of the waterfall.

Spring 2013

Warm weather has come to stay and the winter weeds and dead plants have been removed from the pond area.  String algae is easy to remove this year because I purchased an "Algae Witch", which works great.  We started the UV filter to try to stay on top of the single cell algae bloom.  Barley products are being added regularly to the filter, and the fish no longer need any medicine.

cold hardy lotus

My friend Susan had an extra cold-hardy lotus and gave me this tuber.  Here you can see the first leaves shooting up.  In late May, despite the rocks I put in the basket, the fish dug up the tuber and I found it floating in the pond.  It was been replanted, but I'm sure that adventure did not help the health of the plant.