pond6

Starting to look good, the lilys are doing well but the goldfish keep eating the duckweed
Touch the picture to see what it looks like NOW (Summer 2000)

After being very murky and green for about 6 weeks after filling it - I came home after the 4th of July weekend to find that I could see all the way to the bottom. I have about 20 trapdoor snails and 6 freshwater clams that seem to be doing their job of keeping the water filtered and clean. The snails are huge, about the size of golfballs and the clams are about 4-5 inches across.

The marginals in the top right of the picture are Swamp Buttercups, which had very pretty yellow flowers the first of June. At the top left are Cameleon plants which have variegated pink and green leaves. Bottom right, there are some Horsetail or Scouring Rush and the floating Water Lettuce is in the bottom center.

I made 3 fake water lilys in the beginning to provide some shade before the real plants took over, they are made of green craft foam and an artificial rose, with a circle of styrofoam cut from a takeout container to provide bouyancy. I used fishing line and lead sinkers to keep them from flipping out of the pond in the wind.

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