On Sun, 27 May 2007 09:03:38 CST, Hal wrote:

I plan on 15 mature, or growing long fin koi
as a max for my pond.

My favorites also, all of mine are now butterfly, and I saw the most
gorgeous one I'd like in my collection in Yakima. Until I see one like that
for sale, I won't be buying any more. The little one I have in Q is a
kajaku (spelling?) very nice.

Congratulations! I had a new experience this year too. My koi
decided to eat and destroy my lilies.

So far my koi have continued to be very good. Though I only have 2 lilies
in the upper pond. The lower pond ends up being mostly T.cannas I've
conditioned to water. But that's why I put in the lily pond, so could have
more lilies that were not obstructing the view of the fish. ;-) Also why
the lower pond needs more variety of fish colors.

It wasn't all bad, I'm learning the value of frozen garden peas.

This could be why the lilies were getting eaten, they needed more greens.

I don't really want to get into the food controversy.... but I'm not a fan
of Mazuri, so I'll just leave it at that. ;-)

My yellow iris aren't potted, just sitting on cinder blocks for water
depth and blocked in by bricks to keep them from falling over. I
think they seem to be a good nutrient absorbing plant for a pond.
Hal

Absolutely!

Because they take up so much space that I'd rather use for my cannas, I now
rotate my plants. My DH gave me these big holeless pots (3) one was suppose
to drill a hole. I decided instead of dirt, fill with water and water
plants. Everyone likes those spiky plants in the middle of these type pots
right? So why not spiky iris? I put the iris in the pots when the cannas
are ready to go in the pond. I have small floating islands I planted this
year with creeping jenny & impatiens to nestle in amongst the iris.

The iris give me great plant filtration in the pond in the fall and spring
before the cannas go out. :-) And then look great by the front door. I
still put them in baskets, for containment and easy removal, but I no
longer use dirt, just rocks. ~ jan
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Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us