It dipped below freezing night before last here in northern Florida,
and not only set records but caught me by surprise. It usually
freezes once or twice a year here, but never this early before,
Thanksgiving is enough to make the front page on the local papers. The
lily bloomed three times, but it seemed that no one but me was
impressed. It has gone on to bloom an additional six times, for a
total of nine flowers. I don't know if that is common or not but it
sure is a lot of "bang for the buck" for just a Wal*Mart lily. I
don't know what you really call it but I got a sprig of "water
parsley" that I planted near the pond. It has sent out three to four
foot long "runners" into the pond (and everywhere else). I'm gonna
leave it and let the lily and the water parsley battle. It ought to
be fun to watch, the show starts in the spring.

Galen Hekhuis wrote:
I don't know what you really call it but I got a sprig of "water
parsley" that I planted near the pond. It has sent out three to four
foot long "runners" into the pond (and everywhere else). I'm gonna
leave it and let the lily and the water parsley battle. It ought to
be fun to watch, the show starts in the spring.

We moved to Ft. Lauderdale from Annapolis. My wife just
tossed out a dying asparagus fern we had in an indoor pot.
3 years later that damn thing had nearly taken over the
yard. Beware the monstrous plants in Florida.

Chip

"Galen Hekhuis" wrote in message
...
It dipped below freezing night before last here in northern Florida,
and not only set records but caught me by surprise. It usually
freezes once or twice a year here, but never this early before,
Thanksgiving is enough to make the front page on the local papers. The
lily bloomed three times, but it seemed that no one but me was
impressed. It has gone on to bloom an additional six times, for a
total of nine flowers. I don't know if that is common or not but it
sure is a lot of "bang for the buck" for just a Wal*Mart lily. I
don't know what you really call it but I got a sprig of "water
parsley" that I planted near the pond. It has sent out three to four
foot long "runners" into the pond (and everywhere else). I'm gonna
leave it and let the lily and the water parsley battle. It ought to
be fun to watch, the show starts in the spring.
=========================

We got our first real frost the night before last. The nights have been
cold for awhile. The fish are losing their appetites. They're not going i
nto
their usual feeding frenzy at feeding time. I picked all the green
tomatoes. I hope they ripen on the windowsills.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Central MS has had two frosts. One quite substantial. The fish have
decidedly slowed eating.

Tomatoes redden, but to not ripen after picking. That is why store
tomatoes have such poor taste as compared to vine ripened tomatoes.
Essentialy, store tomatoes are vine-unripened.

Jim

Only thing, so far, to succumb to cold temperatures
is my basil. We still have some buggies flying around.
Rain today, luckily cleared up by trick or treating time.
Gorgeous leaves and still on the trees, very unusual
for us this time of year.

k :-)

On Sat, 1 Nov 2008 10:11:18 EDT, kathy wrote:

Only thing, so far, to succumb to cold temperatures
is my basil. We still have some buggies flying around.
Rain today, luckily cleared up by trick or treating time.
Gorgeous leaves and still on the trees, very unusual
for us this time of year.

k :-)

And I'm still waiting for the cannas to be completely knocked down by
frost, Stilllllll waiting. They've been singed, but not enough. Last
weekend I brought in the taro.... and a host of aphids apparently. I did
not debug them and now I see how well my debugging has worked in the past.
I'll probably use some in-home safe stuff on them if they get real bad. I'm
thinking tenting them with plastic and a bug strip within perhaps?

Still need to put the koi ponds on the slowest flow, but would like to take
the mower thru there one last time, as the slow flow tube cuts across the
grass. Unfortunately this weekend has gone the drippy route, so it will
have to wait. Fish are still cruising, temp just below 50F, so they're fine
with the waterfall running for now. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Have you a pic of your slow flow mechanism?

Jim

The other morning Jo Ann in Mobile told me it dropped below zero down there. We had
it only dip to 34. No killing frosts yet.

However, I did get the pond finally winterized yesterday. This year the veggie
filter is where the lily was (in the sun) and has a ginormous chunk of water celery
in a big square storage container. yesterday the pond temp was 42, I will see how
warm it is without a heater. then add the heater. the solar thing hasnt been tested
yet. Ingrid

On Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:17:16 EST, wrote:

The other morning Jo Ann in Mobile told me it dropped below zero down there. We had
it only dip to 34. No killing frosts yet.
...

Zero over in Mobile? Celsius or Fahrenheit?

On Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:16:54 EST, Phyllis and Jim
wrote:

Have you a pic of your slow flow mechanism?

Jim

Not much to see really. I just put a smaller pump in the pump chamber.
Here's a pic of when I put it on the top of the prefilter media:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/koipond/photos/set1/11.jpg

But now I run water thru the pre-filter, thru one bio-chamber and into the
pump chamber where the tubing, connected to the smaller pump w/o mesh
baskets, comes out the top and over to the ponds:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/koipond/photos/set1/04.jpg

Very low tech. ;-) Due to a slight grade everything self drains back to the
pond or filter, so I don't have to worry about freeze ups during a power
outage.

In hindsight this is not how I would do things if rebuilding, we would
figure out an underground way to by-pass the waterfall.

At last, we all make do as we learn. ;-) ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

On Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:17:16 EST, wrote:

The other morning Jo Ann in Mobile told me it dropped below zero down there. We had
it only dip to 34. No killing frosts yet.

However, I did get the pond finally winterized yesterday. This year the veggie
filter is where the lily was (in the sun) and has a ginormous chunk of water celery
in a big square storage container. yesterday the pond temp was 42, I will see how
warm it is without a heater. then add the heater. the solar thing hasnt been tested
yet. Ingrid

You know..... you might want to try water cress in your winter veggie
filter, it is very hardy down to freezing. In your warmed pond I bet it
would grow well.

In the last couple of winters we've gotten down maybe into the teens and my
water cress has survived and is just protected by the screening and
unfrozen water passing it. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Galen Hekhuis wrote:
It dipped below freezing night before last here in northern Florida,
and not only set records but caught me by surprise. It usually
freezes once or twice a year here, but never this early before,
Thanksgiving is enough to make the front page on the local papers. The
lily bloomed three times, but it seemed that no one but me was
impressed. It has gone on to bloom an additional six times, for a
total of nine flowers. I don't know if that is common or not but it
sure is a lot of "bang for the buck" for just a Wal*Mart lily. I
don't know what you really call it but I got a sprig of "water
parsley" that I planted near the pond. It has sent out three to four
foot long "runners" into the pond (and everywhere else). I'm gonna
leave it and let the lily and the water parsley battle. It ought to
be fun to watch, the show starts in the spring.


We had snow last tuesday.....it only rarely snows in Reading
(UK).....and it is almost unheard of for us to even have a frost in
October.....it's still cold.....fish are still feeding if I offer them
but there is plenty in the pond for them to chomp on....

I'm crossing my fingers that a decent frost will kill off the duckweed,
which has been my past experience with the old pond...but nah, not
yet....the cannas are still looking OK...do I need to wait for the
frosts to kill them back or should I bring them in before this happens?

Gill

"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
...
Central MS has had two frosts. One quite substantial. The fish have
decidedly slowed eating.

Tomatoes redden, but to not ripen after picking. That is why store
tomatoes have such poor taste as compared to vine ripened tomatoes.
Essentialy, store tomatoes are vine-unripened.

Jim

======================

If they don't have a good flavor I'll use them for cooking where it wont
matter as much.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...

I'm crossing my fingers that a decent frost will kill off the duckweed,

which has been my past experience with the old pond...but nah, not
yet....the cannas are still looking OK...do I need to wait for the fros
ts
to kill them back or should I bring them in before this happens?

=====================================
We have below freezing weather here in TN and mine come up every spring.
I
never bring my cannas in.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Our canas stay outside all winter and do fine the next year. We get
some days in the teens, but generally have above freezing themps.

Jim

Jim