Backyard Pond

Discussion of backyard pond, frogs, goldfish and plants.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Beautyberry Grows Huge

 This year our American Beautyberry bush has grown much larger.  I'm not sure why it took off this year but I have a guess at the reason.  16 months ago we removed our air conditioner condensing that exhausted hot air all summer long.  I think all of that hot air may have limited the growth of this bush. 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Cutest Turtle Ever

 Yesterday I was surprised to see a tiny turtle sitting on one of the floating rocks in the large pond.  The last time we saw a baby turtle was in 2009 but that baby was much larger than this one.  This guy is only about 1 inch long.  In 2010 we watched some turtle nests but missed the babies emerging from this ground.  This baby turtle looks like a tiny version of the giant turtle I saw in the driveway last week.  I hope we get to see this little guy grow into an adult.

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Black Magic Flourishes

 This has been a great year for the Black Magic plants.  They have grown large and healthy.  They were doing so well, we split one into four new pots and those as shown in the second picture are doing as well as the host plant.  Unfortunately the weeds around the frog pond are growing like crazy.  I need to clear out those weeds so we can see the pond again.

Saturday, September 08, 2012

New Pineapple

 My wife noticed a wonderful surprise the other day.  A brand new pineapple fruit is sprouting out of one of our pineapple plants.  We enjoyed watching another one grow to a good sized fruit a couple of years ago before it was stolen by a neighborhood critter.  We'll protect this one a lot better this time.  A couple of months ago, our sunflower garden was looking good but now as you see it is looking pretty sad.  In addition to the coming fall season, the plants got a little beat up from some heavy rain storms we've had recently.

Friday, September 07, 2012

Wildlife Visitors

 Again this year, the butterfly bushes have created a great environment for butterflies.  Our four bushes are 10 feet tall and almost that wide.  They are covered with white and purple flowers attracting a bunch of butterflies.  I love watching the butterflies float from flower to flower.  Yesterday I noticed a surprise guest in the driveway.  This giant turtle about a foot long was waiting when I came home.  I took a quick picture before the turtle moved on.  I haven't seen one of these giant turtle in several years when we noticed a couple laying eggs in our yard.