The Pond this Summer

This was a good year for the pond. It had a few rough years recently, but I put a little effort into it this year and I think it shows.

This shot was taken in early September, and you can see that I've added lots of sedges around the edges -- that really helps to soften up the rocks and make this a more inviting space.

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That's one of the big changes this year -- the perimeter planting.

The second biggest change was the reintroduction of the frogbit...

...those lilypads in miniature make the water more inviting both to the eye and also wildlife -- this was a banner year for frogs. That may have been due to the abundance of rain through spring and summer, but I'm going to say it was the additional cover provided by the frogbit. Tree frogs and leopard frogs were croaking for much of the summer!

The fish were so happy and active too -- that definitely was due to the refreshing of the water with rainfall every week. Or was it that I added beneficial bacteria again?

The nibbles in the leafs of the above photo were probably made by toad tadpoles. The frog tadpoles are too delicious to the fish to survive -- but I did provide a fishless water feature for frog spawn as I did last year.

If you're wondering why I went with sedges: they are on the short list of plants that none of the herbivores will eat (for me that list is rabbits, woodchucks, and deer). I put a variegated liriope back here too as a test, and it seemed to be untouched by tooth as well -- I'll add more next year.

(The first photo was taken in early September, and the rest were toward the end of the month)

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