The Glory of Spring

Oh, the glory!  Spring brings the best time for our pond garden.  The Phlox is in all it's splendor.  The Ajuga is blooming as well--too bad the blight decimated a large portion of the Ajuga bed (left side of photo above).  The Yellow Flag Irises in the water are doing their best, despite that they need re-potting yet again!  I divided them in the fall, but they are floating out of their planters, hence the one in the foreground that is askew.  (I need to find another planting medium.) The bench is waiting to offer some quite contemplation, which it provides to great satisfaction.  I love this time of
year!

See the lovely (not) Mint's habit of spreading into unwanted places.  It is in the middle of this photo, sprouting where I don't want it to grow.  The Phlox and Moneywort are almost equal competitors, making the task of keeping the Mint in check a bit easier.  I pull these babies out asap when they stray.  Sometimes I wonder if my neighbor bearing gifts had something sinister in mind when he said "Every garden needs some mint"!  LOL

This picture gives a foreshadow of the summer months to come. You can almost see how the pond area becomes quite jungle-like.  To come by June are very tall Mint stands, and very, very tall native Daylily blossoms.  Also what I believe is a variety of Purple Loosestrife--an outlaw plant given to me by my sister.  It springs up behind the bench to five feet tall.  I do my best to keep it from spreading by pruning blossoms before they go to seed.

Our Japanese Maple is seeing happy days!  After 10 years of existing in the deep shadow of the north side of our house, my son and I transplanted it to this spot when we built the pond.  At that time it was just a very thick trunk with a few spindly branches.  It is now fulfilling it's destiny, filling out nicely.  Underneath is this year's crop of wild strawberry.  I sometimes don't know what to do with that plant.  I am torn between letting it be or pulling it out.  It has crowded out the Rose Mallow this year.  But neither variety is one of my favorites....so the jury is out.

One of my faves:  Pitcher Plants in the bog!  The progress of their flowering continues onward. These flower shoots will grow to almost two feet high, then blossom into fantastic, prehistoric-looking forms.

I don't believe I have showed you the actual drain yet.  This is how we drain the sludge from the bottom of the pond.

The Daylilies are marching onward!  Very vigorous and never a care.

Sadly, the Japanese Irises seem to be declining.  It has only been three years or so, but possibly they need dividing already.  I am not a good divider.  Don't like to do it, and do not have much experience. The Daylilies will move on in if given the chance.

We love the pond's frogs almost as much as the fish!  Sadly, every year there are also Garter Snakes who eat the frogs.  This year Doug and Foster caught five snakes and re-located them to a nearby creek.  Hopefully the frogs will re-group after the assault from the large amount of snakes and the water freezing in the upper pool last winter.

I hope you have enjoyed a look at this stage of Pond Chronicles!  The garden peaks in May, when the Irises and Pitcher Plants bloom.  Don't miss it!!!

Have a wonderful week.