The
Newsletter of the Springfield Watergarden Society
July 2008
Happy
4th of July to all you little firecrackers and sparklers. We had a great turn out at Jerry & Sara’s.
We had fun too! Many thanks to the O’Quinn’s for having us and to Jim Lersch for his program on photography.
The society is going to experience a once in a lifetime treat when we visit the gardens
of Bob & Buffy Lovett. The Lovett’s have one of the most extensive collections of Conifer’s in the United
States; yes right here in little ole Springfield, Missouri. Their conifer’s are from countries all over the world. There
will be directions, time and more info on page 3.
The meeting will be July 10th so be sure and
to bring a friend for this MEETING! We will have members help with parking as there are off limit areas. To repeat myself
this is a once in a lifetime invitation to our society, so bring your cameras and friends.
July 26th club picnic is at Michael Fessenden’s. We always have such a fun time at Michael’s,
and if my memory serves me right, it usually rains that night. That would fall in line with our wet winter, spring, and summer.
Big deal, I have web toes and algae growing on my arms, legs, feet, head. I look like a big glob of green moss!
I am planning a fun meeting. Jason from Tropical Waterscapes and I will discuss the pros and cons of having, or not
having, gravel in the bottom of your water garden. This topic has been debated for quite sometime now.
We will also have member’s inputs on this hot topic. Pro or con, be there and state your feelings and listen to
Jason and myself state our feelings on this hot topic.
July Meeting
A little more to tempt you all to attend the July meeting.
Bob Lovett’s gardens are a Pinelum. He collects his conifers from through out the world. Grows them in his
nursery, until the plant attains the size Bob wants, then transplants them. He also has 2 other gardens. One in
Texas and the other in California. Bob has made plans for the gardens to be passed on for the enjoyment of the
public, on the event of his death. Bob intends to share his love of his gardens with the public. At the property
we are visiting, there is a natural pond. He has also constructed a waterfall and a bridge. The pond is spring
fed by Pearson’s Creek. There will be some walking involved so wear your walking shoes. No, I don’t
mean we will walk miles, but to enjoy the trees and the pond, we will have to do some walking.
Re-Cleaning Your Ponds
I know it’s a little late
in the year to be discussing pond cleaning. However, because of all the floods, we have had to re-clean our ponds.
Please note that what I am about to tell you may sound goofy, but bear with me. In a water garden there are basically
2 types of algae that drive us crazy. The floating type that gives us green water, and of course the dreaded string
algae. These two types we do not want. Now there is a good guy algae that grows along the sides and the bottom
of the pond. It grows on the containers that your plants grow in, the hose that attaches to your pump, and it’s
called hair algae. It grows very short, usually about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch long. This is where our bacteria colony
will live and this is a good thing. This bacteria is the heart and soul to having a quality water garden.
These bacteria are responsible for breaking down the soluble waste in your water. In other words, it breaks down the
ammonia, the nitrites, that will kill fish. It will feel slick and slimy to the touch.
DO
NOT DESTROY OR PRESSURE WASH THIS ALGAE OFF!
You need this algae. If you destroy it, it could
take weeks or months to re-establish this colony. In the mean time, the waste will build in your pond, your
bio-filter will not be able to break down the ammonia quick enough, and you can loose your fish. Yes, the bacteria also
lives in your filter media of your bio-filters. It’s everywhere in your system and that is where you want it.
Clean your ponds, but remember it’s not a swimming pool. Let the hair algae grow in your pond, it’s
a good thing.
Tropical Water Plants
Let’s talk a little bit about tropical
water plants. Aren’t they beautiful? Of course they are. Let’s talk about something you can do with
a variety of these exotic plants. In the kingdom of these wonderful plants, some will make babies that grow off the
pads of the lily. This process is called being viviparous, or also can be called making Kiki’s in Hawaiian. (which means
baby plant) The Kiki will be exactly like the mother plant. Here is where the fun comes in! When the Kiki
plant gets roots that are about 2 to 4 inches long, snip them off. Get some 8 to 10 ounce paper cups, with water, and
pot the baby plant. Use pure sand mix and then crumble up 1- 2 fertilizer tabs. After you pot it,
place it on the shelf of your ponds, or put it in a small container with other miniature water plants. The plant
will produce smaller pads and smaller blooms than the parent plant. What you have done is made a bonsai water lily.
The mother plant will produce dozens of these Kiki’. Share them with friends or bring some to club meetings for
door prizes. Now remember the lily must be of the viviparous variety. Have Fun.
The Picnic this Year
The
pond tour is half over as I write this article. Ticket sales are down quite a bit. We had good advertising.
The News Leader did a fabulous job on show casing John & Guinn Wolfe’s home and gardens. We also got great
advertising in the week-ender. Two TV stations and several local radio stations interviewed me, so the advertising was
there. We also had numerous water gardens on the tour. The problem was the cost of gasoline. At almost $4 per gallon
you don’t have to be a college grad to figure that out. It’s nobody’s fault, stuff happens.
I will have totals in the August newsletter and Dave Simmons will also have those results on the web site.
The club relies on the profits from the tour to help pay all our bills and also pay for the picnic in July at Michael
Fessenden’s. We do not want to cancel the picnic. In order to continue doing what we like to do, begrudgingly,
there will be a small charge for the picnic. The charge will be $5 per person. This money will go towards the
purchase of hamburger meat, buns, condiments, paper plates, cups, drinks, ice, etc.; so it is still a bargain. The picnic
is a fun evening with good food, good friends, and stupid games. For the price of only $5 per person, we can still have
a good time. Please call me by July 24th to R.S.V.P., so I can get all the goodies purchased.
The picnic is Saturday July 26th at 6:00 p.m. at Michael Fessenden’s.
Directions:
From Springfield go south on 65 Hwy to the Highlandville exit (exit E), turn right and then a quick left (south) on the outer
road. The road will curve back right. Go to the first road on the left, watch for the big green barn, turn back
south (left) and continue to the end of the road. You will see Myron Royce Garden signs. Pull in and follow the
gravel road to the back of the property to Michael’s home.
We ask that
everyone bring a covered dish, your own chairs, and as I stated earlier, we will charge $5 a head for the meat, drinks, condiments,
paper plates, cups, food service. We are going to have a fund raiser and I am putting together a pond keeper’s
basket. Jerry O’Quinn and Jason Harlow are donating some wonderful items for this basket and the
club will donate a yearly membership for 2009. We will sell chances for $5 a chance. I will bring the basket
to the club meeting in July and the picnic also. In addition, it will be at the August meeting. Therefor,
everyone will have a chance to see the items and of course purchase lots of chances. The drawing will be held at the
September meeting. I’m not going to tell you what is in the basket, because I want you to attend the meetings
and the picnic. The retail value of the basket will be about $600. It is well worth entering the drawing. The
items are things that every ponder will use and need.
Pond
Tour
I want at is time, to thank every host who worked so hard, spent hours and of course
money, preparing their ponds for this years tour. I know some of you are disappointed in the amount of people who
toured your gardens. The low numbers are of course due to high gas prices. My thanks and the thanks of the club
members may not be enough. The hard work that you spent is of course priceless. We have to take the bad with the
good, and this year’s attendance is not what we all hoped for. Would we ever consider canceling the tour?
Not as long as I am President!
This club is 15 years old and this is our 13th year of having the
tour. The club will continue having our tours, meetings, and of course our special events. We will have some years
that are not as successful as we hope for, but so what. If we can endure 3 ice storms in 2 years, tornadoes, snow storms,
late frosts and freezes, hail storms, high winds, record setting amounts of rain. We can survive one year of low attendance
for the pond tour. So there is my cheerleading! Smile and things will get better! Speech for the year!
Linda
One
Thing after Another
This pond tour has been a challenge
to put together this year. I gave Pat Ware the names of the tour host for this year, however, I always have to mess
something up. This year has been no exception. I left one of the tour hosts off of the list. I had
to get 1,000 copies made as an insert to the tour guides. The insert provided the names of the host and of course directions
to the garden.
I had also arranged to have the T-Shirts made by the same
company that did them last year. You won’t believe this, but his name is Michael Jackson.
Michael
did a great job last year, so there was no reason not to call him again. Michael has another full time job, besides
printing t-shirts. Michael came out to the shop, on or about the 7th or 8th of June. Plenty of time to do the shirts.
The shirts were for the tour hosts and we want all of them to look alike. On the back of the shirt it would read Springfield
Watergarden Society Pond Tour 2008. No problem! Michael reminded me that he had our club name and the tour in his printer
folder so all he had to do was change the year. Right... Easy? Sure enough!! Well, last year the tour was
in memory of one of our members who had passed away. Michael also assured me the shirts would be delivered by the 15th
or 16th of the month. He called me on the 14th and said they had shorted him 7 large and 2 x-large shirts,
but said he still had time to get the order filled in time.. Oh yeah, wanna bet. The shirts came in alright, but they were
blue. The chosen color was maroon.
PROBLEM<ALERT>RED FLAGS>
The
shirts finally came in on the 20th. Michael had to get them printed up and delivered to me; the tour is on
the 21st. Michael brought the shirts to me and handed me the invoice. I thanked him and he left.
I got one of the shirts out looked at the back and it said Springfield Watergarden Society, Jim Grinder Memorial Tour 2008!!
I about died laughing. I did not tell Michael and never will. Jim was a dear soul, so we just honored him one
more year, big deal. I called his widow and told her about the mishap. I told her the next time she talked to
Jim to relay what happened, she said "Oh he knows". For the host who did not get your shirt in time, all I
can say is sorry. I do have the shirts now, so come by and pick yours up.
You
know we gotta have a little humor in our mistakes. We just want them far and few between. After this t-shirt ordeal
what else could happen? The phone rang Friday afternoon, and the voice on the other end asked about the pond tour.
His questions were to say; the least bit goofy. He said he would like info on your little ponds that are being shown
this weekend. I told him well there are small ponds and medium ponds and large ponds. He asked about the charge
and I said yes $6 per person for the 2 days. He said "how much will gas be"? I replied, "well
it depends on how far you drive". He then asked, "At the price of $6, would lunch be served"?
He also asked how would the host protect him from mosquito bites. I told him there would be no problem and by
now I am getting weary of this character.
HE THEN ASKED, "CAN
I COME AND GET A MAP, GO SEE SOME OF THE PONDS, THEN DECIDE IF I WANT TO SPEND $6.00 FOR THE TICKET"?
I did not tell him what I wanted to tell him. My reply was "stay home, save your money, and just forget we are
having a pond tour"!
Then to top it off, we had a horrible storm that came through the
area on the 15th, with rain, winds, and HAIL. Some hosts had their gardens shredded!
Another set back.
Friday afternoon the 20th; tornadoes, winds, rain, was another set back. Okay, Tour day is finally here and a
beautiful day it is. Wanna bet! About 3:00 p.m., the weather bureau announces a thunderstorm warning for all of
Greene, Lawrence, and Webster Counties. At 3:30 p.m. it hit. Winds, rain, thunder, lightening. It lasted
a short time here! In eastern Springfield, where there are numerous ponds on the tour, the rains are so heavy there was flooding
and some of the bridges and streets are underwater and impassabl. The new saying is "turn around don’t drown",
and that’s a good saying, so many had to turn around!
Tomorrow is the
last day of the tour for 2008 so what else can go wrong. I didn’t really know, but the day had not come
and gone. Again, I repeat myself you gotta have a little humor or things like this will drive you crazy. So
dear members enjoy the tour, have fun, the sun is still gonna rise from the East and set in the West and life is to short
to get all bent out of shape. But for my part if one more things goes wrong I’m gonna hit something really hard!!
So the guy who griped about the six dollars you better watch out! Just kidding. See ya at the July meeting and the picnic.
Linda
Web
Site
I wanted to remind everyone who showed their ponds this June 22nd and June 23rd
to send me their pictures.
If you know for sure that Pat Ware took pictures of your pond, make sure I also
have your personal picture too. I also want a simple write up about your pond; basic stuff like: how long have you’ve
been water gardening, number of gallons in your ponds, number of fish, type of fish, type of filter, etc. Also, let me know
what you like best about water gardening. I am trying to make the tour a little more personal for the web viewers.
I
will post your pictures and information as they become available to me. The end of June, I will be deleting 2007 tour pictures.
The sooner I get your pictures and information, the sooner I can post them on the Tour page for 2008. I will post them as
I received them.
If you have not visited the web site, do so. Let me know what
you think and if you have any ideas for the site.
There is a new page on web site that is a service to
help you sell your unwanted items. It is intended for unwanted garden and pond items. At this time there is no
charge for members. Contact me through email or get in touch with me at the meetings. The items will be listed on
the site for a month.
I also have no pictures or information in the member’s
page. This is an area where you can upload to me, or give to Debbie or Linda personally, your pictures. I can
put on this page; your construction ideas on building ponds, construction pictures, or anything else you would like to share
with the other members.
Folks, this is your web site. Join in on the fun. Send
me your pictures and ideas and I will share them with the rest of the club, and possibly with the rest the world.
Dave
Simmons
Here is a resource you can check out from one of our advertisers,
Tropical Waterscapes. Pump troubleshooting guide: http://www.tropicalwaterscapes.net/pump_toubleshooting.pdf
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June 2008
Happy Father’s
Day!
Well, I finally got to see the Waterfall House. My,
oh my, what a place! For those who missed the meeting and have not seen the house, you missed a real treat. The
club would like to thank Bob & Monika and their kids for being such gracious hosts!
We had a real fun meeting. Jim Silzell gave a fun program on gardening in containers. He showed us
how container gardening can be fun and easy. Any type of plant can be grown in a container. Including, small trees,
shrubs, bushes, and of course the usual annual plants, but also grasses and perennials. Just use your imagination
and create your won unusual containers.
Because of the timing of the meeting, the door
prizes were for our mommies; in honor of mother’s day. So in honor of our father’s, the door prizes for
the June meeting will be for our daddies only. The June meeting will be at Jerry and Sara O’Quinn’s in Nixa. Directions
are on page three under June Program.
Oh what a time we have getting out ponds ready
for the season. It seems one step forward and two steps back. We clean our ponds and filters and everything
looks so wonderful. But, here it comes again, that dreaded string algae. We say “why, why me?
I have spent hours cleaning this pond and here it comes again! I swear, if I see one more piece of that stuff, I’m
gonna fill my pond in and grow weeds!” Well my friends, it is happening to a lot of ponders! Sunday morning, on
the 18th of May, the low was 39 degrees. On May 23rd it was almost 80 with humidity
at almost 7%. The point of the story, is that we had a 41 degrees swing in temps in less than a week! Wide
temp changes will certainly cause some of your ponds to react! When the temps become more stable your pond will react
favorably. If the problem continues, then certainly other factors will enter into the picture. If you think about it,
this is the first time in years we actually had a spring. Without the floods of course, but we have had a true hillbilly spring!
The past several years we have had winter, then immediately went into summer. My friends, you have experienced
spring in the Ozarks! It’s time to close, so I hope to see you at Jerry & Sara’s. Be good
to yourselves and others. Linda
June Program
June 12, at 7:00 p.m.
At Jerry and Sara O’Quinn’s
Program: Jim Lersch who is one of the best professional photographers in the U.S. In fact, Jim
travels thoughout the states and gives seminars on photography. Jim will show us how to use our cameras the right way
so we can get those perfect shots of our ponds, fish, waterfalls, dragonflies, butterflies. In general; the great outdoors. After
the program, we will have our plant sale. There will be both wet and dry plants for your gardens.
Bring a friend. As always, there will be
plants enough for everyone. Be sure and bring your own chairs.
Directions: From Hwy 160 and 14 in Nixa, go west on 14 to the first stop light (14 & Truman) turn
right (north) look for the Nixa City Hall and police station, go a short half block to Osage. Their house is on the
corner of Osage and Truman; on the left side (southwest corner). Watch for signs.
For those of you who have not been to Jerry and Sara’s you will enjoy seeing their back yard. Jerry
has one of the nicest collections of Koi in the state. He also has some beautiful Japanese pieces in the house. They
have a life size Samurai warrior’s armor. Their back yard is a Japanese garden design. I know you will enjoy
visiting their home and gardens. Be sure and bring a friend.
Tour Guides
The pond tour is free to
members again this year. We will have tour guides at the June meeting. However, if you cannot make the meeting
you can pick up your guides at O’Quinn’s ONLY! There will be other retailers selling the
guides but since they don’t know who all the members are, you cannot pick one up for free. So you must get
your guides at the meeting or O’Quinn’s.
I will have dollar off
coupons for the pond tour at the shop if any of you need these coupons for guests or fellow workers. Please come by
O’Quinn’s and pick up as many as you need. The price for guides will be $6.00 per person for the two day tour. A
dollar off will make the tour even more affordable. Again, members go free, but get your tickets at the June meeting
or at O’Quinn’s.
Koi Days
Koi Days at O’Quinn’s Watergardens, June 7th & 8th. Hours are
Saturday 9-5 and Sunday from 12-4.
One
free Koi or fantail goldfish per family. There will be great door prizes, free hotdogs, chips, and drinks on Saturday only
from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. There will be selected items on sale both days.
Bring your kids, grand kids, nieces, nephews. We will have Kadi O’Quinn on hand to paint
faces. People line up by the hour to get their little ones faces painted. Kadi had a tent at the Japanese
festival and she painted solid from 11:00 that morning until break down at 8:00 that night. Kadi does her magic
at festivals, fundraisers, school events, parties and she will come to your house, for a fee of course, and paint faces for
your little ones or even big ones. Kadi also had a tent at Sucker day in Nixa and for a solid 8 hours she painted faces.
Kadi is also going to paint faces at Silver Dollar City. We feel very privileged to have her. Bring
the little ones for a fun filled day. Kadi will be there Saturday only from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Everyone remember to bring your cameras!
Stupid Question of
the Day
I think by now most
of you realize I have a somewhat sadistic sense of humor. I love the public, but most of all I love their comments and
questions.
A few days ago I had a customer who called and he said, “I’m
going to ask you the first stupid question of the day.” I said, “you wanna bet?” He wanted to
know who beat him out and I told him. The first stupid question of the day was a caller started by saying,
“I understand that Koi will not grow to the size of their pond.” I said that was correct and he went on to
say, “but gold fish will”. I said, “yes, you are right again.” (Now here is where it gets
funny.) He asked, “Well, if I purchase a small goldfish, he will grow larger.” I again said that he was
correct. So then he asked, “Well if I have a small pond and I buy a big goldfish, will it then shrink in size
because I’m putting it in a small pond?” I asked, “Who told you that?” He said a place
that sells fish. I asked if he could hold on a minute. I walked outside and laughed till I almost cried.
HE WAS SERIOUS! And so was the person who told him that. I assured him that was not possible. You
know if it were possible, I would stick my fat rear in some old jeans and hope I would magically shrink. Alas, the goldfish
and I will just stay the same size. I am always amazed at the stories and comments I hear.
Spawning Fish
You know, I think spring is here. Finally today is Monday the 19th and it is a glorious day.
The sun has been out for at least 4-5 days now and no RAIN!
By now some
of your fish are spawning and others are quick to follow. I am not a big fan of trying to protect the eggs. I
worry more about the adult fish. The smelt of the male fish is so high in ammonia that it can cause problems with your water
quality. The ammonia levels can spike and will put your fish’s health in jeopardy. These spikes will also jeopardize
your bacteria colony.
I prefer to protect my adult mature Koi that I
have had for years. I have carefully kept them in the best environment I can. I watch for parasites and I
keep the pond and filters clean. I test the water and will shoot any predator that wants my fish for their
dinner. When the fish spawn, I immediately start changing the water out, my big Koi are worth more to me than any of their
eggs. I don’t want my fish to die of ammonia toxins just because some of the eggs might hatch. It is
not worth taking a chance to get a fish that may or may not be worth keeping.
So when they are spawning, think about the problems that can occur in your pond, and ask yourself, "Do your
fish mean more to you or possibly a few Koi babies"?
The Full Look
Want to give your pond that full look? Just as you put numerous
plants in your containers to enhance your gardens, you can do the same thing with water plants. Select a medium size
container and plant several different types of marginals. You could use Black Taro with creeping Jenny at the base of the
plant and add some purple flowered Monkey flowers. Use star grass with black sweet potato vines, and some mini cattails,
corkscrew rush with umbrella palms, the low growing variegated celery, just have fun!
Put several containers in a grouping to give your ponds edge that full mature look. Don’t just line
your pots up like soldiers, that’s boring! Also, what is fun to do is to pot up some floaters. They do not
have to float to survive. As long as their roots are wet or damp, the plant is just fine. Select a pretty container
and put in some dirt, aquatic soil, or even potting soil. Plant your lettuce or hyacinths in the container, water
well, and place the container around your pond. Then, stand back and watch it grow. They make beautiful potted
plants.
Make a hanging basket with water plants. Line the inside
of a hanging basket or use a plastic insert. You can use dirt or potting soil. Select your choice of
plants; celery, creeping jenny, parrot’s feather, corkscrew rush, fiber optic grass, or forget-me-nots. Keep the
soil wet or moist and it’s a hanging basket Watergarden.
Let your imagination
loose. If you have any other ideas, let me know I will put them in the newsletter. It's this sharing
of information that’s fun. Linda
Looking Natural by Debbie :
Reading Linda’s article on the “Full Look”,
I would like to add how you can get a full natural look. The only thing here is some things can really get out of hand doing
this, so you want to be careful on what plants you use or don’t mind having a lot of.
Okay, of all the plants I have, only a few are in containers (waterlilys and lotus being a couple
of them, and a few irises), the rest are just planted bare root along the edges of the pond between the rocks to anchor them,
and I just let them go to town. When they get to be too much, I will thin them out, give them away, replant them somewhere
else, or just simple throw them in the compost pile.
The plants I have growing
freely are the mini cattail, lizard tail, creeping jenny (this one looks good covering up rocks to soften the edges) penny
wart, various rushes, different irises and sweet flag (both the variegated short and tall type). There is also for-get-not
and ajuga growing in and out of the pond. Yes, ajuga will grow in the water. I have some growing on the edge of the above
ground pond with their roots dangling in the water.
There are a few plants
that I wish I kept contained. These are the mint and marsh betony. They are a nuisance to keep
under control, because they spread everywhere. If I had to do it all over again, they would only be in a container where
they could not escape to any other part of the yard. Ugh!
Water celery has also escaped from my filters some years back. I also have to keep it thinned out regularly
from growing around the edges of the pond.. But all in all, the plants just grow to their hearts content, and getting out
of line sometimes. That is when I need to go in and thin them out. However, it is a look I like. Nothing
is in order of size; tall in front of short in places, but there again, it depends on what side of the pond your looking from.
This look may not be for everyone, neat and tidy it is not, but neither is nature.
.
