2

FeaturesStoring Tropical Water Lilies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 40

Field Collecting Australian Waterlilies by Andre Leu . . . . . . . .p. 44

William Phillips, the Miracle Man by Kit Knotts . . . . . . . . . . . p. 54

A Chip Off the Old Block: Viviparous Water Lilies

by Paula Biles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 60

Water Gardening in Australia by Sheila Tierney . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 64

Australian Pond Tour by Sheila Tierney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 67

A New Scourge of the Southwest: the China Mark Moth

by David Curtright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 72

Pond Contest Entries: Gary DeLorenzo,

NY; Louis Dionisio, NY; Michael Santoriello, NY . . . . . . . . . . .p. 76

Wilson’s Pond Critter Photo Contest

by Nancy Allee: Bobbi Meldahl, Becky Hunter,

Kandra Kelein & Jon Bullman, Stu & Gail Bragg, OH . . . . . . .p. 78

Readers’ ServiceNational Club Director y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 80

Retail Source Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 85

Shopping Mar t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 91

Advertiser Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 95

Subscription Order For m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 96

P o nd&GardenSeptember - October 2001 • Volume 3, Issue 3

44

54

78

14

38

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4

Departments/Columns/ShortEditorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 6

Our Cover – A New Species? by Andre Leu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 8

Casper’s Stor y by Ray Giacobone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 10

Garden Adventures – Chapungu by Joe Summers . . . . . . . . . . .p. 14

You Know, Basil –Koi Picnics by Todo Todorsky . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 16

Native Landscaping – Lobelia cardinalis by JoAnn Gillespie . . .p. 17

Born Free by Carolyn Weise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 18

Pond Contest Entr y – Andrea & Joseph Duggan, NY . . . . . . . . .p. 19

Autumn – Pond Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 20

Autumn Pond Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 21

Victoria Update – Seeds of the Centur y by Kit Knotts . . . . . . .p. 22

Pond Fire by Linda Siler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 25

Koivet.com – Fish Feeding by Dr. Erik Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 26

Would You Believe? Hardy Eurayle by Linda Siler . . . . . . . . . . .p. 27

Cold Water and Fish Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 28

Autumn Pond Tips Nobody Tells You About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 29

Pond Contest Entries– Meryl Lorenzo, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 30– Carolyn Weise, NY; Al Frohman, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 31– Chris & Jeff Desimone, NY; Carole & Ken Gugliucci, NY . . .p. 32

How to Kill Your Favorite Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 33

Pond Contest Entries – Barney & Janet Friel, OH; Robert & Karen Camp, OH . . . . .p. 34– Curt & Barb Gutridge, OH; Sally Hannahs, OH . . . . . . . . . .p. 35

It’s Not Just in Your Head by Helen Nash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 36

Pond Contest Entries – Carole & Ken Gugliucci, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 37– Andrew DiPace, NY; Richard DiPippa, NY;

Leo & Elia Caputo, NY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 38– Bob Maure r, NY; Joe Bonaparte, NY; Elizabeth Mandelino, NY . . .p. 39

c o n t e n t sSeptember - October 2001 • Volume 3, Issue 3

Cover Photo: A new species?Seeds from the mystical, 24-hour flowering, white,species, tropical waterlily of Australia yielded this delectable seedling forWilliam Phillips in Memphis,Tennessee.

Photo by William Phillips

Carpe diem!

Moments of Southern envy plague me as Iwatch our Midwestern days shorten, the

lilies valiantly staying open later and later to claimevery second of sunlight. In the midst of the annualautumn pond chores, Pond & Garden celebratesponds and the world of aquatic plant life with a visitto Australia. In the near future, we, too, will be ableto enjoy the special plants of Australia. In themeantime, start making a list of the ones you want!

Editor: Helen Nash

Managing Editor: Marilyn Cook

Distribution: Heather L. Anderson

Computer/Web Services: Joe Cook & Rich Barker

Art Director: Rich Barker

Staff Photographer: Ron Everhart

Prepress & Printing: Graessle Mercer CompanySeymour, IN

Contributing Writers& Photographers: Paula Biles, John Butkiewicz,

David Curtright, Ray Giacobone, JoAnn Gillespie, Dr. ErikJohnson, Kit Knotts, Andre and Julia Leu, Andrew Lohaza,William Phillips, Linda Siler, Joe Summers, Sheila Tierney, Todo Todorsky, Carolyn Weise.

Portrait of Helen Nash by Ilona Royce-Smithkin

Advertising Director: Angeli Coover105 Seminole Dr.New Ulm, TX 78950phone: 979-992-3870fax: 979-992-3871

Pond & Garden is published bi-monthly.

Post Office of Origination: Zionsville, Indiana 46077.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Pond & Garden,1670 S 900 E, Zionsville, IN 46077.

Subscription Rates: US: one year (6 issues) $25.00; 2 years (12 issues) $40.00. Canada and U.K., payable in U.S.funds, base rates plus $7.00 per year.

Address all correspondence regarding subscriptions, distribution, and editorial matters to:Pond & Garden, 1670 S 900 E, Zionsville, IN 46077; phone: 317-769-3278; fax: 317-769-3149.www.pondandgarden.com

©2001 Helen Nash’s Pond & Garden is published by Pond & Garden, Inc. No part of Pond & Garden may be reprinted without permission.

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When Walter Pagelsand I first collected

the Normanton waterlilies,we believed that they wereNympahea gigantea. Dr.B a rre Hellquist, who hasan extensive knowledge ofAustralian waterlilyspecies, was skeptical that they were N. gigantea. Hisre c o rds showed that N. gigantea did not occur as farn o rth as Normanton. After 18 months of trying to keythem out as an existing species, I now believe thatthese plants belong to a new species.

Native Australian waterlilies belong to theN y m p h a e a sub genera of A n e c p h y a that can bedivided into two distinct sub groups that I will defineas the g i g a n t e a sub group and the v i o l a c e a s u bg roup. The diff e rences are defined as:Gigantea Sub Group: N. gigantea,

N. macrosperma, N. immutabilis, and N. atransA noticeable space between the stamens

and the petals.Spines on the edges of the leavesNo scent, or very faint scentL a rge seedsVi o l a c e a Sub Group: N. violacea, N. hastifolia,

and N. ellanaeNo space between the stamens and the petalsNo spines on the edges of the leavesA strong, fragrant scentVe ry small seeds

The Normanton lily species belongs in the g i g a n -

t e a sub group because it clearly possesses the firstt h ree characteristics of that group. Even though ithas small seeds, they are still larger than the speciesin the violacea sub group. This rules out N. violacea,N. hastifolia, and N. ellenae.

The Normanton lily has the following diff e re n c e sf rom all the g i g a n t e a sub group species.

It has significantly smaller seeds than any of theg i g a n t e a sub group species.

The new leaves are red. The new leaves of all

8

gigantea sub group species are gre e n .The fact that some Normanton lilies have the

ability to flower 24 hours a day is also an impor-tant difference.

T h e re are also individual diff e rences with thefour g i g a n t e a sub group species. It does not fit N .

m a c ro s p e rm a because the petal count is gre a t e r. N .

m a c ro s p e rm a possesses the fewest petals of thisg roup, with up to 20 petals. The Normanton liliescan have over 30 petals.

It does not fit N. atrans because the main charac-teristic that distinguishes N. atrans as a species fro mall other lilies are flowers with blue outer petals thatchange to a deep pink over several days. TheN o rmanton lilies have consistent petal colors that donot fade, change or fade very slightly. N. atrans i sreputed to stay open 24 hours a day; however, thishas not been properly verified.

It does not fit N. immutabilis because the shape ofthe flower is very diff e rent. N. i m m u t a b i l i s and its veryclose relative N. atrans have cup-shaped flowers withthe petals staying more upright than the other species.The Normanton lily has flowers with petals that openm o re horizontally than these two species.

Also, most N. immutabilis varieties have blueouter petals and white inner petals. In most cases,except for rare pure white or pure blue flowers,t h e re is a diff e rence in color between outer andinner petals. The Normanton group usually has nocolor variation between outer and inner petals.

The Normanton plants have the closest aff i n i t i e swith N. gigantea. The significant diff e rences are: Theflowers do not fade, or they fade very slightly. Theflowers of N. gigantea noticeably fade as they age;The flowers stay open longer, for up to 9 days asopposed to 4 to 5 days for N. gigantean; The first-dayflowers stay open for the whole day, instead of half aday as in N. gigantea.

I believe that these diff e rences are significantenough to justify a detailed taxonomic descriptionand a new binomial (Latin name) so that theseN o rmanton water lilies can have species status.❧

Our Cover – A New Species? by Andre Leu

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CASPER’S S T O RY

by Ray Giacobone

Imet Casper in the late spring after aphone call from a man who said he was

bringing over a couple of fish he had foundfloating in his pond. The fish were still alive,and he was going to bring them over imme-d i a t e l y. He told me that he was about 1/2hour away, and he would leave as soon as hehung up the phone.

An hour later the man and his wifea rrived with a 20-gallon plastic Rubberm a i dcontainer in his trunk. The water was discol-o red and murky. I dipped my hand in thewater and could feel that it was very warm ,not surprising on a sunny 80-degree day. Asthe tub was lifted from the trunk, I could seethe sides of two floating fish. One of themwas a washed out orange about 12 incheslong, and the other was a platinum Ogon 18inches long. The gills of each fish were bare-ly moving. Luckily, I had some clean wellwater waiting for them and began makingsome water changes. I also added an airstone to the water. As this was going on, Itook some scrapings for the micro s c o p e .Both fish seemed to slightly respond to thei m p roved water conditions as I continued toexamine them.

After putting the slides under the micro-scope, I could find no evidence of parasites.Although the fish displayed no open sore s ,their fins were streaked with red, the result ofa m m o n i a - b u rn. This led me to suspect a poorfiltration system. I asked the man about hispond size and its filtration system. He said his1000-gallon-pond had a rather large filter

that he ran all the time. I asked about thefeeding practices, and he said the fish werefed only a small amount once a day when hegot home from work. He also off e red thatthey had owned the pond for three years, andthis was the first time they had any pro b l e mwith sick fish.

As the two fish achieved a better orienta-tion in the water, the man’s wife asked if Icould save the fish. She wanted me to under-stand that Casper, the platinum Ogon, washer kids’ pet, and they loved him dearly.Casper would eat from their hands and cometo the side of the pool to see them wheneverthey walked by. If the kids dangled theirhands in the water, he would swim in and outof their hands, brushing against them.Sometimes the daughter would lie by the sideof the pool, and Casper would stay on thatside of the pool until she left. Every visitorwas dragged to the pond for an intro d u c t i o nto Casper.

Not a day passed that Casper and the littlegirl did not have their little visits. The littlegirl was always ready with a treat, which herspecial fish-friend graciously and gentlyaccepted. In fact, the mother had to hide thefood because the little girl would feed thefish every chance she got. This habit led tothe mother always having to buy more food,and it was “expensive.”

When the family left for the day, Casperalways swam over to say goodbye. In them o rning Casper was greeted with a ‘goodm o rning’ before leaving for kinderg a rt e n ,

10

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NATIVELANDSCAPING

by JoAnn Gillespie

W hen it comes to late bloomersin our aquatic gardens we are

somewhat limited in our choices.High on the list is the Card i n a lf l o w e r. Its brilliant shade of red is awelcome sight in late August andearly September. Its tubular flowerson a 2-4 foot stalk are a haven forh u m m i n g b i rds to feed on as theymigrate south for the winter.B u t t e rflies, too, love the flower. Insome parts of the country whereLobelia card i n a l i s g rows naturallyalong stream banks, the red flowers

t u rn to seed and pro-vide a tasty morsel forwhite-tail deer. Thed e e r, thus inadvert e n t-ly dead-head, cut orb reak off, the flower tohelp a rosette to format the base of theplant. New plants arethen formed for nexty e a r. Most of us do not have deer onour lawns to dead-head the plant, soremember to do it yourself.

In previous native plant features,we have discussed how these wetlandplants fit into the ecosystem and howthey function. All of these plants haveone function in common. They pro-

duce oxygen. Thisoccurs through theprocess of photosyn-thesis, synthesizingo rganic compoundsfrom inorganic ones.

All animals, fro mthe largest to the most minute,depend upon gre e n

plants for life. When designing yourwater garden, always keep in mindthat all plants are necessary for lifeitself. There f o re, the plants you chosecontribute in some way to the ecosystem. It will make all youre ff o rts worthwhile, as well as aesthet-ically pleasing.❧

and at night, the daughter had been caughtmany times throwing a bedtime snack of hid-den fish pellets into the pond before she wastucked in for the night. This story explainswhy both people in my yard were concernedwith the health of this sick fish.

While the husband took a break, the wifetold me that the filtration was not as big asthe husband said. In fact, it was about thesize of a shoebox. Also, her husband hadhooked up the pump to a timer so that thepump ran only during the day. She also con-firmed that the 20 fish they had in the pondhad never had a problem before this incident.

After two hours the fish were better ori-ented, and their gill activity looked normal.The fish were loaded back into the truck andsent home with a recommendation aboutthe water, filtration and the pumping. Ioffered a portable filter, a pump to use tem-porarily at home, and an air pump to get thefish home. There were all refused.Obviously I had not taught them much whileI had their audience. Finally, I asked thepeople to call me back after a day to tell mehow Casper was doing.

A week later I still had not heard from thepeople, so I called them. I heard the phonering on the other end and a tiny voice said“Hello.” “Can I talk to your mom or dad?” Iasked. The little voice told me that her moth-er couldn’t come to the phone right now. Itold the little girl who I was and that I wascalling to check up on the fish. With a deepsilence on the other end of the line, Iassumed she had left to get her mother. A lit-tle time passed, and I heard strange, muffledsounds. After a second or two, I said hello in

12 Pond & Garden

a questioning manner. The strange soundsgot closer and louder though still muffled. Iheard what sounded like sobbing. Slowly,with much anguish, I heard these words fromthe tiny voice. “Casper…is…Dead!”

Can youidentify all thethings thatwent wrong?Think aboutthe conditionsthe fish lived inthat put him injeopardy. Thenthink about themanner inwhich he wastransported forl i f e - s a v i n ghelp. Even

question the conditions in which the fishwent home. See if you can come up with atleast 4 violations at home, 5 violations onthe way to my house, and the 2 violations onthe way back home.

If you conclude that any one of these sit-uations were enough to kill any fish, youare correct. In fact, it’s a miracle that thefish even arrived alive at my house in thefirst place.

I make another challenge to you. Whentime is of the essence, you need to havematerial on hand, right now, to transportyour sick fish. Within the next ten minutes,can you grab what you need to transport oneof your sick fish to get help? If you can’t,what do you need to have on hand to get thejob done and done right? ❧

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Ray Giacobone is a retired scienceteacher from Troy, Michigan, whonow enjoys writing and giving pro-grams on pond and fish topics. Hisgift of making learning fun makehim a popular speaker.

be introduced to traditional toolsand techniques while creating theirown piece.❧

Joe Summers is a horticulturist at

Missouri Botanical Garden and the presi-

dent of the St. Louis Water Garden Society.

Hurry, time is running out! Make yourway to Missouri

Botanical Garden toview Chapungu.

Chapungu is an exhi-bition of 67 contempo-rary stone sculpturesfrom the ChapunguSculpture Park inZimbabwe. This art formermerged about 40 yearsago and is still being pro-duced today by theShona, the people ofZimbabwe. The sculp-tures range from three toten feet tall and weigh upto 6,000 pounds. Natural stones ofZimbabwe such as ser-pentine, springstone,verdite and opal arecarved entirely by handand mounted onpedestals made of natur-al tree trunks.

The largest display ofChapungu ever held inthe United States can befound throughout theGarden grounds groupedby theme: Nature andEnvironment, TheFamily, Custom andLegend, Village Life,The Role of Woman, The Spirit World, TheRole of Elders and Social Comment. In

14 Pond & Garden

Shona culture, “Chapungu” is a bird that isbelieved to ward off evil.

The Garden will display themagnificent stone carvingsuntil October 7, 2001. Specialtours also will be held to intro-duce you to the works. Alongwith viewing the pieces, visitorscan meet the artists and evenare invited to work with theprofessional sculptors. A seriesof workshops will be held onthe grounds. Participants will

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One of the greatest thingsabout the harvest season is

the profusion of fresh fruit in thestores. The grandest of these, ifnot the largest, are the watermel-ons. Our koi love watermelon. Thefish cannot wait until spring passesand the first green ellipsoidappears in their pond. They havean entire watermelon ritual. Itstarts with me splitting one downthe middle and dropping it into thepond with a deep thump-plop.Sometimes it rolls over so the redflesh points up. Although I roll itback around, there is no need. The koi can rollit over by themselves.

Once the melon is in the pond, the ritualcontinues with the stand-off. The fish ignoretheir treat at first, and as long as I sit waitingfor them to attack it, they swim around inmarked disinterest. The longer I watch, themore disinterested they become. Of course,when I leave for a few minutes they go right totown and hollow out the red meat and leavenothing but the green rind. They let me watchthem only once. The big ones hit first, dartingup from beneath, open-mouthed and flared-finned. They bounced the melon around likeNBA All-Stars. Swirling and swarming,jostling and jousting, they looked like 5-year-olds playing soccer.

At first I worried about them ingestingseeds, but these cause no problem. Whether

16 Pond & Garden

they swallow them or spitthem out, I don’t know,although I have neverfound one in the pond norin the filter.

In a few days, the nexteating phase begins. Therind is too hard to bite atfirst, but after the huskfloats around for a week, itsoftens to a thick mush.Like proper Southernladies around a buffet, thekoi swim gently by takingleisurely bites. They come

up one or two at a time bumping the half shilland rolling it to and fro.

Now the melon rides low in the water andwhen they eat enough rind, it sinks. The lastact in the watermelon eating drama consistsof grabbing the paper-thin melon shell andripping off little half-circle chunks untilnone remains. They waste nothing and with-in two weeks are ready for another water-melon game.

You know how you get the last bite of myhotdog, Basil. Well, that is like sitting by thepond with a big slice of cold watermelon whilethe koi madly devour their share.❧

Todo Todorsky is the past president and current

newsletter editor of the North Florida Koi Club.

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YOU KNOW, BASIL…Share the fruit!

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by JoAnn Gillespie

When it comes to late bloomersin our aquatic gardens we are

somewhat limited in our choices.High on the list is the Cardinalflower. Its brilliant shade of red is awelcome sight in late August andearly September. Its tubular flowerson a 2-4 foot stalk are a haven forhummingbirds to feed on as theymigrate south for the winter.Butterflies, too, love the flower. Insome parts of the country whereLobelia cardinalis grows naturallyalong stream banks, the red flowers

turn to seed and pro-vide a tasty morsel forwhite-tail deer. Thedeer, thus inadvertent-ly dead-head, cut orbreak off, the flower tohelp a rosette to format the base of theplant. New plants arethen formed for nextyear. Most of us do not have deer onour lawns to dead-head the plant, soremember to do it yourself.

In previous native plant features,we have discussed how these wetlandplants fit into the ecosystem and howthey function. All of these plants haveone function in common. They pro-

duce oxygen. Thisoccurs through theprocess of photosyn-thesis, synthesizingorganic compoundsfrom inorganic ones.

All animals, fromthe largest to the most minute,depend upon green

plants for life. When designing yourwater garden, always keep in mindthat all plants are necessary for lifeitself. Therefore, the plants you chosecontribute in some way to the ecosystem. It will make all yourefforts worthwhile, as well as aesthet-ically pleasing.❧

by Carolyn Weise

In 1998, an idea changed the entire world forabout 435 koi. They had been born in the

“wilds” of the Japanese Garden Pond at theBrooklyn Botanic Garden in New York, wherethey adapted in many ways to ensure survival.They had lived as a gift from the child EmperorHirohito since the park first opened to the publicin the early 1900’s.

In order to survive predators, the descendentsof these original koi developed muted and darkercolorations, a reversion to their species colorationin the wilds of their native Asia. Even so, the old-est koi removed from the pond in 1999 appearedto be no more than 25 years old. During therelease of the new Japanese koi in the summer of2000, I noticed a few fish-eating birds circling thepond, expecting lunch. Add to this the huge snap-ping turtle population that shared the pond, it’s amiracle that any had survived. While the originalkoi from Japan in 1915 were colorful and shiny,the koi collected and moved in 1999 were primar-ily brown or black Magoi.

The koi were painstakingly removed and takento “holding” tanks on Long Island at SuburbanWater Gardens. One lovely black male, about 26”long, is swimming in my own pond at this time.Most of these original koi have gone to newhomes in countries around the world, but of thefew that remain, at least one lives in freedom.

On June 24, 2001, the Suffolk Chaper of Mid-Atlantic Koi Club (MAKC) held a pond tour. Onthat date, during the pond tour, we returned oneMagoi to the wild — a young, 15-inch, “brownBrooklynite.” Through the generosity of SuburbanWater Gardens, the fish was netted, bagged, andplaced inside the trunk of my car, safely ensconcedwithin a Styrofoam box. We set off from Dix Hillsat 9:30 a.m., planning to view the first pond on our

18 Pond & Garden

way to Flower Fields, where a natural pond await-ed its newest denizen. Although the tour pond wasinviting, the fish was still in my trunk, and werushed off to beat our 11:00 a.m. deadline when anew bride and groom would host their weddingreception at Flower Fields.

As luck would have it, our entourage arrivedprecisely at 11:00. As someone carried the baggedkoi to the pond’s edge, I passed my camera along.This was history in the making and we wanted topreserve it!

The fish was a born star. He fought for aminute in the bag, but when I cradled him in myhands, he posed for the camera. After a ton ofphotos, he slid beneath the water and was gone.Born free, live free.❧

Carolyn Weise, vice-president of the Metropolitan

chapter of MAKC, wrote of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s

pond renovation in Pond & Garden’s Vol. 2,

issue 5, January/February 2000.

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The “brown Brooklynite” poses with Carolyn before hisrelease in his new home.

From Suburban Water Gardens,Dix Hills, New York

Andrea and Joseph Duggan, Center Moriches, NY

Andrea and Joseph began with their own pond“wish list.” Joc Kommer, a marine biolgist with

Aquatic Ecology Services, added in-put and built theponds in 1999. You might say Andrea and Joseph want-ed it all – a 16’-diameter and 5 1/2 ’-deep koi pond and an8’ x 12’ and 2’-deep water garden! Since the ponds areconnected and water recycles through both, their vor-tex/bio-filtration system is enhanced with vegetable fil-tration, too. The Duggans change 10% of the water andrinse the filter matting weekly. Once a month, they purgethe bottom drains. Besides regular water quality moni-toring, they use crushed shells to buffer the water’s pH.Photo by Andrea Duggan❧

Pond Contest 2000Suburban Water Garden annually supports the Hofstra

Pond & Koi Fest in August of each year. Last year, visitorswere asked to bring pictures of their ponds to enter in ourcontest.

If you’ve followed a regular maintenance rou-tine of scooping or vacuuming the pond bot-

tom of debris and mulm throughout the season,you may have minimum cleaning to attend inthe autumn. However, if you can see mulm anddebris on the pond’s bottom, you’ll want toremove it before the water temperatures stabi-lize below fifty degrees and your fish are intotheir “hibernation” state. Besides providing ahaven for parasites and disease (especially thecold-water-thriving costia), the debris is stillsubject to bacterial decomposition during win-ter producing a by-product of hydrogen sulfide,a deadly fish-toxic gas, made even more omi-nous by your fishes’ hovering on the pond bot-tom during hibernation. Such decompositionuses vital oxygen in the pond water, too.

For minimal cleaning that removes less than25% of the pond’s volume, the fish may be leftin the pond. Be kind, however, and move slow-ly. Remove all plants to facilitate the cleaning. Ifmore water removal or more vigorous scoopingis necessary in the cleaning, remove pottedplants and lower the water level enough to easi-ly capture fish for moving into temporary quar-ters, preferably filled with pond water. Be sureto cover their temporary quarters to preventtheir jumping out. Also, supply supplementalaeration if they must remain in the tank for anylength of time.

Whether you use a fine mesh net to scoop outthe mulm, a pond vacuum, or actually drain thepond to use a shop vac for the mulm removal,you’ll want to cycle the water through amechanical filter to remove any suspended par-ticulates. Once the cleaning is completed, refillthe pond and treat for chlorine as necessary.

20 Pond & Garden

Use a thermometer to check the water temper-atures of the fishes’ temporary tank and that ofthe freshly cleaned pond. If the temps are with-in a couple degrees of each other, the fish can bemoved directly back into the pond. Otherwise,transfer the fish back to the pond in plastic bagsof their temporary tank’s pond water, floatingthe bags until the temps are equalized. Takeadvantage of the close quarters in the tempo-rary tank to check each fish for signs of para-sites, disease, or abrasions that might needtreatment before returning them to the pond.

While the plants are out of the pond, tend totheir winterizing needs before returning them tothe pond. Trim waterlily stems back to an inchor so of the crown. Trim marginals back to justabove the water level.

Depending on your climate, you may or maynot keep your filter running through the winter.Even so, it’s a good idea to clean the filter at thesame time as your major pond cleaning. (A dirtyfilter can re-introduce pathogens and particu-lates back into your clean pond!) Use the pondwater from the temporary tank or dechlorinatedwater to clean filter media. The bacteria willsurvive the winter in dormancy so long as theydo not freeze. If your filter will freeze, plan todismantle and store it once the water tempera-ture stabilizes below 45 degrees. (See P&GSeptember 2000 for Bob BonGiorno’s article onmaintaining your beneficial bacteria indoors foruse to jump-start your filter the followingspring.) Filters subject to freezing should bedrained and the drain valves left open. A longerseason of filter operation may be secured bycovering the filter with a double, insulatinglayer of plastic.❧

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Falling LeavesBefore the leaves start to fall,

stretch bird or predator netting acrossthe pond a few inches above thewater’s surface. Allowing the nettingto droop into the water can be haz-ardous to fish, frogs, and birds. Onceleaves start to fall, clear them from thenetting as needed to prevent theirweighting the netting into the waterwhere the leaves quickly release tannicacid that discolors the water.

Aquatic Plants After one or two hard frosts, cut

back perennial aquatic plants to with-in a few inches of their crowns. Move

hardy water lilies into the deepest partof the pond where they will slumberaway the winter. Hollow reedy plantsshould be cut just above the waterlevel to prevent water from flowinginto the reeds and rotting out theroots. (Cutting back below the waterlevel is a good way to control cattailsin earth ponds!) Tropical aquaticplants, such as umbrella palm,papyrus, water clovers, marble sword,etc. should be removed from the pondand set up indoors before the first frostsince they may simply shut down anddie once frost-bitten. See page 40 for areview of Joe Summers’ directions onstoring tropical water lilies.

Discard tropical floating plants(water hyacinths and water lettuce)with the first frost to prevent their rot-ting and fouling of the water. If you optto winter them over indoors, keep themcrowded in a well-lighted site (grow-lights will be necessary during the shortdays of winter), and use soluble plantfood in their water. Submerged plantssuch as anacharis will make it throughthe winter within the pond so long asthey don’t freeze. Cut them back belowthe anticipated freezing line. Likewise,pull away excessive moss algae growingon the pond’s sides within the freezingarea of the pond’s surface. (Leave somebehind for fish-nibbling!) ❧

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22 Pond & Garden

ally as ‘Tricker’s variety”. (William Tricker, TheWater Garden, 1897.) Over time, this proved tobe V. cruziana A.D. Orb., the name we knowthe species by today.

Although accession records are sketchy, itappears from old correspondence that Trickershared seeds of these plants with George Pringat Missouri Botanical Garden who shared themwith Pat Nutt at Longwood Garden and ArthurProebstle in Texas, among others. Walter Pagelsprovided us with a copy of a letter from GilbertLambacher, Manager of William Tricker Inc. in1974, that indicates that he received his Victoriaseedlings of that year from Proebstle. Althoughit is not conclusive, it appears that all cruzianasgrown in the U.S. in the past hundred years

Victoria Update

by Kit Knotts

Seeds of the Century

Something amazing is happening in theVictoria world. For the first time in more

than 100 years, we have viable seeds of V.cruziana collected in the wild available forintroduction into cultivation.

Looking to the future, the VictoriaConservancy has embarked on a program ofline breeding the two Victoria species to insuregenetic diversity in cultivated plants. What thismeans is that particular plants grown from seedscollected in the wild will be self-pollinated andthe offspring grown year after year in a “straightline.” From time to time, each straight line willbe out-crossed with another line, producingwhat we hope will be extremely vigorous ama-zonicas and cruzianas with which breeders willmake the hybrids.

Establishing these lines of V. amazonica is afairly easy task since there have been collectionsfrom the wild in the past several years. Cruzianais another story. Over the past year, we havedelved into the history of cruziana as grown inthe United States over the past 100 years or so,hoping to learn the origin of what appear to beseveral lines, that grown by Longwood Gardenand that perpetuated by William Tricker, Inc.

In the winter of 1893-1894, William Trickerreceived seeds from a European house thatwere purported to be the true V. regia (amazon-ica). Some of the resulting plants were distinct-ly different and were “distinguished provision-

originated with William Tricker!If that is true, there has been no col-

lection of cruziana seeds in the wildavailable for breeding in the U.S. sincethe Tricker seeds were supplied to theEuropean house, actual originunknown. A collection made aroundthe turn of the century has resulted inan independent line grown in Swedenand Finland. Seeds from that line pro-vided to the Conservancy last year didnot produce particularly vigorousplants and the line is lost to us for now.

In March of 1999, Butch Weaverand Walter Pagels collected cruzianaseeds in Argentina. A few sproutedbut none made it beyond a few float-ing leaves, and the rest of the seedshave not been viable. Leave it to thequiet persistence of Joe Summers,Missouri Botanical Garden, to accom-

plish the job ofobtaining viablewild seeds.

MBG has staffthroughout theworld includingevery SouthAmerican coun-try except Brazil.Joe has beenworking with D.Elsa Zardini, stationed in Paraguay,for several years on the possibility ofcollecting seeds. Last year Elsa sentsome seeds to Joe, but they wereimmature. Last fall, during one of herregular trips to the Garden, Joe hadthe opportunity to show Elsa podsnear maturity.

In February, more seeds were collect-ed and mailed to Joe. Although most

were still not ripe enough, and it seemedas if the ripest ones had somehow driedout a little too much somewhere alongthe way, some did sprout. From this lot,there is one living plant in Denver andtwo here in Cocoa Beach. At the timethis is being written, the two here havefifth floating leaves of 3.6” and 3.8”.When this is read, we hope they will bebig blooming beauties!

Growing in one of the Knotts’ ponds is a V. cruziana, the resultof a ‘short-term’ line breeding of the Tricker cruziana grownfor many years in California by Walter Pagels and theLongwood cruziana.

A baby Paraguayan cruziana in Kit’s nursery pond.

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In April, Elsa wrote to Joe, “40 fruits ofVictoria cruziana just opening were collectedby my field assistant in Paraguay. (I had askedhim to keep an eye open as soon as theyripened and before all the seeds were dis-persed) and each fruit is being kept separate bymy father (I told him so)!!” We bet Elsa couldhear our cheers in Paraguary.

Of the 40 pods, many had been sun-dried,Elsa thinking that the oxbow lakes from whichthey came sometimes dry out and that this mightbe beneficial to germination. Those seeds ulti-mately had to be discarded, but the remainderwhich had been kept moist have every appear-ance of proving viable. After cleaning and count-ing, Joe sent most of the seeds to the VictoriaConservancy for germination studies and distrib-ution and sent some to us to get started.

Elsa describes the collection sites: “They allcome from the same area but in two oxbow

lakes, each lake around two hectares but roundshape, so the batches are from two populations,one in each lake, each population with dozensof plants. I would say that each fruit comesfrom a different plant because of how far wewent to collect each fruit (they were sparse).”Another lot from the second lake has been sentto Joe recently.

In the 18 days since we received our seeds,“nicked” and put them in 85F water, 17% have sprouted, although not allare strong enough to be planted. Of the others,the seedlings are extremely vigorous. With ourlong growing season, we hope to have time toget some of those up and blooming in order tocollect seeds from them.

Joe, Elsa, and Missouri Botanical Garden areto be congratulated on this outstanding contri-bution to Victoria cultivation. It’s the most excit-ing Victoria event in, oh, a century or so! ❧

Our family continues togrow! During the firstweek of July, Dave and Idrove to Florida, spend-ing a couple days withBen and Kit Knotts andpicking up our newestbaby, Casey. She’s aGordon setter that wefound at Noah’s Ark

Kennel in Deland (386-736-9848). Actually the niece of Benand Kit’s Cheech, little Casey is enjoyed or tolerated by ourfive golden retrievers. Yes, she loves water. Within minutes ofarriving at Ben and Kit’s, Casey fell into the Victoria pond, tak-ing a chunk out of one leaf! She managed to fall into two moreponds before we left for home.

A few hours after Gavin’s birth,Grandma Karen took this picture ofour kids and their new baby.

Alady called the shop and saidshe had a hole in her pond

liner. She then proceeded to tell methat she had set her pond on fire!

She said she was using an oil-encapsulated pump in her pond. Thepump quit and dumped oil into herpond. She pulled her water plantsand brought out an old rag from thegarage. Lighting it, she tossed it ontothe surface of the water. (It madesense at the time.)

Sure enough, it burned off theoil, but it also burned a hole in theliner. The fire then burned downthe bridge which went over the

pond. She said that she could getthe liner fixed before her husbandgot home, but she had no idea whatto tell him about the burnt offeringover the pond.

Preventive pond maintenancewould be to use a submersible pumpthat does not contain oil lubricants.An oil coating on the pond preventsthe surface from taking in oxygenfrom the ambient air, this being theprimary source of oxygen in yourpond’s water. Left unattended, thepond could become seriously low onoxygen and your fish could be affect-ed, even killed. Another way to pre-

vent oil leakage is to store this type ofpump in a bucket of water over thewinter to prevent the seals from dry-ing and cracking.

An easy remedy is to add enoughwater to flood the pond and let theoil-laden surface water flow away.The best solution is to use specialoil-sop cloths available in the indus-try. Setting the pond on fire is notthe way to go!❧

Linda manages O’Quinn’s Orchids and

Water Gardens in Springfield, Missouri,

where she is president of the Springfield

Watergarden Society.

POND FIRE!by Linda Siler

26 Pond & Garden

by Dr. Erik Johnson

Fish Feeding

Springtime feeding is another issue ofimport. It is a temptation on the earliest

balmy day to want to feed your fish as theycrowd the surface. It would be a wise soul whoknew that there would be no more frost orplunges in temperature after thefeeding. It is all too common for aperson to load their little bellies(they have no functional stomach; itis more accurate to say “proximalsmall intestine” than “bellies), butthey fill their little bellies; and thenthere’s a fatal cold snap which wipesout the fish that ate the most, or allof them, depending upon howloaded they got. The problem beingthat the fish are not capable of ade-quate digestion in cold water, andthe food will often turn fetid in thebowel, causing bacteria to cross thelining of the intestine and kill the fish throughthe bloodstream (sepsis).

A good food to re-start (and to close out thefeeding season in the fall) would be Cheerios orwheat germ based diets. …feed sparingly and besure to notice the weather forecast.

My advice is that the fish can survive verywell on minimal or no feeding after tempera-tures drop below fifty-five in the fall; and untilwater temperatures are above 50 to 55 degreesin the spring, and really, until you are absolute-ly certain that frost is past. In the SoutheasternUnited States, March 16th would be considereda good re-start date although we have been sur-prised by deep snow in the past.

…in wintertime, the best time to stop feedingis when temperatures in the water drop belowfifty-five. An excellent diet to end the year with,or even better, to begin the year with would bemedicated feeds containing ormetoprim sulfa oroxytetracycline or oxolinic acid. Starting andending the season with these feeds has the ben-efit of ensuring that the fish neither sleep noremerge from sleep with bacterial infections.❧

Note: Since Doc posted this information atKoivet.com, the government has banned the pro-duction and sale of medicated fish foods. LindaSiler shared how you can mix your own med-icated food by buying a small quantity ofTetramyacin from a farm store. Mix about fivetablespoons with enough water to make it soupyand then mix in the fish pellets to absorb themoisture. Dry the fish food on newspaper andfeed. Store unused food in the refrigerator.

Visit Doc Johnson’s website at www.koivet.com for the most complete information on koi and goldfish keeping.

WOULDYOU BELIEVE?

by Linda Siler

L

ast year a friend gave me a Euryale. For those notfamiliar with the Euryales, they look like a big tropicallily with large, round pads that grow three to four feetacross. The pads bear purple veins and thorns on thetop and the bottom of each leaf. Because their violetblooms are so small, often blooming under water, thepads are the primary reason to grow this unusual plant.They are found growing naturally in China,Bangladesh, and India.

Euryales should be planted outside when the watertemperature averages 75 degrees. A month after I setout my Euryale, it started growing like a weed. When itfinally started blooming, the spent blooms droppedseeds like crazy. With no time to collect the seeds, sum-mer rolled by, as did our brief autumn, and then winterwas upon us. Short of greenhouse space to winter thehuge plant, the Euryale died.

Around the first of May this past summer, I was doinga walk-about at the shop. Stopping at last year’s Euryalepond, I noticed a multitude of tiny leaves growing. It did-n’t take long to confirm my suspicions – yes, they wereEuryales! Apparently, the 14-inch-thick layer of ice hadprotected the tiny seeds over the winter. I’d heard oftropical water lilies coming back from seeds dispersed intemperate ponds, but never Euryale. Mother Nature andher will to survive are astounding!❧

Because cold water holds more oxygenthan warmer water, you won’t have to

worry about oxygen levels in your pond so longas the pond is not heavily stocked with fish.Especially if the pond’s surface might ice over,do not use an aerating stone inserted deeperinto the pond than the top one-third level. Coldwater expands and surfaces where it freezes,creating a convection current. An air-stone oraerator inserted into the pond’s lower depthsamplifies this current, chilling the deepestwater where the fish hover. Ponds have beenknown to freeze completely to the bottombecause of such situations. Likewise, running awaterfall fed from the pond’s lower depthsthroughout the winter can unsafely chill thepond water.

Nor are you likely to be concerned withnitrite presence in cold water since the nitro-somonas bacteria that convert ammonia intonitrite are essentially dormant in temperaturesbelow fifty degrees. You should, however, testyour water to be certain that ammonia is notpresent in the water as the pond heads intowinter. If ammonia is present, you’ll want touse zeolite to remove it or execute waterexchanges until the water tests safe for yourfish. By all means, assess the fish loading in thepond to be certain there is no overload. (Youmay have to keep some fish indoors over thewinter until you can dig another hole.)

Temperatures between 40 and 50 degreesare critical to your fishes’ health. At these tem-peratures, the fish’s immune system is ineffec-

28 Pond & Garden

tive. However, certain bacteria and parasitesmay still be active. A healthy fish can oftenfight off attacks, but a stressed fish may be verysusceptible. Because cold water conditions canstress your fish, you should monitor your fishfor signs of problems. If a fish appears dis-tressed (itching, scraping, white film coating,unbalanced swimming, etc.), move it indoorsfor treatment, as most treatments will not beeffective in cold water conditions.

If you haven’t cleaned your pond in prepa-ration for winter, sediment accumulations canbe treacherous for fish in cold water. Some par-asites and bacteria harboring in the debrisremain active in cold water. Also, while nitrify-ing bacteria are dormant below fifty degrees,other decomposing bacteria continue to workon organic settlements. These bacteria areanaerobic, not requiring oxygen to work. In thelow oxygen pockets of sediment accumulatedbetween and under rocks, as well as in deeplayers on the pond bottom or in the filter, thesebacteria produce the highly toxic hydrogen sul-fide as a by-product. This is the reason mostwater gardening literature recommends keep-ing a hole open in the ice. However, even witha hole open or the entire surface ice-free,hibernating fish hover in the immediate areasof this toxic gas production. Think of the pondbottom as your fishes’ bed – make it clean andhealthy for a long nap.

Once you are sure that the water is safe foryour fish’s winter sojourn, avoid disturbing thefish in their vulnerable winter state.❧

Bird NettingMake sure you rig your netting

enough above the water level thatleaves collecting on it will not drag itdown into the water. It doesn’t take aday for the leaves to begin releasingtannic acid into the water! While a bitof tannic acid probably won’t kill yourfish or plants, it will make the waterturn a strange color of brown, albeitquite clear. Try propping a broomstickinside a pot in the center of your pondto make the netting form a tent-likestructure that is easily rid of collectingleaves. Don’t make the same mistakeI did and think you can keep up withfalling leaves by simply netting themout throughout the day – leaves fall atnight, too! (Don’t ask.)

Protecting Your CrittersIf you don’t care to protect your

future dragonfly or frog population, goahead and clean your pond thoroughly,vacuuming the pond bottom free of alldebris and mulm. However, dragonflybabies (nymphs) and the tadpoles oflarger frogs (bullfrogs, green frogs,leopard frogs) need two seasons tocomplete their metamorphosis. You’re

in a quandary here with dragonflynymphs wintering in the sedimentaccumulations on the pond bottomand those accumulations being thesource of toxic gas production in thewinter. Frog tadpoles also winter overin the non-freezing ooze of the ponddepths. A solution is to provide at leastone flat of mud on the pond bottom inthe autumn for these baby creatures tofind safe harbor for the winter. Also,when you vacuum your pond clean inthe fall, watch for the wee ones in themuck….and return them to the pond.

And About Those Herons….

Not all herons migrate for the win-ter! If your pond is only two-feet-deep,a heron will happily seek food withinduring the lean winter months. Yourhibernating fish are ready prey. A fewempty flower pots or segments of large-diameter PVC will give your fish a safeplace to hide from hungry herons. Iwell remember one New Year’s Evewhen we chased a heron away thewhole night long, only to discover inthe morning he had still managed to eatmore than 40 of our goldfish!❧

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30 Pond & Garden

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Carolyn Weise, Uniondale, NY

As Vice-president of the Manhatten chapter of the Mid-Atlantic Koi Club, Carolyn Wiese has a koi pond, of

course, that holds some 3,400 gallons. Side bogs offer theopportunity to grow dwarf cattail, water forget-me-not, horse-tail, acorus, watercress, water canna, and lotuses. Carolyn andher two sons, Wayne and Rob, built the pond in 1996. Carolynchanges 1/10 to 1/2 of the water weekly, and leaves her vortexfilter system onthrough the wintervia winter drainsand returns. Photo by Carolyn Weise

Meryl Lorenzo, Bayville, NY

Meryl Lorenzo took advantage of ashady, raised flower bed for her pond

design that used two preformed units(57”x30” x 18”deep; 78” x 54” x 18” deep).With Jim’s help, the two ponds were installed,edged with stone, and nestled into their set-ting with landscaping. A 500 GPH pumpcycles water through the waterfall and aeratesthe water for the Lorenzos’ three goldfish.Tiffany garden lights and a comfortable benchinvite relaxation around the clock. Photos by Meryl Lorenzo

Contest EntriesFrom SuburbanWater Gardens, Dix Hills, New York

Al Frohman,East Meadow, NY

Al Frohmanbuilt his pond andstream into theside of his slopedback yard in 1998.Because the actualpond is small,4’x5’, Al keepsgoldfish and a fewvolunteer tad-poles, along withparrot’s feather, water lettuce, and water hyacinths. An1800 GPH pump provides the sight and sound of waterfrom the two waterfalls. Photo by Al Frohman

Contest EntriesFrom Suburban Water Gardens,Dix Hills, New York

32 Pond & Garden

HOW TO KILL YOUR FAVORITE FISHAllow low oxygen levels to occur in the pond by not

turning the water over, by not providing supplemen-tal aeration, and by overstocking the pond.

Allow ammonia to be present in the pond’s water; don’ttest the pond water for ammonia.

Run the filter only during the day rather than at nightwhen oxygen levels naturally lower as plants use the oxy-gen in respiration.

Allow water temperatures to rise above ninety degreesand stress the fish, making them more susceptible tohealth problems.

Use an undersized and improperly designed filtrationsystem so that the water is dirty with particulate matterwhich harbor parasites and disease; likewise proving inef-fective at keeping the water chemically safe for the fish.

Overfeed the fish and contaminate the water withdecomposing, excess food.

Keep too many fish in the pond to ensure inadequateoxygen levels and ammonia- and nitrite-toxic conditions.

Maintain an insufficient turn-over of water in the pondto ensure a lack of sufficient aeration.

In transporting fish:Allow ammonia levels to build up, burn the fish’s gills,

and weaken the fish.Allow the fish to become stressed, which weakens it and

promotes health problems.Allow the transport water to overheat.Don’t cover the transport mode so that the fish can

jump out.Do not supply a source of oxygen/aeration to the trans-

port water.Allow the sun to shine directly on the confined fish to

further stress the pet and possibly burn its skin, furtherweakening it.❧

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Carole and Ken Gugliucci,Bellerose, NY

Ponds don’t have to be huge to lend themagic of water to a landscape! Last year Kenbuilt this 15” x 12” pool that holds only 15 gal-lons of water. The rounded stones and pebblesappear worn by water and naturalize the smallfeature. At night, the reflection of the pathlightis captured within the water. Their white cloudminnows winter indoors in an aquarium. Photo by Ken Gugliucci

Contest EntriesFrom Suburban WaterGardens, Dix Hills, New York

Chris and Jeff Desimone,Holbrook, NY

Enlisting the design aid of Nature’s ChoiceLandscaping & Design Corporation,

Chris and Jeff then built their 3700-gallon-pondlast year. The 13 1/2’ x 18’ x 4.5’deep pondincludes a 4x5 bog area and an 8 1/2’ curvedstream with two waterfalls. The filtration sys-tem involves a Suburban PS750 vor-tex with bottom drain and a 40-wattUV light. Maintenance includes a15% water change each week,cleaning the filter pads, and check-ing water quality. The Desimoneslist their pond pets as koi, frogs, anda Jack Russell terrier! Photo by Jeff Desimone

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Barney and Janet Friel, Newark, OHCapitalizing on a sloped backyard, Brian Wollenberg of Manicure Lawns &

Ponds designed an 11’ x 16’ pond and stepped stream for Barney and JanetFriel. Goldfish and frogs keep the many aquatic plants company. Janet notesthat they use dry bacteria twice a month during the summer and clean the pondonce a year. Photo by Janet Friel

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Curt and Barb Gutridge, Millersport, OH

Thom Jones designed the pond, and Curt Gutridge builtthe 5’ x 8’ and 22”-deep garden last year. The focal pointof the formal design is the fountain in its center that ispowered by a 150 GPH pump. 2 frogs, 3 shubunkins, and2 goldfish swim among the water lily leaves. Barb notesthat they clean the pump each week.

Photo by Curt Gutridge

Sally Hannahs, Granville, OHSally’s pond itself is actually 8’ x 11’ and is home to

water lilies, a lotus, and numerous other aquatic plants.However, the curving and stepped stream that handleswater recycling chores is nothing short of spectacular. Thepond and stream were designed and built by Manicure

Lawns &Ponds. Sally’sregular mainte-nance includescleaning theskimmer net,adding benefi-cial bacteria,and feedingboth plants andfish.

Photo by

Sally Hannahs

Robert andKaren Camp,Norwich, OH

In 1997, Robert Campdesigned a 7’ x 22’ pondand stream that he andwife, Karen, then builtthemselves. They use a1750 GPM pump to cyclethe water through the sys-tem. A home-made lava rock bio-filter keeps the water safe for their goldfish.In the early spring, the Camps bring up the aquatic plants and begin addingAqua Shade to the water to control algae. In the fall, they lower the plants andadd a net cover to prevent leaves and debris from fouling the water.

Photo by Robert Camp

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In the past several months, I’ve been inter-viewed by Money magazine, Kiplinger’s, U.S.

News & World Report, FTD in Bloom, theIndianapolis Star newspaper, our own ZionsvilleTimes Sentinel, the Fox television station inBirmingham, Alabama, and a radio program inPittsburgh. Every interview began with “Why arepeople putting ponds and water gardens in theirhome landscapes?” I usually givethe same answer as most of you –“for the peace and tranquility.” Wepondkeepers know only too wellthe peace of mind and rejuvenatedspirit we feel at the beginning andend of each day with time spentnear our ponds, but USA Weekendoffered a bit of proof to our claimsin their July 27-29, 2001 issue.

In their “News & Views” columnon page ten, USA Weekend offereda photo of a rippling stream withthe caption, “A picture is worth1,000 aspirin.” In the text they citedJohns Hopkins School of Medicinein Baltimore, which credits a cur-tain-like mural (Bedscapes) of anature scene, including water andbird sounds, that they have testedwith patients undergoing bron-choscopy, a procedure involving theplacement of tubes in the patient’snose and lungs. Painful! Yet, JohnsHopkins says that the water/birdmural decreases pain by 43%!More than fifty other hospitals andnursing homes across the countryare using the unique remedy.

36 Pond & Garden

Katherine Bowman of the University ofCalifornia at San Francisco Pain ManagementCenter is quoted in the article: “In essence, youare taking your mental focus away from pain andplacing it in a pleasant situation.”

The sound of water, the sight of water, the lifein the water – all are healing, we know. And nowwe know it’s not just in our heads!❧

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Contest EntriesFrom Suburban Water Gardens, Dix Hills, New York

Carole and Kenneth Gugliucci, Bellerose, NY

Wanting a dedicated

koi pond and a watergarden, Carole and KennethGugliucci turned to BobBonGiorno and SuburbanWater Gardens to fulfill theirdream with a dual-pond andside-bogs design. The 10,000-gallon system measures 24’ x11’ and uses a 1/2 HP pump torecycle water through a bot-tom drain and a vortex bio-filter. Carole and Ken havenamed most of their fish,including Raider.

Photos by Ken Gugliucci

Contest EntriesFrom Suburban Water Gardens, Dix Hills, New York

38 Pond & Garden

Elizabeth Mandelino,East Meadow, NY

Liz designed and built her 12’ x 14’pond in 1997, which means her koihave grown to good size and readily

eat from her hand. Liz enjoys spend-ing time with her pond and vacuums abit of it each day, cleaning her filteronce a week. Photo by Liz Mandelino

Richard DiPippa, Mastic Beach, NY

When Richard DiPippa decided tobuild a pond last year, he listened toall those people who say they wishthey’d “made it bigger.” Richard builta 28’ x 20’ pond that holds nearly10,000 gallons! A 11/2 HP pump cyclesthe water through the Suburban vor-tex filtration system and stream. Koi,goldfish, and frogs enjoy the pond.

Photo by Richard DiPippa

Leo and Elia CaputoElia Caputo had some basic ideas

of how she wanted the pond off theirback patio. Anchor Landscapingoffered some suggestions, too, andbuilt the 5’ x 9’ x 27” deep pond in1995. Both marginal aquatic plantsand a water lily share the pond withkoi and comet goldfish. Dwarf sweet flag is tucked among the stonework of the waterfall that is pow-ered by two 1200 GPH pumps. Photo by Elia Caputo

Andrew DiPace,Massapequa Park, NY

Andrew designed and built his 9’ x 16’x 32”-deep pond in 1998. He uses threepumps (1200, 700, and 500 GPH) to recy-cle water through an up-flow bio-filterand past a 40 watt UV light. Although hehas only 4 koi in the large pond, morethan 40 goldfish – comets, shubunkins,black moors, and fan tails, keep the pondcolorful and active. Andrew cleans thefilter pads and settling area every 4 to 5days and changes 250-300 gallons every week. Every two weeks, he backflushes the bio-filter. Keepingthe plants pruned and the water tested each week completes his maintenance. Photo by Andrew DiPace

Joe BonaparteIn 1997, Joe Bonaparte enlisted the

aid of Bob BonGiorno and SuburbanWater Gardens to design a large koipond in his side yard. The 21’ x 21’ pondfeatures a waterfall at the far end and akoi feeding deck, decked entertainmentarea, and a gazebo at the other. Sidebogs are home to aquatic plants. Thevortex filtration system and waterfalluse two pumps, a 1/4HP and a 1/6HP.Joe purges his vortex once a week andcleans his skimmers daily. His 20 largeand beautiful koi appreciate their special pond! Photo by Joe Bonaparte

Bob Maurer,Hicksville, NY

Rich Maurerredesigned the original 4’x 30” pond and spilloverby moving them to thetop and then adding a 4 x6’ pond in the front as themain pond. Using thearrangement of rocks, hemade the two ponds

appear to be one, although they are sep-arate constructions. While a hardy waterlily grows in the upper pond, Bob enjoystwo tropical water lilies in the mainpond. A 250 GPH pump gently cyclesthe water so as to not disturb the lilies.Interestingly, a coleus is quite at home inthe summer pond! Photo by Bob Maurer

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all the foliage and remove all the roots and soilfrom the hard, bulb-like structure. This storageunit is called a tuber. The tuber should be firmwhen you apply pressure. A tuber can range insize from a marble to a football-size mass andwill be purplish brown in color.

Step Three: Wash the tubers. Clean all thesoil from the tuber and remove any roots andleaves. Allow the tuber to air-dry overnight.

Step Four: Moisten sand. This is the mostimportant step of all. You need only slightlymoisten a batch of sand. Two cups of sand pertuber is about the amount you will need. Be sureyour sand is barely moist. When you scoop up ahandful, it should stay in a clump but not be sowet that water is dripping from your hand. It isbetter to have the sand drier than to be too wet.

41

Step Five: Treat your tubers with a fungi-cide. I like to use Banrot. The fungicide willkeep your tuber from rotting. Follow theproduct’s directions and you should not haveany problems.

Step Six: Use a plastic air-tight containerwith a lid to keep your tubers through thewinter months. Place a thin layer of moistenedsand in the bottom of your container. Layyour tubers in the sand, making sure they donot come into contact with each other. Ifneeded, place another layer of sand, and thenanother layer of tubers. Fill the container upwith sand and seal.

Step Seven: Label the outside of your con-tainer. Use a separate container for each varietyof water lily.

“Creating backyard havens.”

by Joe Summers, Missouri Botanical Garden

Joe Summers shares the MBG method,

developed by George Pring,

of wintering tropical water lilies.

Once pond owners discover the pure joyand satisfaction of tropical water lilies,

they never make it through another seasonwithout adding tropical lilies to their ponds.Tropical water lilies are the best plant that canbe added to a pond. They give you flowersevery day of the season if given sunlight andsome fertilizer. Tropical water lilies offershades of blue, andthere are also night-blooming varieties.Hardy water liliesdo not have blues ornight bloomers.When you comparethe price of the lilies,you by far get morebang for your buckwith a tropical lily.

Late October inSt. Louis concludesa long, colorfulshow for the tropi-cal water lily. Now isthe time to make achoice: either let the

40 Pond & Garden

winter cold take your lily, or bring your lilyindoors. What, you don’t have a pond insidewith lights? No problem, you can store yourlily dry, and here’s a step-by-step way to makeyour choice successful.

Step One: Remove your potted tropicalwater lily from the pond. If your night tem-peratures are above 50 degrees, all you needto do is set your lilies on the rocks outside thepond. For the propagation collection of tropi-cal water lilies at MBG, I remove the waterfrom the tanks.

Step Two: After one week of dry time,remove your plant from the pot. Next, cut away

WinteringTROPICAL

WATER LILIES(Reprinted from Pond & Garden, vol. 2 issue 3)

While our tropical water lilies at the MBG could we wintered intact within the greenhouse, we usethese plants for propagation, which is basically what you are doing when you store tropical tubersfor the winter to restart in the following spring.

You can set your tropical lily pots outside the pond to dry out, but I just drain the water from their tanks in the greenhouse.

42 Pond & Garden

Step Eight: Place your tuber containers ina cool, dark place, like a basement. Keepingyour tubers at room temperature works well.

Step Nine: Check your containers aboutonce per month. You are looking for mold onthe tubers. If you find any rotten or moldytubers, discard them and retreat the remain-ing tubers in that container with fungicide.Also, add moisture to containers if the sandhas become dry.

Step Ten: Check Pond & Garden maga-zine in the late winter for a Step-by-stepmethod of bringing your tropical water liliesout of storage.

You can leave tubers in dry storage forup to three years without any problems.This storage method will allow you to fea-ture different tropical water lilies for anumber of years. You can also trade for dif-ferent tubers among your local water gar-den society members.❧

Joe Summers is a Horticulturist with MissouriBotanical Garden. Additionally, Joe is on staff atPlant, Ponds & More in Affton, Missouri.Currently, he is president of the St. Louis WaterGardening Society.

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After hosing the soil from the lily’s root mass, John Spitler beginslooking for the smaller tubers around the mother plant’s rhizome.

Day-blooming tropical lilies will produce the nut-like tubers aroundthe base of the mother plant. Night bloomers produce theirs embed-ded within the mother plant’s rhizome. John locates a tuber.

John pulls the tuber free from the mother plant.

The tubers are allowed to air-dry for a day or two and aretreated with a fungicide.

Many of George Pring’s tropical water lily introductions are included in the display at MissouriBotanical Garden. N. ‘Bagdad’, shown above was introduced in 1941. Tubers of ‘Bagdad’ can be storedin the method demonstrated in this feature, or you can use a heated and well-lighted aquarium to win-ter viviparous plantletsproduced by the moth-er plant.

Packages are prepared with barely moistened sand. The dried tubers areplaced onto the sand, taking care that none of the tubers are touching.Barely damp sand will cover each layer of tubers before they are sealedinside and the package labeled.