This is the new spillway added to the waterfall in April of 2021. It is level and the water fall looks ok. The surrounding area, that is: the mountain for the waterfall still needs a lot of work to make it look more natural. I hope to be adding rock plants to the sides, and make this side a more gradual slope. The birds use the spill rock as a drinking place and a bird bath. All this bird attention seems to have added more nitrogen or whatever to cause a green algae to form. I have just started putting D-Solv into the pond and does seem to be working to get rid of the algae. We have also had some very windy days that add more debris to the pond.
As well as the spillway I have renovated all the edges and the stepping stones. The edging plants are coming along nicely to fill in. I have moved the lantern several times, and it now sits at the end of the dry stream, which now ends at the curve in the stream that goes along the deck edge. This part of the old dry stream has some of my best moss. It grows over the wood pieces that line this part of the old dry stream. The little fountain adds more aeration to the water and looks good.
I have been doing a lot of path renovations this Spring. This is the much improved path that runs from the entry by the little rockery, along the cedar hedge to the other side of the cut garden where it meets the path that goes between the cut garden and the 5 feet of that side of this area that has Irises, herbs, oak tree, lilac.; and goes into the entry to the pond by the mermaid side of the waterfall.
This black squirrel, I think is the culpert that has been digging in the garden. Its a mutation and is bigger that the other squirrels. I haven't seen it lately, thank heavens. I haven't seen the nice, smaller red one with the fine big bushy tail, either.
This great big beautiful great blue heron, ate all of the lovely goldfish I had in the pond! So, I have put tomato cages into the pots at the shallow sides of the pond with bamboo stakes through them to act as a fence to keep the heron out, hopefully. The heron was even standing on the edge of the tub garden on the deck and ate both of the goldfish in there too. The tub in the woodland had yellow flag water iris, that are invasive. While emptying the tub I found a little comet gold fish, which got put into the pond, of course. I have since added 2 white comets and 2 gold comets to the supply of fish. One gold one in the deck tub. That happened a couple of weeks ago. I hope to resupply the sarrosas and the shubunkins.
I have been renovating the little rockery at the front to add the saxifrages and the 2 small tufa rocks into the little gold wall rockery. It now looks rather like a trough with 3 sections, (soon to be 4). It has 3 levels. The lowest level wraps around the middle levels to the back of the fourth level, and will eventually hold some taller plants. I have the thyme circle cleaned up and some top dressing added. It is looking quite good now. It could use 3 or 4 more new thyme plants. I have to keep all these new renovations watered. And we are in a drought! The cutting garden is doing very well with the watering. I have a very nice lupine showing a bloom now. And the strawberries produced 2 berries. We need some hotter weather for them to bloom, I think. The trilliums all survived. They are quite messy right now and that magnolia tree bed needs to be cleaned up; as well as all of the boulevard garden. The woodland, too needs some more work.
Because of all these renovations I have not taken the time to take any pictures. The rhodendrons were spectacular. They are just finishing up now. The roses are full of blossoms and fragrance now. The lilac was full of blooms and fragrance earlier, and its blooms have gone brown. Its time for its dead heading. The oriental poppies are finished blooming and will need dead heading too. We have had some cooler weather this week and I got quite a bit of the front garden weeded. It is looking pretty good too. The campanula in the little rockery at the back is in bloom! I must get picture of that one, at least. We are suppose to have rain tomorrow ... here's hopin'!
