Going green & getting greener

We bought 80 plants for our big pond ~ Doug picked them up yesterday. I had said I would do the planting but when I got in the pond I sunk in the silt and it felt like I was being sucked down. I didn't like that feeling and was doddering around getting up the nerve to go further so in the meantime Doug said he would do the planting.

We planted (24) water lilies, (15) arrowheads, (20) pickerels, (15) bog beans, (3) lizards tails and (3) variegated sweet flags. Once established they should produce not only a beautiful pond but a very healthy pond for all of our fishies to enjoy.

The lilies we planted last year are thriving and our fish are growing, one of them is at least 2 feet now and she is a beauty. We feed every evening and I love the fish, they are so soothing and it's fun to watch them grow and change each year.

So, poor Doug. Shortly after he got in the pond and began planting he said he felt dizzy. He took off his polarized glasses as we both thought that may have been making the ripples seem bigger or something. You know how polarized glasses kind of let you see through the water, so to speak.

After about and hour and a half the planting was done and he had mentioned how dizzy he was a few times and I have to say he was looking a little green around the gills towards the end. Once he got out and was on land he was staggering around and became violently ill.

I don't think I have never seen (or heard) anyone so sick. He's been in bed since we got back and I ran in to town and picked up Dramamine for him. Hard to imagine you could get motion sickness from being in a pond but I think the fact that his allergies are severe right now may be contributing to it. He never takes anything when we go on cruises and never gets seasick.

Hopefully the Dmine will kick in soon and he'll start to feel a little better. I snapped off a few shots while we were there.

We don't filter or treat the pond with anything. Our theory is if it isn't crystal clear the herons and king fisher birds won't see the fish as easily and decide to feast on them.

This is Harry, he is the bodyguard for the fish. We haven't had the heron problems we have in the past since Harry is on guard. We move him every night to keep the real herons guessing.

Doug doing some planting, to his right you can see a few of the new lilies.

This lily is huge, the picture doesn't show her size but her pads are at least a foot or more and she is blooming like crazy this year.

View from the dock, those are the buffalo fields and the buffalo handling facility in the background.