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Spring (`03) finally sprang and all of our plants and fish survived their first winter! The first of our aquatic plants to bloom were the Yellow Flag Iris:
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We were really thrilled when one of the water lilies started blooming:
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Marilyn took these next 2 with our (at that time) new Canon Powershot A70:
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The Koi love to swim around under the lily pads
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We bought this tropical water lily the summer of 2003 -- it's referred to as a night bloomer -- it opens in the afternoon and stays open until morning, unlike our hardy water lilies that open late morning and close mid afternoon. You can tell it's a tropical because the lily pad's edges are jagged -- hardys have smooth edges.While they are beautiful, they are pricey -- I think this one cost $25. I guess it is possible to winter them over in the house )
but we decided not to go to the hassle. So we've decided not to mess with tropical aquatic plants and just stick with hardys, the exception being our Lotus, which is a tropical that we've wintered over in the pond several seasons These 2 pictures were taken in July 2003.