Pond news

The pond clarifier is working! There is now actual clear water coming out of the pipe instead of pea soup and I can see the bottom of the shallow end and about a foot down into the deep end. I don’t know why when there is clear water going in that the whole pond isn’t clear. Anyway as the pond has emerged from the algal gloom (gloop?) all the baby fish have emerged. There are at least a dozen proper little calico shubunkins in a variety of whites, reds and blues, most this year's, about 1” long and the biggest about 2”, but more amazingly there are 3 larger black fish about 3” long that I had no idea were there. I suspect they are last years babies and have been with the main flock for some months but the water was so murky I couldn’t see them (maybe that’s how they survived – the other fish couldn’t see them to eat them!). Sort of stealth fish.

Charmaine and I sat by the pool for nearly a whole afternoon talking and watching them – every few minutes one of us would shout look there’s another one. My only worry is that the other fish are now so large (the black koi is coming up for a foot long…) that they could gobble up the babies in one mouthful. I keep the shallow end full of weeds and hope for the best. Charmaine is almost more excited than me about the babies. I am going to help her set up an aqaurium in her classroom to find a home for the black ones. I'll probably get in trouble from the council for racial equality for discrimintating against black goldfish but I want to keep the colours in the gene pool.

All the books say to cull the black ones but I can't bring myself to do it. They've survived odds of about 10m to 1 against herons, frogs and canabilistic parents to get this far. Actually I think a tank full of black goldfish could look quite cool. Maybe it'll start a trend. They'd need good PR and a better name. Blackfish? Nightfish? Stealthfish? .......shadow swimmers? ....hmmm... watch this space!

ici le grand jardin de la maison Waddesdon (Ce soir je suis allee encore a la classe Francais)  

Waddesdon Manor

Well I went and enjoyed someone else's garden today, my own being a total mess due to deep digging in the borders and general rearrangement. We went to Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, home of the Rothschilds. gorgeous day for a walk and loved the manor. Don't often like stately home furnishings but this was very nice, lots of crimson and ivory, Dutch water colours etc.
Gardening on palatial scale, scultptures and fountains, lots of chilly ladies emerging from ponds etc. My favourite was a sedum bird, a huge wire scuplture of a bird that had plants growing over it, succulents and sedums. Also they had a planting scheme that was set out to make a picture of several bars of music. Actually the only bit I would have liked to bring home was the huge roccoco aviary, full of exotic birds, and several trees, and about 10 acres of the grounds to put them in....
Pond still ghastly pea soup colour. UV purifier working full stretch but not much change yet. Fish seem happy enough, just can't see them!