Along with the Ludwigia that’s flowering, my Limnophila aromatica has been flowering for almost a month now outside in my pond. Each stem sends out a number of flower buds at each node. Then, the buds open to reveal these pretty little purple flowers. The flowers themselves are only about 3/4″ long and about 1/3″ from petal to petal, with the tiny little hairs that you can see in the picture. I often see some of the smaller bees visiting these flowers.

While in Peru, the pond foliage has absolutely exploded in quantity. The frog bite has claimed 100% of the water surface, while what I think is Ludwigia brevipes is creeping along the edge of the pond. Much to my delight, it is also flowering with these pretty little yellow flowers.

The flowers themselves seem quite delicate and don’t last more than a day or two, especially with the rain we’ve been having the past couple of days. To give you an idea, these flowers are probably smaller than a U.S. dime in size. I’ve never had a Ludwigia flower underwater, so I’m quite pleased to be able to see it emersed. I hope you enjoy the photos.

As I’ve mentioned this spring, I put frogbite out in my pond to help cover the water’s surface. An interesting thing happens out in the pond, that doesn’t usually happen inside in my aquariums — it gets huge! The roots burrow into the substrate, which when supply all the nutrients it needs to propel the leaves off of the water’s surface, and into the air. Usually, in the aquarium, the leaves have very little stem, and form a tight circular group at each node stretching across the surface. I’ve got stems that 4-5 inches long, standing upright with huge leaves on the end out in the pond.

Also, on the water surface, the underside of the leaves has a bulbous growth near the stem. When out of the water, this seems to disappear somewhat. There are still leaves growing across the surface, but as they age, they appear to extend toward the sky.

This, of course,  doesn’t seem to bother our newest inhabitant shown below, as he uses them for cover. Unlike his larger bullfrog cousin who is commonly seen sitting on the pond’s edge, he is a smaller frog, much like the ones I used to catch and release when I was growing up.

I walked outside this morning to water our garden, and for the first time this year, a frog had come to visit us by our raised brick pond. Last year we had a pair of frogs that stayed with us all summer long, but I think they were a different variety than this guy. We have a fairly large runoff pond, full of cattails and bullfrogs in our neighborhood, but due to this years’ drought, I suspect that this little fellow decided to seek out a different watering hole.

As soon as I saw him, I ran back inside to grab my camera, and I must say that he was a very obliging photo subject. Originally, he was sitting on a fallen purple Torenia flower that was very distracting in my pictures. To my surprise, he allowed me to pull the flower out from under him, without him moving a muscle.

I’ve always been somewhat fascinated with frogs, ever since catching and releasing them from a small stream near my parent’s house growing up. They’re such colorful creatures, with an amazing life cycle. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

My small brick pond has been progressing quite nicely this summer. I’ve added quite a few plants than I didn’t have last summer including Pogostemon yatabeanus, Riccia fluitans, Pogostemon stellata var. ‘broad-leaf,’ and a few native Polygonum, Ludwigia, and Lysamachia species that I’ve collected locally. Endlers and cherry shrimp are the main occupants of the pond this year again.

I’ve got frogbite growing quite well, with extensive root systems forming below the increasingly large pads on the surface. I’m hoping that they’ll soon transform into large plants resembling water hyacinths. Hydrocotle is growing nicely, both above and below the surface. The most prolific grower so far this year is definitely the Pogostemon yatabeanus, which seems to thrive regardless of fertilization or water current.

The solar pump is still operating, but is opposed by the large mass of plant matter occupying most of the water surface. Nevertheless, while some algae is present, the water is very clear, and by and large, the plants are doing well. Now, I’m just waiting for the sun to induce some of these plants to start flowering. I may start dosing extra phosphate to try and encourage the same thing. No doubt, the Endlers are producing plenty of ammonia to feed the plants.

I’ve only dosed a small amount of PMDD fertilizer roughly once a week, instead topping off the water in the pond a few times each week. The pond seems to have attracted a fair number of wasps and yellow jackets this year, which I haven’t yet been able to explain. Fortunately, none of these bugs have bothered much with me yet. As usual, birds enjoy bathing in the pond, and stealing the occasional Endler. So, for me it’s provided a great center of attraction for me to watch plants grow, birds play, and insects bugger about.