Pittsburgh Certified Wildlife Habitat : Anxiety Sets In.

Like most other Gardeners I am feeling the anxiety of another season of gardening, I have so many ideas and plans that I want to do this year and I can not wait to get started. I am also feeling the thrill of seeing some of the things I started in past years as they begin to establish themselves and hope they will bloom. I planted some cherry tree cuttings a few tears ago and they have blossomed for the first time this year. I I am hoping that my Nelumbo Lutea, and my Blue Flag Iris will bloom in my pond this year also. I planted them from seed two years ago and am trying to be patient about waiting for the flowers. I see a lot of back yard ponds and they all usually look the same. They have the same plants and the same look. I want my pond to feel natural and hope to incorporate as many native species of plants as possible. Right now the pond is still looking like the typical back yard pond and I am trying to break away from that. I have a small yard so the pond itself is not very big it has a small bog area in the back corner of the yard. This has a slight fall into the main pond area that contains most of the plants and fish.The main pond then has a waterfall that spills into an old preformed pond liner that used to be the entire pond. This lowest pond houses some fish a few water lilies plants on the preformed ledges and stones stacked to create the waterfall. I have tried some ideas that have worked out well and I have had some that turned out not to be such good ideas. I have found out this past year that I made a mistake of removing some of my plants from their containers and planted them directly in the pond. Once the weather breaks I will have to go into the pond to pull them out separate them and put them back into pots. The cattails are crowding out the other plants and taking up most of the back of the pond. They have grown into the iris and are choking out the pickerel weed. I have also decided that this year I will not be using any water hyacinth or water lettuce. They are to typical of back yard ponds and are tropical plants that do not belong in my pond. I am also thinking of getting rid of a lot of the water lilies to make room for the Lotus that I started 2 years ago. I have already started to find other pond owners to give plants to rather than just throw them out. I am also planning to grow more pitcher plants and even some orchids in my bog area. I bought some pitcher plants last year and it looks like they my have wintered over ok so I will try some more. I have ordered some Yellow Lady Slipper Orchids that I want to plant at the edge of the pond and hope to find some Showy Lady Slippers (Cypripedium reginae ) to plant in the bog. The Showy Lady Slippers are more rare and harder to find but I have found a reputable dealer that I hope will be able to supply me with some this year. Another plant I am looking forward to around the back edge of the pond will be Jack in the Pulpit.