Hydrocotyl asiatica (Pennywort)

Nelumbo nucifera

I've been trying to get a lotus for my pond from a year ago, and finally got one 6 months ago. I had specifically wanted a single petalled lotus for its simple beauty, and finally found a pink one at AMK. However, growing it had its ups and downs.

When I got it, it was a small plant in a small pot. I had re-potted it in a nice big pot, and it grew well. New leaves, new flowers..... after it's second flowering, it started to get an infestation of aphids. I was diligent in swiping them off the plant (they dropped into the pond and were promptly gulped up by my goldfish) and this went on for a couple of months after which they plant got weaker and weaker, with smaller leaves, no flowers and finally even the new leaves had brown "varicose veins". I had tried popping a couple of the common fertilizer pellets for water plants but it did not help. The only visible result I had was green algae forming on the stalks of the lotus leaf that was below water level.

In a fit of desperation, I decided to severely prune down the leaves, remove most of the mud/soil in the pot, and put in new clay/mud. So far, it has decided to reward my efforts with new leaf growth (without the varicose veins), but it has all been leaves that float on the water. I will wait and see if it gets strong enough to put up the standing leaves above water, and eventually flower for me again.

Fingers crossed.....

Thalia geniculata

I just repotted and split one of my favourite water plants, the Thalia Geniculata (or in my vernacular, the "Zig-Zag Flower Plant"). I have had this plant for just coming on to a decade. It has undergone so many re-potting and splits that I have lost track of how many friends and family were beneficiaries of it's growth. I bought it for my old rooftop pond, and now it sits in my garden pond. Although it is classified as a bog plant, it is possible to grow it in a container, as long as it is given enough water.

T. Geniculata is an evergreen, marginal aquatic perennial.  I love it's easy maintenance nature, and both it's lovely lance-shaped green leaves and it's small purple flowers that keeps branching out in a "zig-zag" manner. When you have a really mature "zig-zag" flower on top of a long stalk, they look extremely elegant. To keep it tidy, regularly cut off browning leaves and flowers. The photo above does not do it justice, so I will post another after it has recovered from the split and repotting, and is flowering.

A good base of muddy/clayey soil with a fertilizer top-up every 2-3 months makes it a happy plant. Any balanced pelleted slow-release fertilizer is fine. Wrap up in cotton wool or newspaper, and shove it deep into the pot. A full re-potting effort is required once a year, to get rid of dead stems, and when it becomes pot-bound. If you are lazy, it can go on for up to 2 years in the same pot, but it will be a really hard job to re-pot cause the pot will be packed tight. Just split existing plants into different pots, to give it room to grow for the next year.

New Pond Renewed

It's been more than a year since I've set up my pond. I must say that the first batch of cubed mud that I had bought and used from a local nursery was very disappointing. I am now forced to re-pot all my water plants. It's way more back-breaking than I remember. And this time, I want to provide a good base for my plants, so I am actually mixing my own humic soil/clayey soil/sand mixture, with a base layer of blood and bone meal, and  packets of slow release packets wrapped in small pockets of newspaper. Took me 3 hours yesterday to re-pot 2 large-ish plants and clean out my lily pot. Today, another 4 hours to top up more soil, prune my lotus, top up more soil, dredge out the front of my pond, top up more soil.....

I must say, in spite of the hard work, it's great working in the pond. I'm hip deep in water, splashing around, mud splatters on my hands and clothes, fishes nibbling on my ankles and toes (just like those spa fishes), back aching like mad... but I'm happy.

New pond. New Year.

Happy New Year everybody!