Hi Aggierose Your question is one that I've asked myself as a new pond owner, as well as millions of others. An outdoor fish pond is not like an aquarium in which you can stroll up to the glass and see your fish. As experienced fish owners had once given me advice and millions before them, have patience. Your fish can feel the vibrations of your footsteps through the water. This in itself with a new enviroment will freak fish out. It will take a long time before your fish become accustomed to your shadow and your vibrations. I've had my pond for a year and a half, with daily work, I finally got them to hand feed. My advice is to sit on the side of the pond, on a rock or chair when you have allot of time. Grad a beer or glass of wine, possible a good book and relax. When you do start seeing your fish, remember any sudden movement such as a flick of the arm to throw food will scare them. It's almost as a hunter waiting for their prey. I used to thumb flip a pellet or two so its available to them. I hope this helps...Craig

Ok. Let's clear this up. Bambusa Ventricosa "Buddha belly", which is the original buddha belly, has a tendency in humid environments to grow without swollen internodes, rather, it has long straight internodes. If you want it to "belly", you have to keep it in a pot, or keep it slightly underwatered, or both. Same rules apply to Bambusa Ventricosa Kimmei. Now, bambusa vulgaris wamin, the second species to be commonly named buddha belly, is less cold tolerant, but will dependably produce swollen internodes. Any of these species are considered dwarfs if their internodes swell. Wamin is an open clumper and ventrioca is a tight clumper. As for growth rate, a healthy bamboo shoot grows to it's maximum height in about 40 days. So if its to grow to 100 ft, then it will grow an average of two and half feet per day. Some have been measured to grow up to four feet in one day. The width of the shoot does not change. So if you see a buddha belly like this one in my garden, is five inches thick, then that's how thick the shoot was when it came from the ground. After the 40 days, the shoot becomes a cane, dropping it's sheaths, branching and leafing out. Each year, a healthy bamboo cane (culm) sends up one or more shoots, up to a maximum of eight in it's life time. Each cane will live about ten years before dying. But by that time there will be lots of younger canes around it. As the canes mature, their inner walls get thicker, but the cane remains the same thickness.

Hi Jan, and welcome! I was new to this forum in 2011. This is a great place to learn about hostas and the people are wonderful! Sometimes I feel like the whole forum is out there with me when I'm wandering through my gardens. Here's my story: In 2006, I bought 6 hostas in the fall for 75 cents each, planted them at the back of the fence and forgot about them. In 2008, I divided an Undulata Albomarginata into 10 hostas to form a border around my pachysandra bed. In the spring of 2010, I noticed that the 75 cent hostas had grown into lovely plants despite the fact that they had been ignored for the past four years. I also noticed that all the other perennials I had planted over the past four years had died! So, I made a trip to the local nursery to get some more hostas to fill in the spots where my perennials had died. It was on that day that I made the startling discovery that those names on the tags like Elegans and Frances Williams meant something. I ended the season with about 70 new varieties. During the fall of 2010, I found this forum and for the next 6 months, I read each and every post. I started making lists and finding nurseries to buy the hostas on my list. On March 28, 2011, my husband drove 60 miles (one way) to pick up some of the hostas on my list. He came back with 11. When the first nursery in our area opened on April 1, 2011, I bought 9 more. On April 2, I drove the 60 miles with my husband and got another 23. Well, before I knew it, I ended up with 96 hostas in our house waiting for the last frost! By the end of May, I had aquired about 180 hostas and swore that I was done buying for the season. I managed to buy 134 more, for a total of 314 new ones in 2011. My kids call me the crazy hosta lady. My son still talks about driving with 40 hostas in the back of the car, accompanied by a chirping cricket for 300 miles! My daughter, a Creative Writing major in college, wrote her final paper about my hosta obsession. She got an "A", her professor was intrigued that people actually collect hostas and will go to great lengths to find a certain cultivar. I don't know how large our gardens are, but the grass in the back is slowly disappearing. We have plans to start planting them in the park in back of us when we run out of room. I love to grow my hostas in full sun, I won an irrigation system in a contest that keeps them cool with misting water during the hottest part of the day. Gesila

Kippy, with your cuttings in 1g pots, you are doing what my friend Dennis does when he propagates. To cover the cuttings, he puts three or four small stakes into the soil around the rim of the pot and suspends a one-gallon clear baggie over them. For everyone else, do NOT check on the cuttings. No tugging, no lifting, no pulling ... just leave them alone. If you are using clear or translucent pots, roots will show on the side of the pot soon enough, or the cuttings turn black, whichever comes first. When I teach propagation workshops, I clearly explain to my students that the 'wait and watch' part of the process is definitely the most difficult thing about it. I only open the container to remove any fallen leaves or black cuttings, then I put the top right back on and walk away. I'm having good results so far this year ... I hope this is an indication of a very good propagation season overall. Connie