Hi Chris, Its a poly Rubbermaid tank that's darkish grey. Would it work to put clear plastic over it until it warms up?? Or would that cook it? No fish, but tadpoles. Would the heat hurt them? color=green> I was really wondering if it was metal. Since it is "plastic" and gray I'd say it is probably "drawing" a little extra heat on sunny days. (Now that you described it I have seen these in our local Tractor Supply store.) I've noticed this year in my area it has been more cloudy than in previous years. I think that factors into the mix, too. I'd hesitate to cover it with plastic now. It would probably heat up......possibly TOO MUCH for the tadpoles. And I'd hate to see you lose the tadpoles/frogs. Now the waterlilies would take the extra heat. :-) I have fish in both my ponds so I wouldn't cover them with plastic either. My two ponds are above ground. I built treated lumber frames, covered them with treated plywood (inside) and then dropped liners in each one. The smaller pond is 4' x 6' and has been going for 6 years. I bought a pond kit on clearance at Walmart for $35. My larger pond I built last May. It is 6' x 11'. I'll include a link to my Facebook page if you want to see pictures of last year's ponds. I haven't had time to take pictures yet this year. I had Green Smoke last year. I wasn't real impressed with it, as far as color. I have Dauben this year, and it reminds me of Green Smoke.color=green> I first saw Green Smoke at Longwood Gardens in PA. I love the coloring on the first two days. LOL! After that the petal tips "throw" the colors for me. That purple/deep raspberry on the tips just doesn't work with the rest of the flower. But I do love it. I've grown it two years in a row. I've seen Dauben at Lilypons and it is a little to pale blue for my taste. But it is a blooming fool! I do intend to grow it one year. This year I also have Panama Pacific again and its doing well. I also have a Fire Opal from Menards. I've had good luck with their water lilies, but this year I was a sucker. I should have known that there aren't any hardy purple lilies, but the picture on the container was purple, and they wrote that the color was Purple. Well, its light pink that turns to white the second day. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.color=green> I've grown Panama Pacific. Probably two years ago. Lovely color!!! Of the hardy waterlilies I have Attraction, Sulphurea, and Pink Grapefruit. LOVE the Pink Grapefruit. It blooms and blooms. Attraction (red) is not really a deep enough red, but it grows vigorously and quickly helps provide coverage in the spring. Haven't see Fire Opal. Sorry it wasn't purple enough for you. So many of the catalogs "lie" about the colors. GRRR! What do the McClane and St. Louis Gold look like? Where did you get them? color=green> McClane is a deep blue/lavender. The flowers are HUGE. The foliage is nicely striped and splotched. These stand up pretty high, too. St. Louis Gold is a deep yellow. And I've not had a tropical that flowered this much! The plant is a little less vigorous with foliage, but it just pumps out the flowers. I'm about a hour from Lilypons in PA. I either drive up or order online from them each year. Wonderful water gardening company. They also have a location in Texas, too, if I remember correctly. Do you overwinter your tropicals. If so, how? I've tried a couple times, but it hasn't worked. I was thinking of digging a deep hole with the post-hole digger and just keeping them down in there.color=green> I've tried without much luck. I have had the tropical set seeds, which I saved, and then raised from seed the following two years. Seeds were from a blue (un-named) waterlily that I had purchased at Springdale Water Gardens in VA. The seeds produced flowers in shades of blue, pink, and lavender. I think the first year I had about 15 that I grew from seed. I had 20 gallon tubs sitting EVERYWHERE that year. LOL! Lilypons and Springdale offer a "heated" pot that the catalog blurbs say will keep the tropicals warm enough to overwinter IN the pond. But I think only through zone 6 or 7. It sells for around $50. My problem is I wouldn't want to grow the same tropicals every year.......well, other than Green Smoke. I got my tropicals from William Tricker.color=green> I've seen their online catalog and they have an excellent selection. I'm tempted to try them one year. Lilypons is so good at getting stuff to me quickly that I just use them most of the time. I placed an order on Wednesday morning earlier this year. I had the order at my front door on Thursday! I'm spoiled! My leaves on the Juno and Red Flare are huge. I wonder if the leaves get larger, as an attempt to get more sun. I'm thinking I should find more sun for it. If it wasn't blossoming 'cause its not warm enough, you'd think it wouldn't put out so many leaves either. It looks very healthy. I have a volunteer butterfly bush that grew up in the rocks around my lotus bog. Its shading the lotus too much, but its so hard getting rid of the bush, since it attracts such beautiful butterflies. Ooohhhh....so many plants.......so little sun! haha Thanks for your help.color=green> I lost my lotus this year. I'm going to try to raise another one from seed next year. I've had good luck growing my own. I have a friend in Malaysia who sends me lotus seeds occasionally. I've grown a white and a double pink from seeds she sent me. Good Luck, Chris Here is a link that might be useful: Facebook Account....Click on Photos to see pond pics

I'm happy to report that a replacement batch arrived today. Sadly they spent a week in transit, likely due to the holidays, but other than a few dried worms they were all very happy to be home!! Placed them in my bin and within half an hour they have all migrated down. Since the first 27 are still alive and kicking and I would say the bin is in great condition for these new worms... I'll officially call myself a vermicomposter :) Gosh, I hope I didn't just jinx myself, lol. On another note.... my father in law gave us an old smoker, one of the tall ones like an Old Smokey. I'm thinking of converting it into a flow through project after the first of the year. Already has a grate and lid, so I'm thinking why not..... Thoughts anyone? My main concern is rust, but I could line it with pond lining or a tarp like I've seen some do. It's metal, so definitely no direct sun if I should keep it outside. Plenty of time to play around with the idea :)

You have posted this in the Woodlands forum - does this tree get much sun? I would say that a redbud needs about 5 hours (at least) of direct sun to bloom well. In general redbud should be fine in Texas - there is a form of it that is native to parts of Texas.

Salt inhibits yeast. It delays activation, slows growth, and if there's too much (rare) can kill the yeast. I don't know what "next to" means. Salt soaks up liquid. Yeast granules require liquid to activate. Recipes that have you prove the yeast first add the salt later. Other recipes are meant to keep the process simple and dump everything together, with the quantity of yeast adjusted to work in a given period of time to a particular level of rise even with the salt there. That is, a lot of recipes use more yeast to make up for it, and many dump in a whole packet for convenience when half would be more than plenty. If you have older, colder yeast, it might need more time anyway. You can always change the method to suit yourself,