Hi there. What are you looking for? I have a water lily, but I am not sure what it is, it hasn't bloomed yet. I also have parrots feather, penny wort, and a small water iris. If you are interested send me an email. There are several things on your list I am interested in. Thanks, Misty

All right, you guys, keeping the water in the clay soil is easier than it seems......I HAVE CLAY SOIL. Heavy, red, thick, mucky, yucky, impossible-to-drain-when-it-is-wet and impossible-to-wet-when-it-is-dry clay soil. The issue for us, therefore, is not how to hold the water, but how to get the water to drain. So, the pond was impossibly easy to build. Our backhoe guy, Elvis, was here in the late spring of 2000 digging a hole in which to place our 6' x 8' pre-fab tornado shelter. I asked him how much more it would cost to get him to dig me a "little" pond for my water lilies and he told me that his hourly rate was the same no matter what he was digging. So, I asked him to dig me a more-or-less-round (but not perfectly round) pond about 15' in diameter, two feet deep, and with gently sloping sides (so turtles could wade in, etc.). It took him about 10 minutes! The dirt he removed was used to fill in a gully elsewhere on the property. After he dug it, we filled it with the water hose and of course, the water was about the same color as what you see in the Red River (we are VERY close to the Red River so that is not surprising.) We put the water lilies (in pots) into the pond although they eventually outgrew their pots and rooted into the pond bottom. Over time we added other plants like saggitaria and pickerel rush. Native sedges and other water loving plants essentially appeared out of nowhere and began growing at the edge of the pond. The first few months, it really wasn't 100% "waterproof" and there was some seepage. Over time, though, as decomposing plant material deposited on the bottom of the pond, it formed a layer (and that layer has a name and I remember seeing it in Tim Matson's book, but I don't remember what it is) that basically helped seal the pond. Once that happened, the water cleared up and has been pretty and clear ever since unless we dig and disturb the pond bottom. Even then, though, the water eventually clears on its own. In a rainy year, the pond stays full all on its own. In a dry year, I add water a couple of times a month to make up for whatever is evaporating out. The fish, frogs, turtles, dragonflies, water skimmers and other critters showed up on their own. I do think DS may have "saved" some small fish from the creek and put them in the pond during a drought year when the creek was drying up. Because the pond is close to the house, the wildlife don't bother it a lot although we'll see an occasional blue heron "fishing" in the pond, or find raccoon tracks, or (worst of all) see a water moccasin hanging out in the water. Because of the lay of the land, if the pond is totally full, the excess water during a rainstorm runs downhill to the north so there isn't too much excessive puddling around the pond itself. The thick, heavy, red, mucky clay is the reason we have five ponds. All you have to do is dig and wait for rainfall and you have a pond. POND #1: The oldest pond is in clayey-sandy soil and is probably 65-80 years old--no one who lives here really remembers how old that one is. Because of root infiltration from nearby trees, it doesn't hold water all that well so it is essentially an overflow pond that holds runoff during the "rainy season" here, which is roughly from March or April through July or so, at least in a non-drought year. This pond is fairly well silted in but still about 5'-6' deep and is about a half acre. It catches runoff in general, and specifically catches excess water from Pond #2. Pond #2 is the "old stock tank" that has been used to provide water for cattle on this land since about the 1940s or 1950s up until we built the house in 1998-99 an the cattle had to go. A lot of the locals here have told us stories of swimming as kids in that pond--it was a great place to cool off after a hard day's work. It is also pretty much silted in and is about 6' to 7' deep and, when very full, is about 3/4 of an acre. We have a fishing dock there, but it has dried up repeatedly since the drought of 2005-2006 and currently is empty. It will take a lot of rain to refill it. POND #3 is the lily pond behind the house that Elvis dug for us in 2000. POND #4 is the sewage lagoon, dug by Elvis and Ed early in 1999. When the perk test showed that we'd need hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet of lateral line to drain the water from the septic system, the DEQ guy recommended we put in a lagoon instead. So, it is about 150' from the house, has what is essentially sterile water by the time it reaches the lagoon and is a wildlife haven. All the wildlife prefer it. It never dries up but it almost did during the exceptional (D-4) drought of 2005-2006. POND #5 sits at the northeast corner of my veggie garden. The veggie garden is on a slope and we had Elvis put in this small pond (about 5' deep and about 13' or 14' feet in diameter) to halt erosion. It is essentially a wildlife pond and is usually full of frogs and such. One of our dogs considers it his own personal swimming pool when it has water in it. It has been dry for over a year now because too little rain has fallen to refill it since the heavy rains stopped in July 2007. I think it probably dried up about Nov. or Dec. '07 and hasn't had any water in it since then except for temporary runoff that soaks into the pond bottom within a few hours of a heavy rain. We also have springs in at least three areas, but none of those areas are suitable for a pond or we'd have put in a spring-fed pond. One spring does feed the swamp and the other two feeds the creeks. One dries up periodically and that creek has been empty for most of the last three years (since the 2005-2006 drought) but the other two have never dried up). If y'all had my heavy red clay soil, you could have all the ponds you wanted. The larger issue is how to garden in that clay. In the veggie garden, I have build raised beds, for the most part, or at least have really, really improved the clay tremendously even where I didn't build a raised bed (the corn and pumpkin patch are not raised) and neither are the flower borders). Around the house, it has taken tons of amending the soil just to be able to plant shrubs and trees that "tolerate" clay. I don't have anything in that area that "needs" good drainage. On the east side of the house, the clay was truly impenetrable. Couldn't dig it. Couldn't rototill it. So, while Elvis was at the house putting in Pond #3 and Pond #5 and the storm cellar, he dug out the clay for the east-facing shrub bed, essentially leaving me a 12" deep bowl that held water just like a regular pond. How did we turn that into a well draining bed? It took six years of sheet composting.....putting every compostable material we could get our hands on into the bed and letting it do its' thing. We also added back a small amount of clay over time, and bagged potting soil and lots of bagged soil conditioner (a humus/pine bark fines mix). It was not terribly attractive, but every spring I planted annual flowers in there and mulched them and no one knew sheet composting was occurring there. Finally, between the sheet composting and the action of earthworms, the clay bowl stopped being a mini-pond and became a well-drained bed, but it took forever. If our clay had refused to hold water (which I never thought was going to happen), we would have used betonite. In the rare exceptionally rainy year (2004 and the first 6.5 months of 2007), we have standing water everywhere. Since a rainy year is fairly rare, we don't have that too often though. And because we're on a slope, it basically runs off. Two books I read that I really enjoyed were Tim Matson's first book on building earth-bottom ponds and the late, great, Ardmoreite (that's a resident of Ardmore for all you new Oklahomans) Louise Riotte's pond book, which is called "Catfish Ponds and Lily Pads". Dawn

If I left anything out let me know asap so I can reserve it for you tomorrow. My final trade lists: April: giving you cobalt tradescantia and tangerine iris in exchange for pink verbena and black tomato ( gonna try for that black iris too;)) Steve: giving raspberry start and hellebore seedlings in exchange for gold pepper and tomato Glenda/ Flowersglory: perovskia? Jenn: gold marjoram and large shefflera for elephant ears Ruby: raspberry start, mex bamboo, tangerine iris, angelina sedum, nigella for bluebonnets and future mirror ball:) Rebecca: hardy mum, primrose, hellebore seedlings, mexican bamboo, marjoram, asparagus, crape myrtle for kale and chicory seed and lime basil Judith: Freckles tovara, caryopteris and passionvine cuttings, and tradescantia seedlings for citrina and persian shield cutting Glenda K: two tone iris and mock orange for root beer iris Rhonda: mock orange and mex bamboo for (hopefully) Niobe clematis cutting Angela: hellebore and asparagus seedlings for cilantro, eggplant and tomatos Wanda/ Columbiastock: possibly yarrow for clara curtis mum and cleryodendron Tiffany: asparagus, jerusalem artichokes and kousa dogwood for maybe strawberry pot? JT: Autumn joy sedum for hopefully water pickerel

Thought I'd repost this as a reminder so you won't forget to bring a lunch and something to drink, mark the plants you are bringing with their names, have some boxes to take your plants home in, a note pad for taking notes on culture, as well as good plant swapping etiquette. Hints, Etiquette, and Other Stuff Posted by castro_gardener 8b (My Page) on Thu, Feb 19, 09 at 10:14 Hello All ! Just a few reminders that will help us all have a nicer swap experience. After 10 years of hostessing and attending these swaps I've learned a lot from others. When you arrive, please seek out the hostess if we don't greet you first. Especially if you haven't been before. Any of us will help you with any questions you might have. Get a name tag, sign up for door prizes, and if we have one, sign the list for future notifications of swaps. Don't forget to bring a sack lunch. We'll need sustenance for continued swapping ! We will have door prizes. If you'd like to donate to our stash, please bring a new or gently used gardening item. We usually include things like fertilizer, gloves, tools, outdoor decorations, books, etc. Garden Junk and Garden Art is also welcome for trading. Hoses, trellises, rusty buckets, signs, you name it ! We've had people bring homemade soap, mosaic pots, and other great items. We welcome donations to help pay for the rental of the pavilion. Although it is voluntary, please consider that you're leaving the swap with plants that would have cost so much more at a nursery. A few dollars in the jar will go far to help us rent this nice pavilion in the fall. You may consider bringing cardboard boxes to haul home your booty. You may end up taking home more than you bring, and it's not always easy to get it all back in your car. Packing in boxes will allow you to stack them and keep your plants safe. Bring something to use for labeling the plants you receive. Old window blinds are excellent for this purpose ! They last forever and they're kept out of landfills. On that note, please label your plants for others. It saves a lot of time at the swap. You don't have to tell everyone what each plant is, since they already have names on them. Another helpful hint, which takes more time, but is great to have: consider putting a notebook together of your plants. Add pictures and descriptions of each plant you bring. Over time, you can add to it as you accumulate different types of plants. This also saves time at the swap. Others can view your notebook to see what a certain plant will look like. While swapping, please don't take plants off other's tables without asking. They may be across the room promising that same plant to someone else. Please find the owner and ask permission. Everyone's different, of course, and may bid you take whatever you like. But it's good to err on the side of caution, and ask anyway. Plants under the tables are not for swapping. This is where we place the plants we're taking home. Some plants are special and rare and the swapper may want something special in return. This is understandable. On the other hand, some of us don't always need something in return. Please consider everyone's feelings while swapping. Last but not least, have a good time. Make new friends ! I've met really great folks at the swaps and we're still swapping 10 years later !! If you can't make the San Antonio swap, consider the swap just up the road in Buda in April. I'll be there, too. patty