My pond is 1100 gallons in USDA zone 4 which means it freezes over pretty good in winter. I do a general clean up about mid-November before the freeze sets in. This means cutting back all the plants in the pots, using a fine mesh net to sweep all the gunk out of the pond, sinking pots to deeper water to avoid freezing solid killing plants, remove pump, clean up and store filter, and plug in thermopond heater. Then I do a similar sweeping with the net in the spring, put plant pots back on plant shelves after fertilizing with Jobe tomato spikes, set up pump and filter, and I'm good to go for the spring/summer/fall. I also remove dead plant bits, leaves and other debris that blow in during the summer on an as needed basis. You should never have to drain water and scrub pond walls or something like that.

buyorsell - are you saying gambusia CAN"T eat the frog eggs? Nature may suddenly be taking care of my need to find new homes for my goldfish because for the first time yesterday morning I found pieces of a goldfish lying in the weeds beside my pond. I guess it must be a predator bird because a raccoon would probably would have just gulped down the whole thing. ? Obviously something got scared away before it finished its fish breakfast. I have a tightly fenced pond area and I KNOW there never have been any bullfrogs in it, or pesticides, and I still lost all the tree frogs that were here. Guess it must have been the goldfish eating the eggs after all. The tree farmer on the north side of me rides around with his tank of poison and sprays all of his land, including beside the creek. He doesn't believe in leaving anything for natural critters, just has row after row of holiday trees growing on bare dirt. Possibly the disappearance of frogs in the creek is because of his ignorance, and many other people using chemicals too near the water too. Seen the pesticide/herbicide aisles in the big box stores lately? Makes me sick. i think nancym may be cleaning her pond yearly because she has koi and for both reasons it isn't a natural pond.

Melissa, I am happy as long as the plants are thriving as well. Flowers will come and go. Spring was great....until that awful hot wind came and cut my flush short. But that was amazing having it all inside for a week! I never would have done that if I didn't know the wind was coming so thanks Jeri for the warning this spring. Hoovb escaped it, she was just south enough to be spared. After that, I had some nice blooms and then the heat came and cooked everything. I had a few pots get sunburnt and some leaves were so pale they were almost white when they formed. After the heatwave went by the leaves were beautiful and deep green again. Fall came in a trumpet of glory. The best fall flush ever. The Bourbons were loaded and DA roses were in their glory. It seemed to go on and on. I had roses like Jack's Beanstalk with giant blooms on top. Now there is a period of nice warm weather with cool nights. Almost every HT and Fl has something and the fragrance is very good. I haven't seen any rain since a teeny weeny sprinkle a few weeks ago so the plants are all clean with no disease except some mildew on SdlM buds from overcast/ coastal foggy mornings. This year's Halloween show Chrysanthemum crop was so good. I had the big pom-pom showy ones. They hid in part shade during the heatwave and watering them twice a day was worth it when the buds finally arrived. Thanks also to my folks who watered bands and other pots in the June-July heat for me while I was in Gettysburg for the 150th. Just now I am getting mulch and sifting the great soil I got from the neighbor who had some concrete poured. Why do people want to send their best topsoil to the dump? I have enough to make a raised planting and fill in the low spot on my corner where I want to put Perle d'Or (Perle the Great). The bands from Vintage in 1 gal pots now are growing very fast and all need a larger pot or to go in the ground. Actually, everything is still growing fast and I'm trying to keep up. Bulbs are up too early and I have some blloms on the plum tree. But the apple that I nearly lost has grown well and all it's spring grafts survived and are big fat branches full of leaves. The worst was the brutal heatwave of late summer. It killed many of my delicate plants that have been on the edge of growing here. My Japanese maples had all the leaves fry so that there is nothing left to turn colors but I think the trees themselves are fine and will grow nicely next year. The heat didn't bother my Camellias and fall temps have given me a great bunch of buds. Already, the Sasanquas look good and a few early Japonicas have begun to open. Ingrid, I think you would like Camellias because they can hide in the shade and give you pretty flowers through the winter. While they are small, you can move them around and enjoy them wherever you like and move them into the garage or in deep shade during a heat wave. If we get some rain in these upcoming months to wash the soil of irrigation deposits, I will call this year a good year for my roses.

Hi Donnaroe: Great question, I learned too as I looked up the info., from Buzzle "Lady bugs eat aphids. By the time a ladybug dies, it consumes about 5,000 aphids. The other bugs that it eats are boll worm, broccoli worm, whitefly, mealybugs, armored scales, pit scales, mites, tomato horn worm, and cabbage moth. They also like to eat eggs of other insects like moths. They enjoy eating pollen and mildew. You may even find some species of ladybugs that eat mushrooms and other types of fungus. There are over 5000 species of ladybugs on earth ... Its life span is about 3 to 6 weeks. In its short life span, one insect lays up to 1000 eggs. All ladybugs are born black. The larvae take only a week to develop into adults" Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-do-ladybugs-eat.html See below link for the cheapest place to buy lady bugs from Amazon, 1,500 bugs for $15. It has the instruction on how to release them .. this place has the highest rating. Once you click on the below link, scroll ALL THE WAY down to see the 227 reviews. Ed in Amazon wrote this: "1. If you release them in hot weather you will not see them EVER. These guys look for cool spots and will leave no matter what. 2. Sugar water does no good. If there is nothing for them to eat they are out of here. 3. If you have a aphid problem this is far the way to go. *** From Strawberryhill: When we first moved to our alkaline clay we had tons of lady bugs. When I had the most perennial flowers, I had the most lady bugs. But pink yarrow and bee balm are too invasive, so I killed them. We went from tons of ladybugs, to very few. The reason? Lady bugs can hide under flowers, to keep cool and to avoid being eaten by birds. Once I killed the perennial flowers, I destroyed their shelter. From eHow: Planting annuals and perennials to provide nectar for ladybugs will help make your garden an attractive place for both beneficial insects and humans. Choose annuals such as alyssum, baby's breath, calendula, cosmos, marigolds, sunflowers and zinnias, all of which grow easily from seed. Perennials such as bee balm (Monarda), goldenrod (Solidago) and candytuft (Iberis) also attract ladybugs. Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8248651_flowers-attract-lady-bugs.html#ixzz33aDO6BmW Here is a link that might be useful: Best place to buy lady bugs from Amazon This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Tue, Jun 3, 14 at 9:44