Your dead spots look like dead or dormant annual rye grass to me. In Iowa rye grass both annual and perennial grow very nicely in May thru July. But often it goes dormant or dies out in August. I've been over seeding my Iowa lawn each year with about 50% Tall Turf Fescue and 50% Kentucky Blue Grass The TTF is used in the sunny areas and the KBG in the shadier spots under my trees. Crab grass (aka) water grass in Iowa is easy to spot ... it looks like this. To kill it use Trimec or 2-4D on it. Halts will work to help prevent it's spreading but, you can not over seed when halts in on the ground. As it will prevent the good grass from germinating too.

Novembergrl: I'll try to answer some of your questions. I have an 1100 gallon pond, deeper than yours but things should be similar except I'm in a lot colder zone than you. I suggest you get yourself a skippy or some other similar upflow filter. I use a 600 gallon per hour submersible pump. The pump is in a large plastic flower pot weighted with pieces of half brick so it sinks and stays down. I have a loop of black nylon cord through a cork for a handle that I use a stick with a hook to move it in the pond. I have similar handles on all my plant pots. I use those laundry bags to protect delicates stuffed with nylon scrubbies as the prefilter. By putting some 1-2 inch stones in the bags with the scrubbies, you can arrange them so that you can stuff them tight around the pot so that they serve as the prefilter. My pond starts in mid April and is taken down early November. I have to clean the pre-filter about 4 times in that period. When I first start the pond, I get the pea soup green algae bloom. My biofilter starts to work on it in about 2 weeks after which my water is clear. I get string algae but the cure for that is to have lots of other plants that are growing. I ensure they grow by giving them iron supplement which also contains some other trace nutrients they need. If the plants are growing properly, you should not have a big problem with string algae. I do have goldfish and yes, I get visits from Mr. and Mrs. Great Blue Heron sometimes. I do lose some fish but the depth of the pond makes it hard for them to take more than 1 or 2 and then the fish are scared and stay deep. They reproduce fast so I have no need to buy more. I also have 10-20 rosy reds which you might consider having as they are more colorful than mosquito fish. Activated carbon and charcoal are the same thing. A rule of thumb is hour pump should pump 50% to 200% of the volume of your pond per hour so a 600 gallon/hour for your pond should be good. You should be able to put a skippy behind your waterfall arranged so it feeds the waterfall. 14" is not very deep. You might consider digging the center of your pond down to 2' or so to give the fish more hiding places and also give your pump a deeper place to sit.

Yes, Kate, and I blame all of you for enabling me!!! Convincing me to place a 2nd fall rose order! Endangering my planned trip to the camellia garden nursery! Infecting me w/ 'what's over the next hill' disease! Tantalizing, tempting and luring me into 'money poor, rose rich' land! I ordered 2 roses in spring '06, 2 in spring '07, then 5 in the summer, now it's fall and I've gotten 6 and 3, and just ordered another 6, and I'm trying to add 1 add'l rose to my order!!! What do you call this? Exponential growth? maybe LUNACY would fit better! While I have quite a bit of space, I don't envision it being swallowed up by roses! I like low care shrubs and perennials- anything that doesn't have to be mowed! Brandy

Lucy darling, my oh my ! Some hybridizers are very picky and others not so picky. On BGI for instance, some of the seeds in the seed bank come with stipulations and some not. JT Sessions donates seeds free and clear, he wants nothing to do with them after he sends them in. You can do with them what you want. He doesn't have the time, and doesn't want to be bothered with them once they leave his hands. If you get a really nice brug from his seeds, he wants no credit, you can do with it what you want. You can register it or not, your choice. All of the other donors @ the bank want hybridizer's rights. This means you give them credit. The hybridizer has the right to deny the ability for you to register the brug if they feel it's not up to their standards. In other words, they don't want their name on a plant that isn't worthy of registration. Once you get a nice plant from a seed, you give the hybridizer one to grow and the two of you can evaluate it's potential. You can, and should let different people in different climates grow it also. This comes under the heading of trialing a plant. While you are trialing you shouldn't share the plant. You are growing it purely to evaluate. I also would think if you grew a nice plant from a seed, but not worthy of registration, it would be perfectly fine to share the plant. If you had any doubts you could check with the hybridizer. I also think (this is my opinion) that you keep the name of the cross, and not use NOID. This way you keep up with what the cross is for further use. Also I think once a hybridizer sells those seeds, you are given the green light to do as you wish with the seedlings. Clear as mud ?? ~Edna~