Thank you Brenda and tcp Splish splash. The dog leg is a name the head groundskeeper (who also doubles as my DH) gave that section of the pond :) It wasn't hard but it wasn't easy either. Good thing about it is the fish can stay in the pond. We dropped the water level down about 18" to work on the pond ...where it is pieced is only 15" deep..it is a narrow passage actually about 32" wide (before the rocks go back) first you dig your new pond, then take the rocks away from the area, drop the water level, clean the liner real well. we attached the liners together with double faced tape as well as GE silicone. then we cut some liner strips (like a big bandaid) and and applied the bandaid on top with more silicone. We waited the recommended days for it to completely cure, then filled the pond and put the rocks back. Now if this ever sprung a leak the most that the water level can drop is 12" (that is where it is pieced. Here is a pic, the left side the pond is 3 1/2 feet deep, the dog leg on the right side is 2 foot deep (except where it is pieced -- that's one foot deep the orange koi is in the deep section and the white koi is in the dog leg. If you want I can make drawings on how we did it, but not until Friday, cause I'm working tomorrow. Joann Here's a pic from standing on the dock, Terminator is coming back into the 3 1/2 foot main pond. The left side is the dog leg -- that's only 2 foot deep. Here's Terminator, in the dog leg, about to re-enter the main pond. All the big flat rocks running across is to hide all the silicone lines. It looks like the rocks are high up, but there is actually about 10" of water on top of the rocks.

Marsha, here's a summary of my wintersown grass from seed last year: 2005, winterwsown ornamental grasses: Roughly, the code is as follows: Cells sprouted/cells sown, # seeds per cell, Name, (source (SG=self-gathered)) - how sown, S= surface, LC= lightly covered 2/12/2005 Flat #14 8/8 cells, 3 Festuca glauca (Park's) - S 8/8 cells, 13 Festuca glauca (Park's) - S 1/1 cell, 30 Festuca glauca (Park's) - S 15/15 cells, 14-15 Festuca glauca (trade) - S 8/8 cells, 9 Festuca scoparia (Jelitto) - S 8/8 cells, 9 Festuca mairei (Jelitto) - S 8/8 cells, 9 Festuca gigantea (Jelitto) - S 0/8 cells, 9 Pennisetum 'Burgundy Giant'(trade) - S 2/14/2005 Flat #15 0/8 cells, 20-25 Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster's Feather Reed Grass'(trade) - S 0/8 cells, 6 "Bamboo 7-9'" individual seeds(trade) - S 0/8 cells, 3 'pods' of 2-3 seeds, "Bamboo 7-9' "(trade) - S 0/8 cells, 5 "Tall ornamental grass, 8-10' large reeds"(trade) - S 8/8 cells, 10 "Foxtail type grass"(trade) - S * was Setaria faberi 0/8 cells, 15-20 "Grass, tall & feathery"(trade) - S 8/8 cells, 5 "Grass, tall, reddish top"(trade) - S * was Tridens flavus 0/8 cells, 5 Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'(trade) - S Flat #16 0/16 cells, 9-10 Anthoxanthum odoratum, (SG04) - S 15/16 cells, 8 Anthoxanthum odoratum, (Jelitto) - S 4/4 cells, 5 "Quaking Grass" (trade, larger than B.media seeds, may be B.maxima) - S 10/12 cells, 15 Briza media (Jelitto) - S 8/8 cells, 8 Briza maxima (trade) - S 0/8 cells, Cyperus alternifolius (trade)seeds & chaff, sowed heavily and mixed in a bit Flat #5 cont. 4/Added 8 cells, Carex grayi (trade) for 2-4 warmstrat - LC Flat #17 16/16 cells, Carex unknown, small fine volunteers, heavily sowed (SG04)- S 14/16 cells, 9 Carex muskingumensis (Jelitto) - S 14/16 cells, 5 Chasmanthium latifolium (Trade and SG04) - S 8/16 cells, 5 Chasmanthium latifolium (Jelitto) - S 2/15/2005 Flat #18 16/16 cells, Cortaderia selloana (trade)heavily sowed, w/chaff - S 0/16 cells, 9 Erianthus ravennae (trade)w/chaff - S 0/8 cells, ~15 Helictotrichon sempervirens (trade)w/chaff - S 5/8 cells, 9 Hystrix patula (Jelitto) - S 5/16 cells, 8 Lagurus ovatus (trade) hulled - S 2/16/2005 Flat #19 0/8 cells, 6 Leymus (trade)hulled - LC 0/24 cells, 5-6 Liriope minor (trade) - LC 11/32 cells, 8 Luzula nivea (Jelitto) - S 2/17/2005 Flat #20 13/24 cells, 5-6 Luzula sylvatica 'Select' (Jelitto) - S 0/8 cells, 5 Miscanthus sinensis condensatus 'Cosmopolitan' (trade source 1) - S 0/8 cells, 8 Miscanthus sinensis condensatus 'Cosmopolitan' (trade source 2) - S 0/8 cells, 8 "Variegated Japanese Grass" (trade) - S 0/8 cells, 8 Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' (trade) - S 0/8 cells, 8 Miscanthus "Unknownus" (trade) - S Flat #21 0/8 cells, 10 Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus' (trade source 1) - S 0/8 cells, 10 Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus' (trade source 2) - S 1/8 cells, 9 Miscanthus sinensis 'Central Park' (trade) - S 0/8 cells, 9 Miscanthus sinensis 'New Hybrids' (SG04 1st bloomers) - S 0/8 cells, 9 Miscanthus sinensis 'New Hybrids' (SG04 2nd bloomers) - S 6/8 cells, 9 Miscanthus sinensis 'New Hybrids' (SG04 full mix) - S 2/16 cells, 6 Millium effusum 'Aureum' (Jelitto) - S Flat #22 31/32 cells, 12 Muhlenbergia capillaris (trade) - S * was Eragrostis spectabilis 0/16 cells, 3 Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty' (trade)hulled - S 0/16 cells, 5 Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty' (trade)hulled - S 2/19/2005 Flat #23 24/24 cells, 9 Pennisetum alopecuroides (SG04)hulled - S 12/24 cells, 9 Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Moudry'(trade)hulled - S 0/8 cells, 6-7 Pennisetum ? "Dwarf Fountain Grass" (trade)hulled - S 0/8 cells, 5 Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty' (trade)hulled - S 2/20/2005 Flat #24 16/16 cells, 9 Sesleria caerulea (Jellito) - S 0/16 cells, 9 Sesleria nitida (Jellito) - S 7/8 cells, 9 Stipa capillata (Jelitto) - S 3/16 cells, 9 Nassella tenuissima (AKA Stipa tenuissima) (Jellito) - S 0/8 cells, 5 Tripsacum dactyloides (trade)hulled - LC Summary: 704 cells sown with several thousand seeds, 51 varieties. 308 cells sprouted, 43.7% Notes: Cultivar grasses like named Miscanthus and Feather Reed, did not, for the most part, sprout. Neither did 'Purple' Pennisetums, and a few of the unknown 'Bamboo' described trades. Cold season grasses seemed to sprout at a higher percentage than warm season grasses. I'll confirm this next year, and spring-sow warm season grasses, after wintersowing cool season grasses. Some Jelitto sourced seeds did well, others did poorly. Where I still have some left, I'll spring sow them next year. I ran out of flats last winter, and did no spring sowing. M.s. 'New Hybrids' have two distinctly different bloom times, but the seeds gathered from each blooming did not sprout at all. They may not have been ripe. The last batch gathered was a mix of both, and were left on the plants much longer. They sprouted, but not as well as spring-sown seeds 2 years ago, and direct-sown seeds this year. Clumping grasses: Festuca glauca cells were sown with from 3 to 30 seeds each. Today, you can't tell the difference between the clumps. Briza maxima, an annual grass, self-seeded vigorously before I harvested the seeds. Setaria faberi, Giant Foxtail, an annual, is extremely vigorous. It reached 5+' from seed, and seedheads were higher. To prevent reseeding, I cut it to the ground in early September, before seeds were ripe. It grew back to 1.5' and threw up new seedheads. Eragrostis spectabilis, traded to me as Pink Muhly, is a fantastic grass. It's got a gorgeous pinkish-purple cloud-like infloresence that lasts for 2 months, so far, and is very fine. The flowers catch moisture droplets out of humid air or rain, and glisten nicely. It also germinates beautifully (96.8%). Highly recommended as a massing grass or low border. Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty' was a real disappointment, but I'm going to do them again. I got no sprouts from 40 cells, 3-5 seeds each. Next year I'm going to try them again, in a variety of ways, from WS to spring-sowing to direct-sowing.

Peren.all - Astilboides is one of my favorite plants! I'm a sucker for big leaves :-). I usually cut the flowers down pretty quick as they are a distraction from the leaf display! These Astilboides in our north alley garden bask in water delivered by a (buried under the path) pipe from the end of a downspout at the back corner of the house. The neighbour next door also directs water to them from one of their downspouts. I have another Astilboides elsewhere in the garden that doesn't have a source of extra water and it is pathetic in comparison to these ones: What are you other favorite big leafed plants?

So far, no 'Monaco' bulbs here. One 'Jewel of the Night' bulb flowered beautifully like Maria's and Tsucath's. The color of this little jewel is truly noteworthy, but it is impossible to capture the true color with my antiquated 2004 PowerShot camera. Another bulb labeled 'Jewel of the Night' produced yellow flowers. The first scape and its flowers were severely damaged. They were not worth photographing. Another scape is coming. The last two bulbs labeled 'Jewel of the Night' bulbs are starting to produce scapes, but the bulbs are noticeably larger.