Our dirty dog!!

[karen donnybrook]

We have a large water feature in our garden and it needs cleaning out and the water plants pruned every year. A friend and his twin grandsons (13) help Michael and I and this year we had our grandson Lewis (7) with us. The first image shows, mostly Gypsy, during the cleaning out stage and the second photo shows the finished pond.

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/8656/cleaningoutthepondwith7or.th.jpg (http://img236.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cleaningoutthepondwith7or.jpg)

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/4044/bottompondaftercleaning3wz.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bottompondaftercleaning3wz.jpg)

In a couple of weeks the pots on the right side will all have new growth on them and not look so naked!

PS Gypsy is a Jack Russell cross and nearly all white - when she is clean!!

[CarolLHB]

What a lovely, peaceful spot! Looks like it's well worth you labors.:)

[kevq]

Karen,
Once again great work.
You're lucky living in such a beautiful area.
Kev:) :)

[NMarti]

Karen - we had a pond for years and it was an annual ritual to clean the thing. I know how much work they are. We finally took ours out last year when we put a covered deck on and added a brick patio. Ours was not nearly as big as yours though. Yours is quite beautiful! Nice job on the collage too. Does your dog try to swim in the pond? Ours did and knocked plants over all the time.

[Mary]

Karen - what a gorgous pond! I would love to see it when everything is at its prime. How does it do in your winter?:)

[Wendy]

Hi Karen ...

Looks like Gypsy really enjoyed the pond cleaning :) ... and wow once you had finished what a wonderful pond. :)


Wendy

[karen donnybrook]

Thanks for all the comments.

Kev, every area has its own special beauty but yes I do think our little patch of this big world is beautiful.

Nancy, Gypsy does not go in the bottom pond. There is another, smaller pond closer to the house where we have put a "stepping stone" for Gypsy so it is easier for her to get in and out of the water. When she is very hot, all Gypsy does is stand in the water up to her belly!

Mary, our winters are not as severe as the some of your northern winters and there is no problem at all.

Wendy, Gypsy has a ball. As soon as we start getting all the bits and pieces together to clean out the ponds, she get very excited and can't wait to get started!

[Shari]

Nice photos Karen. I also was wondering what font you used for your initials in the corner because I really like it.
Shari

[Red Sky]

Most interesting Karen. Having never ventured south of the equator I find the southern hemishere to be full of intrigue. A goal I have in life is to see the Southern Cross. Your earlier images of roos in the backyard is downright prehistoric to me! Are they equivilant to the deer we have around here, where you drive along and see some and your only concern is that they don't run out in the road? Are they that common? And has anything else exotic ventured into your yard, say like a platypus? Or the Koala? Snakes?
Keep those shots coming; it's good to see what happens in other people's backyards, especially when the backyard is so far away.

[karen donnybrook]

Shari, I used Lucinda Handwriting and "warped" the text to get the effect I wanted.

Red, Kangaroos are usually seen in the early morning and late afternoons; during the day they stay hidden deep in the bush. Yes, roos do jump out in front of cars. No, you do not see them like we saw deer in Canada. Platypus and Koalas are not native to Western Australia and can only be seen in zoos or wildlife parks. Yes, we do have snakes and some are quite venomous.

I have to say, we are more likely to have problems in the garden during the summer than during the winter. Last winter, we had (for us) two weeks of really cold weather and the garden got knocked around a fair bit. But during the summer (every summer), we have very little rain for 6 months and have to water everything to keep it looking good and in some case just to keep it alive!!

Red are you interested in seeing some of my wildflower photos? If so, I will do up some collages and post them to the forum.

[Red Sky]

Hi Karen- I would be most interested in anything related to the flora of your region. I am a fairly avid gardener; my greatest passion is the ornamental grasses, so if you have any of these in your garden I would love to see them. I'm having success with a New Zealand type pampas grass; it took a few years to take off but it had great blooms last summer. I think it's called Toe Toe (or Tip Toe, I lost the tag) and here's a picture. Sorry, it hasn't gone under the PSE knife!
Looking forward to your collage. Thanks.


http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=12TYKwNS9QKPgANZa8zshgEjIUWRGp

[karen donnybrook]

Okay Red, I'll work on them. I will post them to a new thread when I have finished.

Your pampas grass looks great. I would not dare grow one here because it would go wild and infest the native bush!! I have seen pampas grass clumps that are about 6ft across :eek:

[Red Sky]

Yeah, pampas grass is classified as a noxious weed in California due to the spread but our cooler winters keep it in check. I have 3 giant ones, with 12 foot plumes, and they have never sent out a germinated seed. On the other hand, English ivy is considered a noxious weed here in Washington state, and I'm always fighting my neighbors vines that encroach. it is still used widely in landscapes here for some reason. I suppose because it is cheap and evergreen. Maybe Wendy can get over here and take it back home with her. I'm sure she has the time!

[Wendy]

Hi Red Sky ...

I too like the Pampas Grass ... Sadly we have just had to remove a large one from our garden as it had reached hugh proportions over the last 15 years.It was awful to get rid of :(

Ivy is one of the plants that I really don't like ... it is far too distructive. Only place you tend to see it around here is in the hedgerows :)

Wendy