The water hyacinth has opened, originally uploaded by malyousif.
I got three water hyacinths yesterday for the pond, as well as a top-up of the butterfly plant and a little dogweed to provide shade for the fish especially now that the temperature in Bahrain is on the increase, and to add colour and texture to the pond as well.
I chose the three hyacinths which were in bud stage so that they can flower in the pond and hopefully for the flowers to stay a little longer.
I didn’t expect that they would flower so soon though, but of course I am very happy to have them in my garden.
Comments
sigh just beautiful, they almost look like our Colorado Columbine state flower.
Mahmood,
how did you meet your wife??
3 more months, till I leave my country. It is so hard going through all your possesions and figuring out what means the world and what you can leave behind.
I find the plants themselves odd looking, but the flowers are very pretty. I admit I rather like them, and had we a pond, I’d have some myself (though I would never, ever think of releasing them in the wetlands here!)
They are incredibly fast growing and can double within two weeks. Large stretches of swamps have been fully covered by these plants, blocking light from reaching native aquatic plants and slowing the flow of water, helping to make things stagnant. They are a problem here in California:
http://www.publicaffairs.water.ca.gov/newsreleases/images/jonesflood/6-28/l-hyacinth.jpg
That’s an image of the plant totally covering part of the Sacramento delta area here in California. Looks almost like a field, huh? The plants are also incredibly resistant to polluted water, so I hear they are being used for water cleanup purposes.
Anyway, fortunately for you you can manage it in your pond, though you may have to reduce them every two weeks to keep their numbers in check!
Who comes up with such weird names for plants?. Couldn’t they have just said: Water plant with nice pink flower. Sounds Red Indian.
Why do you ask,broken condom?
Romster: people who don’t know the Latin names 😆
Well Romster, I agree, but the problem is when I put “Water plant with nice pink flower Sounds Red Indian” in Google’s image search I got hundreds of different plants very few of which resembled the water hyacinth! :w00t:
Barry, strange you say about the doubling of the water hyacinths every two weeks, I read that in Wikipedia too. Unfortunately whoever is responsible for that behaviour forgot to send the memo to my original hyacinth as it is still floating – mostly browned now – in the pond for more than a month and it didn’t do anything!
Let’s see if there is more success with the new ones.
I have a feeling that the first wasn’t successful because the pond gets scrubbed and cleaned every 10 days or so… maybe it should be left to fester for a while (yuck!)
Mahmood: How odd, I’d think the combination of year round warmth would be a plus for it, as it comes from Tropical South America! Maybe your water contains the secrets to keeping it under control! Or maybe it just gets disturbed enough it sits there and sulks? 🙂 Of course, if the water in your pond isn’t full of nutrients (although the other plants in it seem to counter that arguement), perhaps they are slowed down by not enough nutrients to spread like a plague? :tongue:
The fish are still alive, and so are two of the five tadpoles we’ve put in there. The secret I think is an over-zealous urge by our maid to have that pond scrubbed. She just likes to chase after the fish!
Can you send your maid here to California to come scrub my fish tank? 🙂
Kidding, ha ha.
Though it sounds like she likes the pond walls to be clean, I rather like leaving the algae alone as long as the water stays clear. It also sounds like she just likes being near the pond and it gives her an excuse to hang out by it for a bit.
Speaking of fish ponds, the Hospital near here has a huge koi pond in the center of the main floor. It’s really cool because the koi will swim up to you if you sit by the edge of the pond and snap your fingers at them. They act almost like dogs! The whole hospital actually looks more like a hotel than a hospital. They’ve got potted plants that are small trees, the new wing has a waterfall outside, and there are even potted Cymbidium orchids outdoors. Hey, I think I’ll go pay a visit to take pictures sometime.