Marble Gardens & Fish Ponds

[Nungali]

I think a salamander is different they have made the full transition;

 

 

 

and dont have to live under the water surface. 

 

An axalotl  has to live under water and has external gill / lungs.   Sort of like a tadpole that grew legs, still has the tail and thought ... hmmmm ... this isnt a bad place to stop with the evolution. 

[Nungali]

On the garden front ... these are taking off really well and have covered the shady south side of the cabin, nectar  eating birds luv them;

 

Parrot plant 

 

 

 

The other one that seems to like it here (in the fernery ) is like an elephant ear leaf  with blotches of different greens through to yellow and areas of crinkled distortions and weird shapes in the leaf and a cupped pointed tapered leaf end that holds water.

 

Cant seem to find a picture of them.    

 

The purple passion plant is spreading on the north sun side, where there is more dappled light (but damn hard to propergate in a pot.

 

 

 

 

Looking at it straight on its green, on the angled view its purple,  so when you walk past, or the blow in the breeze they change colour from green to purple.

 

And also I got a sun dew and a carnivourous pitcher plant that sits over one of the fish ponds. Have to see how they manage.

[Marblehead]

I think a salamander is different they have made the full transition;

 

and dont have to live under the water surface. 

 

An axalotl  has to live under water and has external gill / lungs.   Sort of like a tadpole that grew legs, still has the tail and thought ... hmmmm ... this isnt a bad place to stop with the evolution. 

Yeah, it's amazing how evolution works.  Nature seems to try anything in order to insure the continuation of life.

[Marblehead]

On the garden front ... these are taking off really well and have covered the shady south side of the cabin, nectar  eating birds luv them;

 

Parrot plant

No parrot plants here.  Likely too cold.  Beautiful flower though.  Looks like their flower is designed for hummingbirds.

 

Different plants for different environments.

 

Yesterday when looking at the gardens it appeared that one iris flower would be open today.  I'll check later in the day and if so I'll pix it.

[Marblehead]

Okay.  Let's see if I did this well.  The Irises:

 

[Nungali]

Thats a beauty!  I like iris . Another thing that surrounds the cabin in in the shade of the trees'

 

Walking Iris   ( easy to spread as they propagate by 'walking'      )

 

 

 

 

 

next saturday they are having the plant fair at the  big market site in town.   I will have a scout for any thing small and unusual or any ferns I dont have yet.

 

No more trees though, I have planted far to many as it is and running out of space - but over tha last few days I have been eating lilli pilli fruit off the tree I planted a few years a go - native tucker, organic with the morning dew on it - yum ! 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

I noticed this on the lillipilli page ....  I also put in some ornamental 'powderpuff' lillipilli  I bought one of these trees (at that market)  years back and waited years for it to flower, last spring it went off  ( and now I have some seed ).

 

- my one is a bit more maroon coloured than this with white yellow tips - quiet stunning !

 

 

Edited March 11, 2015 by Nungali

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

I think a salamander is different they have made the full transition;

 

 

 

and dont have to live under the water surface. 

 

An axalotl  has to live under water and has external gill / lungs.   Sort of like a tadpole that grew legs, still has the tail and thought ... hmmmm ... this isnt a bad place to stop with the evolution. 

 

All hail the Salamander God of Magma: Salamodo!

[Marblehead]

Over the past few days I completed Spring cleaning at the pond area.  The fish should b pretty happy now.

 

Out front, it looks like the Irises are done for the year.  I got three flowers.

 

The Trumpet Vines have some really nice new growth on them as do the Lantana.  The Pansies and Violas are still doing okay but it has been pretty hot for them the past few days so I expect them to start dieing back pretty soon.

 

And I should be seeing some Snapdragon flowers withing a couple days as a few plants now have flower buds on them.

 

The Bleeding Heart Vines haven't shown me much yet but they always have been slow starters.  And it's still too early for the Mexican Petunias and the Day Lilies.

[Nungali]

Boy is that axolotl growing fast !  First he was a thin , big headed weirdo who hardly ate. I swear he is twice as big now and fat.

 

He would take a worm after much tempting.  Then I tried a caterpillar and he  totally went for that. Then I put in some little  'misquito fish' from the river, he didnt seem to like that and shied away from them.  Then there were 8 left, then 7 .. 5 ..2  now none.  He virtually leaps out the water now to take a large worm from my fingers and  savagely wrestles with it chomping it down.

 

Ummmm  ...  how big and savage will he get      ?  

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2015 by Nungali

[Marblehead]

Yeah, the ones in Japan I have seen in documentaries are rally big puppies.  Much like the one above.

[Marblehead]

Yesterday morning when I went out to the gardens I was greeted by one Rain Lily flower:

 

http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/g-52-rain-lily-zephyranthe-planting-guide.aspx

 

and while working in the gardens during the morning three more flowers opened.

[Nungali]

Thats cool. The walking Iris slowly open a bit then the last bit they flick open all at once as the petals fold back.  One morning I watched heaps of them opening (in a bunch of around 60 buds )  Its great to see. 

[Nungali]

[Stosh]

So THATS what the inside of a pistacio looks like!

:-)

[Marblehead]

Well, while I'm here I might as well mention that two of my snapdragon plants have open flowers.  One is pink and the other is white.  Both are the dwarf variety and both are self-seeded plants.

[Stosh]

I like snapdragons, they remind me of popcorn springing from the earth.

[Stosh]

Please someone post something to distract from my corny musing.

Its sitting there like an inappropriate epitaph.

Loathe to delete a post, I hear the Jumanji drums of the warpath and the cognitive dissonance is going down harsh.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Stosh

[Marblehead]

I like snapdragons, they remind me of popcorn springing from the earth.

There!  Now you cannot delete that post.  It is here for all eternity.

[Stosh]

You do realize , that there is a cosmic price to be paid for that. 

[Marblehead]

You do realize , that there is a cosmic price to be paid for that. 

No problem.  I can handle it.

[Stosh]

Handling is one thing, liking is another.

[Nungali]

Please someone post something to distract from my corny musing.

 

 

Okay. The axolotl is still growing !   (now I have 4 fish ponds ! )  , last week, he would take half a worm and wrestle with it and getit down in a series of gulps.

 

Sometimes you have to dangle it around a bit first to wake him up.  Yesterday I had a large full fat worm and dangled before dividing, he lunged at it and got it while I was still holding the other end, Then he started wrestling ... put up a good fight too ...  got it off me and down in one gulp !   

 

and has eaten a carton of live crickets in 1 week!  

 

I guess with cool weather and winter coming he will slow down eventually .... or I will have to get a bigger pond (he has already outgrown the large fish bowl ! ....  now that has become a water snail  and mosquito fish from the river home,  it is a water feature near the front door pot plants.

 

 

 

 

[Stosh]

Isnt that thing going to need to burrow into a mudbank at some point?

[Marblehead]

Isnt that thing going to need to burrow into a mudbank at some point?

I'm sure it will.

 

I just read an article about a find in Portugal of a 200 million year old fossil of a salamander that was six feet long.  It existed during the birth years of the dinosaur but then that large one became extinct.  (Of course, the sea and other creatures were growing large during that time so they likely became prey for larger animals.)