Fish and Flowers

Can you spot that bit of orange optimism in the photo above? The shot below provides better proof that spring has convinced our pond fish to come out and play. These are all the offspring of 6 fish we popped into the pond perhaps ten years ago when Pater dug it out — we’ve never fed them, and they thrive quite well on mosquito and other larva as well as on the pond plants they’re nibbling on here. Their population (Icthy-ation?) gets thinned occasionally by a kingfisher and I worry about the raccoons now that Skeena’s no longer here to keep them in check. But of the original six, there are now at least twenty and probably many more. I love those flashes of colour and life in the garden.

More colour? How about the China blue of scilla?

Or the raspberry-pink of ribes sanguineum (flowering red currant)?

Even on a windy day with clouds streaking the sky, these bright colours ensure that my mood stays spring-cheery.

Can’t wait ’til little Nola is big enough to run through the spring garden hunting for Easter eggs!

For the readers and Paris-lovers among you: you might want to check out my recommendation of a lovely little novel set in Paris’s 7th arrondissement — a treat you could happily read in a garden (or inside in a cozy chair, for that matter!).

7 Comments

  1. Susan B
    11 April 2009 / 10:13 pm

    Oh, I love fishponds! What joy this beautiful garden must give you. Once again I am awash in envy, and am already plotting the spring rehab of my containers, hopefully to be undertaken Monday (I’ve taken a vacation day with the intention of getting this done, otherwise I have no time.)

  2. materfamilias
    12 April 2009 / 2:35 pm

    Pseu: I do get much joy from my garden — I hope you enjoy your Monday container work and play. I know what you mean about the lack of time — it seems impossible to get anything done after putting in full days at work!

  3. Mardel
    13 April 2009 / 6:12 pm

    Oh how I wish I had a fishpond. I do think of where I could put one sometimes, but I am prone to fantasizing about what I could do in the yard, the house, my wardrobe, whatever. I will agree that it looks like it must bring great joy.

    I’m in the garden today, or out back painting the deck, or both.

  4. La Belette Rouge
    14 April 2009 / 3:53 am

    My neighbor has a tiny fishpond in front of her door. I think she is trying to improve her chi. I don’t know if it works but I do like stopping by to say hello to the fishies.

  5. materfamilias
    14 April 2009 / 4:35 am

    Mardel: I love ours and it really helped give our yard its shape. Pater dug it out over a a few days almost ten years ago now and it’s been a pleasure ever since — I’d love to also have a bog area around it, but that’s too big a project. Sounds as if you had an ambitious day planned — hope you had fun working!
    LBR: Can’t help thinking of fish and chi . . . ps — corny, I know!

  6. Duchesse
    14 April 2009 / 11:43 pm

    New life, in the spring: heartening no mater what the species

  7. materfamilias
    15 April 2009 / 5:24 am

    That’s exactly it, Duchesse!

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