thank you, first one is a day bloomer, second and third are night bloomers, it is hard to get good shots of the night bloomers.

@glennlab The color’s are breathtakingly beautiful Glenn! Such rich color! Do you feed them any kind of plant food? I know nothing about water lilies.

@Redheadedgammy Fish poop. water lilies are natures filters, I have way too many fish since I put up the bird spikes, so the raccoons don't tear up the plants and eat the fish. I have several in the 8-12 inch range right now, a few months ago I was replacing 100 a month.

@glennlab So they get their great color from the fish poop! I never would have thought that. Nature sure is amazing!! I’m glad the spikes helped the poor fish from being eaten up, that’s a lot of fish to be constantly replacing!

It rarely stays below freezing long enough for that to be a problem. When we do get the odd freeze, I just pull the hose off the pump and direct it toward the surface, it creates an ice void so the fish get air.

@glennlab I'm glad that you mention fish. I'm currently looking after 2 cats and a house on 10 acres that includes a tiny pond (smaller & shallower than a bathtub). The owner claimed that he can't keep fish therein because of winter freezing...sounds to me like a length of hose or steel pipe to break through the ice would do the job. Thanks for that advice. Equally with solar electric panels I don't see why a water heater to maintain unfrozen water cannot be installed. Our fresh water fish survive water temperatures upto about 35°C in summer.
I must talk to him when he gets out of hospital.

@FrayedBear The depth is probably the most important thing for ice formation, then you have to keep the water circulating. A pond pump will keep the water aireated and keep the water moving.

@glennlab thanks FYI

I've had an osprey, a heron, raccoons, and cats get mine, I have pinks and feeders, The water lilies provide some cover This fall I'm going to have to trim my root balls as they are getting big.

me too, the female toads don't move much unless we've had rain, the males just find water and camp out.

@glennlab That almost sounds like it could be a social statement.

I fear my 12 drops of rainwater have now come and gone, so wishing your females better luck.

We finally got some good rain here the past two days. I can almost hear the trees sighing with relief.

I have my yard declared an animal/plant sanctuary, The drought has made it a magnet. I don't water except for my garden plants and fruit trees