THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ST. LOUIS WATER GARDENING SOCIETY

WWW.SLWGS.ORG January 2015

Don’t Miss This!

What: “Constructing a Low Maintenance Pond” Where: Missouri Botanical Garden Ridgway Center Beaumont Rm When: Tuesday, January 27

th , the

LAST TUESDAY at 7pm Who: Aaron Burchett, Vice President of Pond Market

1 Word,

The best ponds take all those things into account up front to

avoid problems later.

Aaron Burchett, is vice president and part owner of Pond Market

which was established in 1997. Burchett began building and main-

taining garden ponds in the late 1990s. Most of his experience has

come from performing field work, maintenance and pond con-

struction for residential and commercial customers. He has

worked extensively with most pond products now on the market

and has experience in both installation and repairs. He provides

seminars and presentations for koi and water garden clubs national-

ly. His company website is www.pondmarketcom.

In spring, a young man’s fancy may turn to love, but

gardeners dream of warm days, fresh dirt and flowing

water. Sometimes the “fancy” is actually a fantasy—-on cold

snowy days, we stare out the window and

dream about what we want to do with

the landscape and the problem spots.

We start poring over plant catalogs and

driving by our favorite garden centers to

check the level of activity. Water garden-

ers dream about what the ultimate pond

and waterfall could be like.

If you are one of those water garden

dreamers—and are planning to take ac-

tion as soon as the weather permits—the January meeting of

the St Louis Water Gardening Society is for you. Clearly, you

can’t yet get out the shovels and start digging in the frozen tun-

dra, but this is a perfect time to draw up plans, set budgets, look

at equipment and think about plants and fish.

How big can it be? How many fish will it support? Is your

proposed site a good one? Is it in sun or shade?

David Stahre Steve Metzler Steve Harris Sherry Nelms

SLWGS Officers Elected at November Pot Luck Meeting The St. Louis Water Gardening Society held its 2014 bien-

nial election at the meeting in November, which also included

one term. Steve Metzler was elected for one year

as vice president replacing Alice Gibson. Steve

Harris was elected treasurer for one year, replacing

Rita Zeitz. Sherry Nelms was elected secretary

replacing Diane Heuvelman who stepped in when

the annual pot luck dinner and social. Taking office this month

as president is Dave Stahre replacing Joe Summers who served

Constructing a Low Maintenance Pond

2 January 2015

International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society Announces 2014 Competition Visitors to the Denver Botanical Garden were invited to vote for their favorite new water lilies in the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society’s competition. A total of 700 votes were cast in the public voting, said Tamara Kilbane, senior horticulturist at Denver Botanical Garden, who conducts the IWGS competition. Voters chose winners in three categories: Hardy water lilies, tropical water lilies and intersubgeneric water lilies (hybrids created by crossing hardy and tropical lilies.) A panel of expert judges also chose winners in the same categories as well as best new water lily overall.

Judges Choices Best New Lily and Best New Tropical Lily Nymphaea 'Milky Way'

Buafah Garden, Thailand

1st Place Hardy Waterlily Nymphaea 'Lemon Meringue'

Tony Moore, USA

1st Place Tropical Waterlily Nymphaea 'Good Morning'

Ittipol Takul, Thailand

People’s Choice Winners 1st Place Hardy Waterlily Nymphaea 'Siam Beauty'

Pairat Songpanich, Thailand

1st Place Intersubgeneric Waterlily Nymphaea Siam Purple 2 , Pairat Songpanich, Thailand

All photos provided by Tamara Kilbane

Presidential Ponderings

3 Word, 2015

Well, folks, I’ve been told that my pond stories have been pop-

ular in some corners. That being said I’ve decided to resume

where I left off with the story. As you may recall I moved my

fish into Sherry Nelm’s basement in January of 2012. We initially

borrowed a show pool but later switched to kiddie pools to hold

the koi while we planned a pond. We had problems with leaks

but decided to try one last time and be super careful not to dam-

age the liner.

Things went well for about a week and then we started noticing

water again. GRRRH! We decided to just clean up the water but

it soon became obvious that the leak was getting worse. I decided

on one last desperate plan to save things.

My idea was to “diaper” the pool with the liner from my former

pond. Knew there was a reason I kept it the plan was to roll the

liner up and put it next to the pool, lower the water level in the

pool and then pull the pool back and unroll the liner under it.

Once it was half-way under, I’d pull the pool back the other way

and finish unrolling the liner the rest of the way.

Problem: As we pulled the pool over we found a small slit in the

bottom. We tried patching it but were not able to do much ex-

cept to slap some Gorilla tape on it. We got the liner under the

pool but discovered the second problem: The liner didn’t com-

pletely surround the pool!

The fun was just beginning!

Stay tuned for the next installment!

David Stahre

Well to paraphrase the movie “Poltergeist” ,

“[I’m] baaaak!” It’s been two years since I was

president and I have to admit the break was nice.

I have to commend Joe on the job he did as

president, particularly in bringing in some inter-

esting speakers, but it’s nice to be “back in the saddle” so to speak.

To refresh your memory and to introduce myself to those who have

joined us since I last served: I grew up in Florida, spent 20 years in

the Air Force as a C-141 instructor pilot and staff officer. I have two

daughters (one in Seattle, the other in Tacoma, Washington) and a

granddaughter who is two. A lot of things have changed since I was

president last, most notably is Alice Gibson’s illness. I’m sad to say

that Alice Gibson has been under the weather for some time and not

able to function in her numerous capacities for the club. It will, no

doubt, require SEVERAL persons to fill her shoes for the group.

Already Gail Abernathy has picked up Water Word editor duties and

Mary Nies is handling our website. I’m still getting our speaker’s pro-

gram together. I have Aaron Burchett scheduled for January. He’ll

be giving a presentation entitled “Pond Construction with Low

Maintenance in Mind.” He always does a great job and I’m looking

forward to it. In February Chris Siewing will be talking about his

gigantic pondless waterfall project in Lake St. Louis. For March I

have Jeff Robson from the Bonsai Society of Greater St Louis. I also

have commitments from the Audubon Society, the St Louis Zoo and

many others. I’ll have more information as commitments are firmed

up and schedules are de-conflicted.

4 Word, 2015

Looking for

more information

about pond building,

plants or fish care?

Visit our website,

www.slwgs.org Check

out our “Articles of

Interest” section and

“Links We

St. Louis Water

Gardening Society

Calendar of Events

2015

Membership meetings in 2015 will be held on the dates and at the locations listed below between 7 and 9 p.m. Meetings will be held at the Missouri Botanical Garden Ridgway Center, Beaumont Room, unless otherwise noted.

January 27—“Constructing a

Low Maintenance Pond” by Aa-

ron Burchett. This is the Last Tues-day of January

February 24—Program to be announced.

This is the LAST TUESDAY of February.

March 31—Program to be announced.

This is the LAST TUESDAY of March. April 28—Program to be announced.

This is the LAST TUESDAY of April. May 26—Program to be announced.

This is the LAST TUESDAY of May. June 16—Pond-a-Rama Host meeting for all participants in the annual pond tour. This is

the Third Tuesday of June.

June 23-Program to be announced.

This is the LAST TUESDAY of June. June 27-28 Pond O Rama.

July 28—Program to be announced.

This is the LAST TUESDAY of June.

September 22—Program to be announced.

This is the Fourth TUESDAY of September. October 20—Program to be announced.

This is the Third TUESDAY of October.

November 17—Annual member potluck dinner

and election of officers. This is the THIRD

TUESDAY of November

, 2015 5

Did You Miss This?

Water Plants of 2015

Our October speaker was Brandon McClane from Florida Aquatic Nursery, his family business which has over 50 years of experience. The company start-ed hybridizing water lilies in 1980. They now have over 60 varieties of water lilies. Each new variety is more spectacular than the last. The new varieties have wonderful vibrant color and between 50 to 70 petals.

A new purple hardy, N. Purple Fantasy, will be available Spring 2015. Brandon shared that takes 5-7 years to get a new variety ready to market. They have hybridized several new pink tropical varieties. There is also a beautiful new red, N. Flame. Several of the newer varieties are more shade tolerant. (That’s what I’ll need.)

Don’t be surprised by the price of the newer va-rieties. Because of what goes into developing these newer plants, they are going to be pricier. The Florida Aquatic Nursery plants are only available through retail outlets. Homeowners cannot buy directly from the company. However, several of our local garden centers and pond stores carry Florida Aquatic Nursery plants. Look for them next spring as you are opening your pond. Florida Aquatic Nursery has supplied some of the plants that we use at the Forest Park reflec-tion ponds at the Jewel Box.

Brandon was a wonderful speaker. The slides he used showed off the newer hybrid water lilies. Several of the varieties are still in the develop-mental stage. It was especially nice of him to share pictures of these plants.

Article by Carolyn Haus Photo’by Tom Meier

Florida Aquatic Nurseries Purple Hardy Waterlilies

The St. Louis Gardening Society

member of Associated Koi of America

Visit the website

Ponds * Creeks * Waterfalls

Natural Stone Walks

Brick Paver Patios & Driveways

Mark

frogman112211@hotmail 527 Crescent Drive

www.woodlandgardenponds.com Kirkwood, MO 63122

Two Ways to Water

Your issue of Water Word will arrive in your mail box each month, prior to the

monthly meeting, un-less you prefer to

have it delivered via

e-mail. To sign up for e-mail delivery only, contact membership

chairman Gail Abernathy at

abernat@swbell.net

6 Word, 2015

Water Word is published by the St. Louis Water Gardening Society 10 times annually, and

is distributed to all members. The newsletter contains information about water gardening and fish-keeping, as well as information about

SLWGS meetings and activities. Contributions of articles and photos are welcome and should be sent to the Water Word editor listed below. Doc-

uments should be in common text formats, and photos should be in high resolution (300 dpi or higher) jpeg format. The deadline for submis-

sions is the first of each month.

SLWGS membership dues are $20 annually per household. Information about the Society,

including how to join, can be found at our web-

site, www.slgws.org or from any of the officers, board members and coordinators listed below.

2015 SLWGS Officers and Board Members

President

David Stahre (618) 623-9341 dstahre@hotmail.com Vice President Steve Metzler (314) 845-3902 stevenmetzler@att.net

Treasurer Steve Harris (314) 962-8432 stevelitzsinger@gmail.com

Recording Secretary Sherry Nelms (618) 365-1057 sher200856@yahoo.com

Publicity Chairman Virginia (Ginny) Mueller

(314) 831-3063 vcmueller16@hotmail.com

Special Events Chairman Pam Jokerst (314) 276-9461 pamjokerst@gmail.com

Society Shirt Sales Chairman Ruth Mosley (314) 878-7281 rgbmosley@aol.com

Librarian Katie Williams (314) 210-2919 beezey696@hotmail.com

Membership/E-mail Chairman Gail Abernathy (314) 428-3037 abernat@swbell.net

Jewel Box Chairman Kay Miskell (618) 344-6216 km99@att.net

Water Word Editor Gail Abernathy (314) 428-3037 abernat@swbell.net

Website Chairman Mary Nies (636) 458-2149 marycnies@gmail.com

AKCA Representative Steve Metzler (314) 845-3902 stevenmetzler@att.net

Pond-O-Rama Chairman Virginia Mueller (314) 831-3063 vcmueller16@hotmail.com

Parliamentarian Jeanne Lehr (314) 432-2842 jeannelehr@yahoo.com

Historian Joe Summers ( 636) 527-2001 chalilypond@aol.com

Hospitality Chairman Cindy Williams (636) 394-9214 happyclub@hotmail.com

Past President Joe Summers (636) 527-2001 chalilypond@aol.com

Members-at-Large Carolyn Haus (314) 993-0985 carolynhaus@sbcglobal.net John Nies (636) 458-2149 jtnies@gmail.com Alice Gibson (618) 876-1628 alice1628@att.net Rita Zeitz (314) 821-2498 ritazeitz@sbcglobal.net

7 2015

(636) 946-2242

(800) 598-9413

1757 S. Old Highway 94 St. Charles, MO 63303

HOURS: SEASONAL

“OPEN 7 DAYS”

A Thank You Note:

I would like to thank all who helped me get this

issue of the newsletter together for publication. I

know it is not up to Alice’s standards, but at least we

got one put together to send out.

Gail Abernathy

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:

Is there a certain topic you would like information

on? Then email or call the president and let him know

what it is. He will see what he can do to get infor-

mation out there about it.

Pond O Rama 2015

We need people to work on commitees. Please think

about it. We needed a lot of help to make things go

smoothly.

Good Well Wishes & Prayers to

Special Members

Alice is home an re-cooperating (slow an

steady.)

Todd Rundquist is improving each day. He is at

home also.

Barclay Compton finished his chemo prior to

Christmas. He, his family and Doctors, are

very excited for a healthy bright 2015.

Please keep these very special members and

their families in your thoughts and prayers.

From the Editor’s Desk...

8 Word, 2015

Send this form with your $20 check payable to the

St. Louis Water Gardening Society to

Gail Abernathy, 10922 Kildare Court, St. Ann, MO 63074

Please print or type Clearly

Name(s) (Include Spouse)______________________________________

Alternate Name (Company or Organization)

_______________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________

City_________________________________State______ZIP_________

Phone__________________________________________________

e-mail _____________________________________________________

❒ New Membership ❒ Annual renewal (Renewals are due in January)

Would you prefer to receive your copies of Water Word :

via e-mail only? Or by regular mail?

Time to Renew!

Membership renewals for all St. Louis Water Gardening Society members are due in January. If you have not sent in your dues yet you may make your payment in person at the January meeting, or mail a check to Gail Abernathy, Membership Chairman, using the form at left. Dues are $20 per household. While nonmember guests always are welcome at SLWGS meetings, there are definite benefits to membership. For example, all members receive two free Pond-O-Rama tickets, a $30 value. In addition, all members receive the regular issues of Water Word, and may participate in a number of special events throughout the year, including tours and field trips that are arranged for members only. Don’t miss out on the fun of 2015.

Did You Miss This?

Election and Social Event Combined

The St. Louis Water Gardening Society finished out

2014 with a grand event in November. There was a

good turnout for the annual pot luck dinner, great

food and lots of conversation. There was business to

attend to as well—the election of officers. Cindy

Williams did a fantastic job setting everything up, dec-

orating the tables and designing a trivia game of things

that were mentioned in Water Word over the year.

Everyone had a great time had by all who came.

9 Word, 2015

As we begin the New Year, we celebrate and give thanks for Alice Gibson's return to health. For our newer members, Alice, and her husband, Wayne, have provided immeasurable contributions over the years to help make our society what it is today. We are grateful to them. On to our topic – Koi Health. It's probably no surprise that our koi's health, and our own, have some common factors – a healthy environment, proper nutrition and exercise. Our koi's environment, naturally, is the water they swim in. In addition to the items covered in last month's water quality article that included the necessity of frequent water chang-es, a healthy environment consists of clean, fresh, and highly-oxygenated water. Cool water's oxygen saturation capacity is greater than warmer water, at 10 ppm and 6 ppm, respec-tively. Koi death occurs at 4 ppm, so there is only a small margin of error. For adequate oxygena-tion, proper aeration is a must. Waterfalls spilling onto our pond's surface and air stones and air domes are helpful to achieve these numbers. Koi gasping at the surface or hovering around wa-terfalls may be suffering from oxygen deprivation. It's also important to keep our pond free of decaying organic matter – leaves, plant material and debris – to maintain healthy oxygen levels. The decomposition of this material uses oxygen to complete this process. The next consideration is good nutrition. Like us, if our fish eat junk, the result is poor health potential. Koi need proper food to thrive. Check the label on your fish food. The first in-gredient should be a protein source of fish meal, not a filler. High quality food equals the best potential for healthy koi. For an appropriate feeding regimen, please refer to my article in last month’s newsletter. Again, like us, our koi need exercise. Proper pond construction, good water circulation, and correct stocking levels all serve to enhance koi health by providing the necessary environment for adequate exercise. Healthy koi eat regularly and are socially active in their environment. Koi that isolate themselves, and refrain from food, need to be monitored. Become familiar with your fish. Vis-ually examine them for any irregularities in behavior and take appropriate action. Maintaining the koi health in your pond also requires quarantining when purchasing new fish. Buying fish from unknown sources and introducing them into your pond without quarantining for an appropriate amount of time is a recipe for disaster. Finally, I've been asked – are we having our Koi Auction this year? – the answer is yes! Normally this event is held the first Sunday in June. This will be our 5th Annual Auction and features high-end imported Japa-nese Koi at very reasonable prices. More information will follow. A new feature in my articles will be Koi Vocabulary. Here are the first three words. They are all Japanese terms for the color “red” on a koi. Hi – (pronounced like he) Beni – (pronounced like Benny) Aka – (pronounced with short a sounds)

Article by Rick Jokerst

Happy New Year and successful pondering!

rickjokerst@gmail.com cell: 314-368-2652

KOI HEALTH

SLWGS Water Word

10922 Killdare Ct

St. Ann, MO 63074

WWW.slwgs.org

Photo of the Month

10 Word, 2015

Inside this

Constructing of Low Maintenance Pond ………………………...Page 1

Also inside:

IWGS Announces 2014 Winners Page 2

Presidential Page 3

SLWGS Calendar of _________ Page 4

Did You Miss This?

Page

2015 SLWGS Officers and Board ___________Page

From the Editor’s Desk _____________ Page 7

Time to Renew ____________ _______ Page 8

KOI Health ____ ___________________ Page 9 Photo of the Month ________________ Page

Florida Aquatic Nurseries wins Best New

Tropical Waterlily for the fourth year in a

row with Nymphaea ‘Scarlet Flame’

Photo from Florida Aquatic Nursery’s website