The more I looked at the waterfall yesterday morning, the more I thought the wall needed to be just a little wider, so I dug up just a little clay from the bottom, and built it out a bit.

I made a before and after…clicky-click to enlarge.

Sarah-Flah’s backstop looks rather good now.

One small flower on great blue lobelia so far, which is impressive for a perennial grown from seed this year.

A few buds on joe-pye weed, also grown from seed this spring.

I’ve lost a couple more Monarchs to spined soldier bugs, but I counted 18 yesterday after finding 3 more on butterfly weed in Sarah-Flah’s garden. This little guy on swamp milkweed just moulted; his old clothes are right behind him.

Annual mallow buds…pretty!

I don’t remember what I planted in the swamp bed, and Charlotte walked the seeds all over the place, so it’s all mixed up, but whatever it is, I think it’s going to have a few flowers.

Well, pretty much. A few touchups here and there, and of course I need to flatten the footprints in the bottom once it dries (if ever…rained this afternoon, raining now), and P still needs to run Hot Rod over the stuff I raked out around the edges, but the grunt work is done, and I ordered 40 Allegheny spurge bulbs I can’t really afford (damned Furnace Fund), but I have a pond!

Took this as my interest in bashing dirt flat with a sledgehammer was waning this morning. I needed to stop and see that I really was almost finished.

I shovelled in most of the dirt where the spurge and the heuchera will go. It’s not going to be packed hard, obviously.

The water standing in the low spot after the last rain saturated the clay beautifully, so instead of using polyethylene foam or something, I packed clay over the biggest roots. The liner I got is 8 gauge, but I’d rather be safe than end up with a hole in an expensive liner!

Edges all packed down, loose stuff raked out…grunt work is done! FINALLY! It’s fairly level, but once P is available, we’ll check it and make sure. God, I hope I don’t have more dirt work to do.

Spicebush Doot-doots are doing well, and I counted 12 Monarchs today.

Yellow Bear (Virginia Tiger Moth) on the coralberry. I might move the coralberry over by the pond…dunno yet. Anyway, fuzzy dude is cute.

That’s like progress, but with more mud. I took half a vacation day yesterday for two reasons: first because I was working toward a migraine, and the way to head one off at the pass is not sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen; and second, to work on the edges of the pond because it wasn’t hot at all, and stretching out muscles with physical labour actually does work to head off a migraine  (sometimes…it’s still trying). It’s muddy as hell and slippery in the pond, but I got a fair bit done. Just part of the back left to edge, then mash down the stuff I can’t reach from inside. P said he’ll run over the edges as close as he can get with the big ride-on.

The north side. This is the low side that really needs to be built up.

My entry point will be left for last. This doesn’t need building up; just some shaping.

Only the north side left to go. Goddamn, what a lot of dirt I’ve moved in this yard!

Non-pond related, my Spicebush Doot-doots are growing well. Still look like bird poop, but another moult or two and they’ll look like tiny, green snakes.

I counted nine Monarchs last night, in varying sizes from 1/2″ to nearly ready to pupate.

Milkweed bugs are kind of a pest, but the nymphs are so cute.

Again, I know they’re weeds, but I still love oak leaf morning glory.

Still alive, and growing, but not yet out of the bird poop stage.

I had to change MLB feeders, too, so it was almost dark by the time I’d finished, but we got enough rain last night that I was able to plant the last two, long-suffering Wine and Roses weigela that I got ages ago but had kept on the patio. They don’t look like much now, and the soil is pretty barren over there, but I dug big holes and used lots of Black Kow, so hopefully they forgive me and grow.

My Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars are still alive, and I had six Monarchs in various stages, but lost one to a predatory stink bug. I normally leave those guys alone, but that one I caught with my poor caterpillar impaled, so it’s now an ex-predatory stink bug. This is my biggest Monarch; he’s not far from being a J, so I hope nothing gets to him–I want a butterfly!

It didn’t start until nearly 2100h, so no pictures, and there’s a thunderstorm with it, but I’ll take rain however I can get it!

In the meantime…flowers.

FINALLY, lobelia! The camera lens and sensor cannot do justice to the beautiful, clear, true red.

Great blue lobelia, grown from seed this year, but might get to bloom!

Patio pink. I hope I can save seeds from these. I’m definitely going to try, and the flowering okra, too.

Rain also means the dirt around the pond won’t be too dry to work!

Catching up for Friday, Saturday and today. All I have left to do on the pond is level the sides of the deep end, rake out and/or carry away extra soil, and we’re ready to install the liners. Jesus, what a lot of work this has been, and still lots to go!

So far, my little Monarch lives. I found two more tonight, too.

My spicebush has a couple of drupes. Crappy shot; it was in a bad spot.

My spicebush also has three little doot-doots, still alive. This one was out for a stroll tonight.

Lobelia is really trying to build anticipation. BLOOM, ALREADY!

Charlotte has regularly snacked on my poor morning glories, but I have a few blooms.

Sarah Jane’s baseball backstop looks much nicer.

Some of my hibiscus look like they might produce a few more blooms. Something is eating them, though. Anyway Plum Crazy made one already.

I was shaking my head at the oleander aphids and looking for Monarchs, when I found a couple of unwelcome guests. Milkweed tiger moth cats. Unfortunately, they had to go; they don’t play nicely.

One of the Monarchs I found in the ravaged milkweed bed, and the two tiger cats. They’re pretty; it’s a shame they don’t share.

Buddleia out front. Small, but it just got planted a few weeks ago. I love the colour!

Only one, but one is better than none!

B’s house had a ledge around the top of the brick like ours does, except theirs was sandstone and ours is concrete. They took off the brick and the ledge, and when I was going to buy concrete pavers, he asked whether the sandstone ledge material would work. I said it would, and he was gracious enough to not only load it onto his trailer, but deliver it, and help P and me unload it. There’s a lot, and the longer pieces will eventually be the edging on the fence flowerbed, but the smaller pieces are perfect for supporting the top edge of the waterfall without having to make it so wide that it looks stupid. I’m also using it for support on the “step up” to the top level.

Covering it with soil; it’s clay-rich and quite sticky when it’s damp, but dries rock hard.

Building up the back side. Once I’m finished, there will be topsoil part way up the back of the waterfall, and either Prairie Alumroot, Allegheny Spurge, or both growing in the topsoil. That way, I won’t have a bunch of ugly dirt, or weeds sticking out here and there, and we won’t have to mow or trim there. In theory, at least. Jesus, I can’t wait until this pond is done. I got the pump, hose, seaming tape, and two cans of the landscape foam; UPS came while we were unloading the sandstone.

I’ve been rather lazy about posting, but slightly less lazy about working on the pond.

The top bank of the waterfall is starting to take shape. The concrete blocks and plywood are there to support the edge so I can pound the crap out of the top level to compact it.

The ridge needs to be wide enough to provide support for the rocks.

Not too deep; this is the “birdbath” part, and birds don’t have diving gear.

I know oak leaf morning glory is a weed, but I’ll continue to grow it in pots because weed or not, it’s a very pretty plant. I love the pale blue blooms!

I found this at the edge of the woods, and Flower Checker botanists IDed it as Heuchera richardsonii, AKA Prairie Alumroot. I’m thinking of relocating it to the soil I plan to have around the back side of the waterfall; this stuff likes dry to moderate soil, and shade to part sun, which describes that area well. I want something growing there because it’ll look weird if it’s just a “dirt igloo”, and I think covering the vertical with rock would look silly. I don’t want weeds to grow there, and I don’t want to have to mow it. I was considering Allegheny spurge (and still might get some), but this is pretty, it works as a ground cover if it’s massed, and it’s my favourite price…free.

I think I took this on Sunday; it was hot, and I didn’t really feel much like working, but the waterfall won’t build itself. I decided to make a sort of slip, since there’s a lot of clay in the soil, and I spread it around the outside, then let it dry a bit before mashing it some more with a piece of scrap plywood and a sledgehammer.

The lobelia (one of them, at least) is getting close. I wish they’d all bloom, but the others are just at the point where the rosette is “lifting”, so they may not make it to bloom territory until it’s too late in the season. Dammit…I want to see how the MLBs feel about this stuff!

No, wait…this must be Sunday…or Monday. That’s the problem with catching up; I keep forgetting when I took photos, and I’m too lazy to look it up. Anyway, I’m going to get this waterfall finished, and get this pond done. In theory, at least. If it doesn’t actually kill me.