Heating Problems!

The other morning, I went out to check my dragonfly nymphs in the Frog Pond.  They were about due to climb up on one of the tall grasses and do their dragonfly thing of changing from nymphs to full-blown dragons and I was in hopes of capturing the process on film.  Instead of finding them crawling up the stalks of the water plants, I was dismayed to find them floating on top of the water.  Something had killed most of the larvae in the pond..not just the dragonflies but the mayflies, waterskippers and a few of the pond spiders as well were belly-up in the pond.  This irked me as I have been so careful to use no chemicals near the pond or anywhere else for that matter.  I just do not believe in needlessly dousing the place with harmful substances.  Earlier in the spring, I did have to spray for termites but was assured that the stuff I used would evaporate quickly enough to do no harm to the land or water.  Now this..my poor dragons were laying there dead as a doornail and I was at a loss of the cause.

Upset at the find of dead critters in my Frog Pond, I meandered the garden paths in hopes of finding just what had caused their demise.  I pondered just what I might have done to kill the very things I had been watching for the past few weeks.  As I entered the Rose Garden, the garden thermometer caught my eye..WOW! The gauge read 104 degrees and that was in the shade!  Here it was still before noon and it was already over 100 degrees!  Summer has definitely arrived here on the Bayou!  Out of curiosity, I checked the other thermometer that was in a sunny spot...oh, my!  That one read 118 degrees!  Again..WOW!  I felt rivulets of sweat roll down my back. It sure was a hot day!  Hot day?

I hurried back to the Frog Pond.  It had hit me that perhaps the water in the little pond had gotten far too hot for the larvae living there!  I plunged my hand in to the water and sure enough, it felt as hot as bath water!  It was far, far too hot for the critters!  This also explained the mass of algae that had suddenly exploded into growth in the past few days.  I now knew what had caused the mass death in the pond.  The pond water was heated by a lack of shade.  This past winter, Michael had to take out a Mimosa tree that had been growing near the pond.  The tree had been invaded by wood borers and was dying limb by limb. The Mimosa tree had been the perfect tree to have growing by the pond since during the winter, it was leafless and the sun could warm the water but during the summer the branches would leaf out providing ample shade.  The shade would cool the water making a perfect environment for my critters!  When we removed the tree, it never occurred to me what a devastating effect it would have on my Frog Pond!  Now my lovely larvae floated on top of the water instead of soaring overhead like jewels in the sky.  This problem will be fixed and soon!  Another tree must be planted to provide the cooling shade needed to keep the pond in perfect condition!  Since the roots of the large Mimosa were also causing problems, I might opt for a much smaller bush.  The False Indigo Bush or Amorpha Fruticosa is much like the Mimosa in the way it lays bare during the winter months.  I already have one on the back side of the pond and it does well shading that portion, but the majority of the water was in full sun.  If I plant another bush, my critters will have plenty of cooling shade and I will be rewarded with the beauty of many dragonflies in the garden!