Big Red has been out and about and grazing with the others the last couple of days - I am so relieved. May not have to quarantine after all - whew. He was definitely stressed about something though, not sure what. Mine are goldies - not koi - who are indoors over the winter. I moved them out early this year - mid March - and they all seemed OK until the new fish showed up a week and 1/2 ago. I guess what Im curious about is if in the wild they would travel in packs or schools and be "bonded" to each other.... do they relate to each other as indviduals or is one fish pretty much interchangeable with another fish to them. When I first put the new ones in it seemed the 2 groups mingled a little but for a couple of days tended to stick together, old fish together and new fish together. It's just interesting to speculate what if anything goes on in the fish mind. They are much more aware than I thought they would be.... they can distinguish between me who feeds them vs. my cat who wants to eat them.

Living along the Mississippi and as a fisherman, we have watched our area closely. South and North of us they already have canneries that are taking the carp and useing them for something ( I am not saying what Fast food restaurant is rumored to be buying the processed meat). There is also Federal funding being pushed through to find ways to export the carp as they are prized in Asia. There is also a Fish market North of us that when they get the Asian carp and smoke and sell them they cant keep them in stock, because they say the meat is 100 times better than normal carp. That being said the idea of using them for commercial purposes has some concerned if they overfish them then some may start encouraging the reproducing of the evasive species. I have used fish in my garden and even buried deep the critters still find them, but use every year Fish emulsion.

The post's title made me chuckle. It's so true that we are bound to have some (or at least one) that looks ugly. For me, my ugly is Brim Cup. (Runner up to Brim Cup is Twilight.) When I bought Brim Cup in 2011, it looked nice. In 2012, it also looked good, and I patted myself on the back (especially when I found out it was considered one of the "difficult" ones). Well, I congratulated myself too soon, as this year, right off the bat, it looked ugly. Ugly it has been all season. Mind you, mine has been in a pot, so no slugs or pest issues like North53. I think mine has two problems: I've never repotted (I know, I know . . . I'm a bad girl). The second problem may be that it got too much sun in spring. So how long will I try with this hosta? I think I will try my best for 2014 and then 2015 will be the year it goes. I like a challenge, but there are so many beautiful and less demanding hostas out there that it just isn't worth my time. Babka, I also would find it very difficult to throw away a hosta. It is hard for me to imagine that no one would want it, even for free. I certainly do not have that problem. I can sell at garage sales, fund raising events, give them to our library's gardens or just post on kijiji.ca. If I were giving them away, a posting on kijiji.ca would guarantee that they'd be gone in no time at all. Just like plantbug, I would say "send them to me!" and I'll pay the shipping, but I am in Canada. My opinion is that if you are looking at some ugly plants, have tried almost everything you can and they continue to look ugly, then I would get rid of them. Doesn't it make you sad to look at them? Isn't life just too short to (year after year) see that kind of ugly? Part of gardening is to learn what grows well for you and what it is that makes you happy. I have purchased hosta that are going to grow too big for my garden (if I am lucky). What I am going to do? I don't know. What I do know, is that they are bringing me joy now. As for the future, well I can dream. But there are no guarantees for the future. So I choose to find enjoyment in the present.

Hope someone can help! Our 5yr old carp, Colin has had a white spot on his head (actually between his head & his mouth) for the last coupe of weeks. Doesn't seem to cause him any problems, but it is slightly larger & today he didn't feed (MOST UNLIKE HIM!) & seems lethargic. We had a problem with our pond in spring - the UV wasn't working properly & we lost a few shubunkins (ulcers & one had what looked like a rotting mouth - the flesh was being eaten away - poor thing) Water now seems fine (although haven't got a test - must do that tomorrow. All the other smaller fish seem healthy - but please help, cos Colin is so special, he's lovely! We did replace the water some time ago & used malachite green, which seemed to help conditions, but perhaps we need to use it again or is it something else? I'm a bit confused as to how to treat whatever it is. Help!! Thanks