Pond Lighting

April 2020

April Newsletter

LONG LINES & TESTING & BEAR MARKETS, OH MY! Hello fellow ponders. We hope this finds you and all yours safe and well. This year is shaping up to be memorable. Who knew even one month ago that the buzz words for 2020 would include “quarantine,” “abundance of caution” and “social distancing”? Unfortunately, COVID-19 is also disrupting our plans for the year. Our March meeting at Glover Nursery, which had promised to be highly informative, had to be cancelled. Our April meeting at Red Butte Gardens will not take place as planned, as Red Butte is also closed. (We were particularly looking forward to enjoying their beautiful daffodil displays, and hope you are finding time to enjoy these early perennials in your own neighborhoods.) We are looking into the possibility of recording our planned presentation and posting it on our website. Stay tuned for more information. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Our April Meeting ...... 2 We are hopeful that, with the coming of warmer summer months, Sponsor Spotlight ...... 3 the worst of the pandemic will be over and we can resume our Pond Lighting ...... 4 usual schedule. We have some amazing activities planned! In the 2020 Meeting Schedule ...... 4 meantime, our club officers are getting creative and looking into Gardening Boom ...... 5 ways to bring you online or “virtual” meetings and other content. Adding Plants to Your Pond .... 6 The bright side? More time for our gardens and ponds! Spending Divvying Plants ...... 7 Turtles ...... 8 time out in nature is a great stress reliever. Remember that pond Sponsor Spotlight ...... 9 project that has been in the back of your mind for two years, Easter Lilies ...... 10 waiting for your attention? Now might be the time. And when you Our Sponsors ...... 12 move forward with your garden and other plans, please remember Who we are ...... 11 our sponsors. We are grateful for their support, and know many Club Officers & Directors ...... 11 are suffering under current commercial restrictions. If we can,

In light of the COVID-19 We are living in memorable times. But one thing is certain: As pandemic, and in keeping Voltaire concluded in the last sentence of his classic novel Candide, with Governor Herberts’s “Nous devons cultivar notre jardin” (translation: “We must cultivate Stay Safe, Stay at Home our gardens”). directive and various County orders, we have cancelled the April 16 meeting at Red Butte Gardens. “I think we’re all going to be doing a Please note that Red Butte lot of gardening this year.” Gardens is closed until further notice. We’re looking at options to hold virtual meetings or provide recorded talks. Watch your email and our website for updates and further information. Stay Safe and Healthy!

2 Sponsor spotlight: Plastic Specialties

Plastic Specialties (dba PSI Tops www.psitops.com ) has always been a solid surface company and in fact, was the first in the state to offer Corian - still a mainstay for them today. The company does a lot of business with laminates including products from Formica and Wilson Art. PSI Tops is the current state leader in “Thinscape” countertops and you will begin to see hundreds of residential projects completed with the new HPL (high pressure laminate) 1/2-inch based countertop. Under Kelly’s leadership, PSI Tops has been and always will be a leader in solid, highest- quality trends for beautiful commercial and residential countertops. Quartz and granite have also become mainstays in offerings both on the commercial and residential sides of the business. As you can see in the accompanying photos, the company is also expert in cabinetry. Kelly has grown the company to 32 full-time employees and to her that means “my family is growing”. She is absolutely committed to the well being of every single employee and treats them just like she does each client! Her longstanding philosophy is simple and straightforward; ‘build and maintain relationships’. Kelly challenges her employees to really get to know each client; their wants and needs and then through follow up, creates a very comfortable long-term relationship with each. The company has NEVER turned down a job because they couldn’t provide the anticipated finished product. And the jobs’ list is an impressive one. In addition to the many impressive undertakings in the last 18 months, PSI Tops has completed projects for many of the state’s top employers and businesses, including; Goldman Sachs, Nike, the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, Intermountain Hospital, McKay Dee Hospital, Boeing, Adobe, Swire Coca-Cola and over 200 public and private schools. The company also maintains a great working relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and has continues to complete projects in the church’s many new local temples and numerous local chapels. The company has completed jobs throughout Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, South Dakota and Nevada and Kelly Passey says; “We are willing and able to take on any job at any time in any 3 location. This is our passion and we will always stand behind our initial bids, promises, quality and overall commitment to our clients.” POND LIGHTING By Ty Rosser

Our ponds and water features be more prone to failure. The bring us all so much joy. plastic housing can crack from Watching our fish and aquatic temperature fluctuations and be plants is so tranquil. Many of us damaged by UV rays. Below is an look for solutions to extend the example of two failed composite enjoyment into the evening. fixtures that had to be replaced. Low voltage submersible pond Aluminum - The problem with lights are a popular solution to using aluminum for an help make your pond sparkle at underwater light is that it’s is a night. However, with a market ferrous metal, and ferrous metals flooded with so many landscape are susceptible to corrosion. lighting products to choose from, Most aluminum fixtures go making an informed decision through a special treatment about which kind of fixture is best process during manufacturing to

“There are three things to consider when choosing a submersible fixture: longevity, lighting effect and (most important) safety of your fish.”

for your pond can be 2020 intimidating. MEETING There are three things to consider when choosing a submersible SCHEDULE fixture: longevity, lighting effect, and (most important) the safety • May 21 - Plant & Fish of your fish. Let’s get into it! Exchange Come learn Fixture Longevity about sprinkler systems Your fixture's ability to stand up Watch for location over time is crucial. Why spend the money on a fixture that isn't protect against corrosion. Powder • June 18 - Summer going to deliver a lifetime of coating is one common method. Barbeque - watch for performance? However, even the smallest location I hate to be the bearer of bad abrasion or nick in the powder- • July 16 - Chili cook off - news, but there is no 100% bullet- coated surface can leave an proof underwater fixture. All aluminum fixture susceptible to location to come submersible fixtures are corrosion. Once a fixture begins • August 20 - watch for susceptible to potential leaks. The to corrode, the integrity is likelihood of a leak depends compromised and it will continue details greatly on how the fixture is built to deteriorate. and engineered. • September 17 - details Stainless Steel - Even though to come First, consider what kind of stainless steel is considered a material the fixture is made from. ferrous metal, it is highly • October 22 - Annual resistant to corrosion. Stainless Composite and Ceramic - Banquet steel is an iron alloy containing While composite (hard plastic) chromium which keeps iron from and ceramic fixtures tend to be rusting. more affordable, they also tend to 4 PANDEMIC HAS LED TO A BOOM IN GARDENING

When David Blackley unlocks the doors at Renfrow Hardware at 8 a.m., customers are already lined up — six feet apart — on the sidewalk in front of the Matthews, North Carolina, hardware store with shopping lists of seeds and vegetable plants.

None of them are allowed in the store as a precaution during the coronavirus pandemic. So shoppers recite their lists to staff who pick POND LIGHTING (continued) the orders and leave trays filled with vegetable and herb So long as the fixture is well night. plants and seeds in front of engineered with tight fitting gaskets the greenhouse for customer to keep water from entering the pickup. housing, a stainless steel fixture is a great option for keeping your pond “People are buying plants and lit for the years to come. seeds a month ahead [of the regular planting season],” Brass - Brass is a nonferrous alloy. Blackley said. “It’s thrown This means that it will not rust or greenhouse growers and bulk corrode, period. This inability to seed suppliers into corrode is why brass is used in overdrive.” marine applications, the harshest environment for long term Even though food supplies Proper lighting provides us with a durability. Brass is by far the most may be currently secure, said real sense of serenity. Light creates durable option. Rose Hayden-Smith, a food an inviting warmth, a sense of historian and author of Here’s an image of a discreet brass ”Sowing the Seeds of fixture that can be placed Victory,” understocked strategically between rocks or other supermarket shelves are places where it will be hidden from view. With lighting, it’s all about forcing shoppers to think seeing the effect, not the source. about the source of their food, especially fruits and Pro Lighting Tip: Underwater vegetables, often for the first fixtures are designed to remain time. And their fears have led underwater. Letting one dry out them straight to the garden after its been underwater can ruin center. gaskets, seals and other water proofing components. This leads to “It’s helpful to be productive leaks. When adding an underwater and connect with nature and light , be sure it’s located where it it’s something that’s within will remain underwater year round. our control in a situation that feels entirely out of control,” Lighting Effects she said. Landscape lighting does more than Read more here simply illuminate our properties at 5 ADDING PLANTS TO POND LIGHTING (continued) YOUR POND ambiance, and a feeling of about what we would like to see Water lilies and lotus … blue flag security. illuminated and what kind of iris … hyacinth … so many aquatic lighting effect it should have. The plants, so little time. A pond full of The affect lighting has on us and fixture selection ought to be more these colorful beauties – along our state of mind is entirely with the hardworking, submerged of an afterthought. When you're dependent on the lighting effect. oxygenators – adds splendor and focused on the fixture you want to life to your waterscape. Not only When it comes to pond lighting, use, you're not thinking about that, but birds will visit, bugs will the old saying "less is more" how to light the space. buzz through and aquatic critters couldn't be more true. You don't will stop by, attracted by the blooms and foliage. want your pond to be seen from When considering lighting for space. Soft, warmly toned lighting your pond, don't just think about Like your terrestrial garden, a water garden needs some planning and forethought; without it, you could end up with an aquatic jun- “Design with light, not fixtures.” gle. Here's what we recommend for adding plants to your pond. Choose Wisely Before you get your feet wet (and levels should be our goal. That underwater lighting. First, ask your hands dirty!), first consider said, there are three key yourself what you want to see lit what types of plants you want in components to consider when and why. What is the best your water feature and how many you'll need. lighting your pond: Design, approach for casting light on my Kelvin temperature, and beam water fall? Did I consider lighting Aquatic plants are typically catego- angle. for the bridge that passes over my rized by their function in a pond. stream? Don't get tunnel vision. They include floating plants, like Design - Design with light, not Ask yourself questions about water hyacinth and water lettuce, fixtures. This simply means that that have roots that reach down lighting the things that make up when we are looking at lighting a from the water's surface; sub- your pond's entirety, not only the merged plants, like vallisneria and space, we should be thinking hornwort, that live on the pond's bottom and release oxygen into the water; bog plants, like cattails and iris, that ring the perimeter of the pond; and water lilies and lotus, which provide dramatic surface color and underwater shade. When browsing for plants, select a mixture of floating, submerged, bog and lilies/lotus, with the goal of covering about 60 percent of your water's surface. A sample plant shopping list for a 50-square- foot pond looks something like this: • 6 to 12 floating plant • Several submerged plants • 2 bog plants • 1 water lily Don't forget to add aquatic plant media, fertilizer and containers, like pots, plant bags, planting bas- kets and floating planters , to your list. You'll need them when you transplant and care for the new greenery.

6 POND LIGHTING (continued) DIVVYING PLANTS IN THE SPRING water. feel, we recommend a temperature of 2700K - 3000K . In the pond lit below, we can see When the ice starts to melt, it means that spring is just how there is only one underwater Be mindful of your koi's around the corner. Start the light shining up onto the small coloration when selection a kelvin pond season off by thawing waterfall to the left. Rather than temperature. If you have white your green thumb and dividing light the pond with underwater koi in your pond, you may want to your aquatic plants so they lights, we chose to focus on consider a slightly cooler color have some room to stretch accenting the plant material with temperature. If the underwater their roots. a technique called down lighting. lights shining on your koi are too In general, bog plants should Throwing a soft wash of light over warm (2200K) your white koi's be divided every one to two the water lilies, decorative coloration can look dull and off- years. Below is a simplified grasses, hostas, and other plants, white or yellow. If you want their how-to guide, so grab your created a backdrop to frame the coloration to be more crisp, use pruning tools, gloves, extra ponds shoreline. the kelvin temperature between planting bags, planting media, and garden hose and let's get to 2700K and 3500K. Avoid going Lighting the pond this way work! any cooler than 3500K unless you provides us with greater visual want your koi to look like ghostly Bog plants include species like control over our surroundings apparitions. Corkscrew Rush, Dwarf Cattail, and helps keep our eyes from and Blue Flag Iris. These types focusing on any one Refraction - If you’re lighting a of plants have clumping roots, object. Having the pond mostly waterfall or other object with a runners, or rhizomes and the dark here creates contrast. submerged underwater light, dividing process will vary The contrast between the light remember the light will refract or slightly based on which type of root mass the plant has. Here's and shadows pulls us into the bend. If you're trying to light a what to do: scene visually. waterfall with a submerged fixture, aim the light at the base 1. Lift the pot out of the Kelvin Temperature - Kelvin of the fall as refraction will cause water and gently re- temperature (to learn more about the beam of light to bend upward move the root mass. kelvin temperature, click here) is and hit the waterfall in the center. a way to measure the character of 2. Wash the soil off the mass with your hose light and how it feels in terms of Fish Well Being and Piece of and trim any dead foli- color. We've all seen the cooler Mind age. feeling of lights in a doctor’s office The safety of your fish should vs. the warmer feeling of lights in 3. Divide the root mass take precedence over any lighting a restaurant. depending on the type aesthetics. Quickly, let’s go over of root system. For Selecting the right color lighting with your fish's wellbeing plants with clumping temperature for your pond can in mind. roots like corkscrew truly make all the difference in rush, separate the roots Copper Fixtures - You should into sections with some terms of how you experience your never use copper fixtures as a roots intact in each lighting on a psychological level. submerged light fixture. While section. Dwarf cattails To create a warm comfortable have runners, so cut the runner and leave the root base with each section of the plant. For rhizome plants like irises, simply divide them into sections.

Replant each section in its own container and dispose of any overgrowth.

7 TURTLES POND LIGHTING (continued)

A sign of late spring and early summer is seeing turtles copper is a nonferrous alloy like bed. brass, copper will leach into the emerging from the water and Conclusion perching on sunny rocks to water and kill your fish .While warm themselves. Being rep- copper is used in fish medications Don't feel intimidated if you’re not tiles, their body temperature in very small doses to treat fish sure where to start. Adding varies with the temperature of illnesses like ick, a copper fixture lighting to your pond can be a lot their surroundings. Warm sun helps increases their metabo- will kill them. We can't say this of fun. The best thing you can do if lism. Sunbathing is about enough, do not place copper in you’re not sure where to get more than catching rays, it’s your pond. started is to simply go out at night essential to their ability to and experiment. function. Sleepy Time - Your pond lights don't need to keep your fish up all Where does it feel dark around the A turtle that you are likely to see soaking up the sun is the Red Ear Slider. Like all turtles throughout the world, the carapace is made of 13 scutes “When considering lighting for your pond, don’t or plates on the outside and just think about underwater lighting”. fused ribs and spine on the inside, so they can’t crawl out of their shell, it’s part of their body. night. Lighting systems can be set backyard? Is task lighting needed Red Ear Slider turtles can up with different on/off functions. for a trip hazard between your grow to be about 12 inches, Your underwater pond lights can backdoor and your pond? Where with the mature females being be set on a timer so they only run do you enjoy spending the most larger than the males. The eggs are incubated by the sun from sunset to midnight. time around your pond? Thinking about these things can help you throughout the summer. The They can also be controlled by a figure out where to get started. temperature of the nest influ- simple on/off switch. When you ences the sex of the hatch- lings. Females are formed if step out in the evening to check on Next, grab a flashlight and start the temperature of the eggs is or enjoy your fish, you can turn the experimenting to see how different high but when the tempera- lights on with the flip of a switch. features look when they are lit. Be ture is regularly below 81 Then when your done, simply turn sure not to submerge your degrees, males will develop. the lights off and send them to flashlight unless its water proof! Because eggs at the bottom of the nest may be a different temperature than those at the top, a single nest can produce both male and female young. Turtle nests are nearly impos- sible to see because the female covers them so it looks like she was never there. However, predators such as skunks, and raccoons use their sense of smell to find them and frequently dig up and consume the eggs. Egg predation is only one of the challenges that turtles face. During their journey on land, the adults are also vul- nerable to predators. Their webbed feet make them adept at swimming, but awkward out of the water.

8 Send us photos of your turtles! Sponsor spotlight: Intermountain Stone & Marble

We are a local family-owned company that was started up in 1954. We’ve been going strong for 66 years. With years of hard work and dedication focused on perfect this dying art, Very few people are able to fabricate what our skilled Stone Craftsman can. Kitchens, Bathrooms, Fireplaces, Wall Faces, you name it, we can create your stone masterpiece. Email is [email protected] om

9 EASTER LILIES

The Easter lily (Lilium starting U.S. Easter lily frost has passed, find a sunny, longiflorum) is a perennial bulb production when he brought a well-draining spot in your with large, white, trumpet- suitcase full garden. Lilies shaped flowers and wonderful of lily bulbs with like full sun but fragrance. Often known as the him to the cool soil. Soil pH trumpet lily among gardeners, southern coast should be a neutral this plant is called the Easter lily of Oregon in 5.5 to 6.5. in its role as a traditional Easter- 1919. He gave Plant the bulb to time treat. Roughly 95 percent of them away to the same depth it the 11.5 million Eater Lilies sold friends, and was in the pot. Add each year are grown by one of a when the supply an additional two- handful of growers located along of bulbs from inch layer of the border of California and Japan was cut organic mulch Oregon, an area labeled the off as a result of around the roots. "Easter Lily Capital of the the attack on Don't pile the World." Pearl Harbor, mulch against the the rising price Lilium longiflorum is a true stem, or it may rot. of the bulbs species lily, classified as a When the original suddenly made Division IX lily (not leaves and stem will the lily business a viable industry a hybrid or cultivar). Native to start to brown, cut the plant for these hobby growers, earning the southern islands of Japan down to a healthy, green leaf. the bulbs the nickname "White and Taiwan, it has large trumpet- New growth should soon emerge Gold." shaped flowers that face outward from the base of the plant. Let from the stems. The stems are 24 If you wish to continue growing the plant grow foliage the first to 36 inches tall, with narrow, your Easter lily and have it year; don't worry about dark-green lance-shaped leaves bloom again in the future, you flowering. The new growth will that are 5 to 8 inches long. The may be able to transplant the turn yellow in the fall and the lily fragrant plant can then be cut back to the flowers soil level. At this point, top-dress are the soil with bulb fertilizer or typically blood meal and work it into the 5 to 7 surrounding soil, making sure inches not to disturb the lilies roots. long, and Apply a few more inches of they mulch to insulate the plant normally through the winter. bloom in In the spring, remove the mulch July and as the weather warms. Begin August applying a balanced fertilizer as when soon as new growth appears. planted in the Plan to be patient. It may take a outdoor garden. Potted Easter potted lily outdoors. Wait until couple of years for your plant to lilies used in spring celebrations all the flowers have withered and build up enough resources to set are "forced" into early bloom. been removed from the plant. flower buds. Easter Lilies Keep the plant watered and in naturally bloom in June/July, so A World War I soldier, Louis indirect sunlight until it is ready don't look for flowers next Houghton, is credited with to go outside. When all danger of Easter. 10 Thank you to our sponsors!

11 Thank you to our sponsors!

12 Who we are Club Officers & Directors The Utah Water Garden Officers Club is a non-profit President: Daniel Peel organization serving the 435-660-0784 greater Wasatch Front. We [email protected] strive to foster an Vice-President: Kelly Flint appreciation for and 801-274-3040 interest in the use of water in the landscape, through [email protected] monthly meetings, Secretary: Zoe Godbois educational programs, an 435-623-5100 annual pond tour, and [email protected] sharing our water gardening experiences. We Treasurer: Lewis Wayman are a group of volunteers 801-916-2500 dedicated to water [email protected] gardening, pond keeping, Board of Directors and koi. Our members range from novices to Ty Rosser commercial professionals. 801-995-8521

Our annual Water Garden [email protected] Tour is a self-guided tour Gil Avellar of out-standing local 801-572-0853 gardens and outdoor [email protected] spaces that showcase unique water features. Nancy Aoyagi 801-712-9484 [email protected]

Call Lewis Wayman at 801-916-2500