Flower Friday : : Papyrus

If we hadn't had more pressing things to do when we moved, we would have taken out the fountain/water feature in front of our house. It was a little bleak for my taste and OIlMan said the pump was a pain to work on. We have several pumps around here and with the exception of the one that pumps water from the well, most of them are a pain for one reason or another. 

As other projects wore on various family members did their bit to improve the bleak factor. Peter arranged rocks on top of the 'bubbler' so that the water was actually visible. Garden ornaments from Berkeley in the form of cement balls were unloaded from the car and stayed. Tim added a Raiders football....

Getting the papyrus plants was a battle requiring patience and persistence. I saw them at the pond nursery and knew immediately that they were just the thing, but OilMan wasn't ready because he had to redo the pump. Redoing the pump was not at the top of OilMan's list, but eventually that was done, and then the pond nursery didn't have any papyrus plants. Eventually all the planets aligned themselves and after a year of waiting, I got my papyrus plants. But when we got home with them they were  much too big.. Back they went to the pond nursery. The dwarf version was suggested but they weren't available.

By the time the dwarf papyrus was ordered picked up and placed in the pond, we had gotten used to the three basalt columns, gotten rid of the stuff around them that we didn't like and thought the papyrus was just the right thing to soften it all. In the spring they are a lovely delicate lime green. Right now they are covered with seeds. I love them. The birds love them. 

They were worth the wait...and the nagging....