May 16, 2010 - Pond Perfection

Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Green leaves the size of dinner plates seem to spring from nowhere. Rooted in the muddy bottom of shallow ponds, water lily graces the pond surface each spring with its round leaves. Frogs and turtles hide under or sit on the leaves once they open at the surface. Then, after a few weeks as temperatures warm, the first flower buds poke above the pond’s surface. Like the leaves, they grow up on long stalks that reach from the bottom of the pond where the roots are buried in mud. The white flowers are brilliant in the warming sun and bring a special beauty and grace to a pond. Reflected in the still waters like mirrored images of flower perfection, they bloom through the summer and into early fall. Then they fade away as days shorten and temperatures drop.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.