Definitely gorgeous....Love the pic with the frog balanced on the lip. Guess I'm going to be digging a much bigger hole.....
The roadblock to some of these species may be my "liquid rock" well water. Ohio is over limestone/sandstone (courtesy of the shallow seas that existed at various times going back to the Ordovician) and the water has a high mineral content (calclum, magnesium, iron, sulfur, and so on). African Rift Lake (Malawi, Tanganyika, Victoria) cichlids thrive in the stuff, which should tell you something.
So, plants (and fish!) that need softer or more acidic water (or both) tend to struggle here, though I do collect and use rainwater as much as possible for sensitive species. Peat, BTW, has a tendency to bind some of the mineral ions and both soften and acidify the water, but I don't know how well that will work for large volumes.
I can just see explaining to the garden center that the bales of peat I'm loading up aren't for my strawberries/blueberries, but for a bunch of orchids and carnivorous plants....
Catherine
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