[Boudicca]

Does anyone know the purpose (other than beautification) of the little "island" of flower and/or grasses that have appeared in the center of most of the water retention and decorative ponds throughout TV? I rode my cart from Buttonwood to Colony yesterday, and noticed the plants on all the water areas left and right of 466a? Just askin.......

[looneycat]

I had once heard that they are there for the sake of the birds, as all golf courses in the villages are 'Audubon certified'

[Gerald]

I like the flowers. Don't care why they are there.

[Dennis Ga]

I think they are there just to see if we are paying attention to what is happening. They are really nice to look at no matter why.

[Skip2MySue]

Very impressed with the visual look. Great idea to make the Villages even that much more visually spectacular.
Skip 2

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Skip2MySue

Very impressed with the visual look. Great idea to make the Villages even that much more visually spectacular.
Skip 2

I saw one when we drove down 466A. I haven't played golf since April 21 because of this danged boot. Are they on all ponds (or oceans as some of us call them)?

[blueash]

I asked about the "floating" island at maintenance and was told it is multipurpose. It is a safe area for birds, and gators, it is attractive, and importantly it has the plant life which extracts nutrients from the pond which helps to reduce algae blooms and unwanted effects of the pollution from ground water runoff containing fertilizers and pesticides. Don't know if it is true, but that's what I was told. I was asking about adding more islands and was told no, the island size is based on the lake size and its benefit is related to the ratio of island mass to water mass. Sounded good

[hotrodgirl]

Blueash, thanks for asking and getting some information for everyone! It's pretty and serves a purpose! What could be better than that?

[Boudicca]

I was hoping the answer might be some eco friendly solution, and was very pleased to read that is the case. As pointed out by other TOTV 'ers, the additions look great, too.

[asianthree]

Or to measure how big the sink hole is if the pond goes away

[DandyGirl]

I enjoy seeing the birds and the flowers. Great additions!

[uujudy]

Originally Posted by blueash

I asked about the "floating" island at maintenance and was told it is multipurpose. It is a safe area for birds, and gators, it is attractive, and importantly it has the plant life which extracts nutrients from the pond which helps to reduce algae blooms and unwanted effects of the pollution from ground water runoff containing fertilizers and pesticides. Don't know if it is true, but that's what I was told. I was asking about adding more islands and was told no, the island size is based on the lake size and its benefit is related to the ratio of island mass to water mass. Sounded good

Blue, I heard the same thing about the island extracting nutrients from the pond. We have a floating island on our pond, and it's been there since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago. Maybe ours was a test case? The island is much larger than it was, and the plantlife and the birds that use it have changed, too. Herry (heron) and Whitey (big white bird) used to share the island, but the redwing blackbirds moved in and made life miserable for the water birds, so they moved on. Now the crows are trying to take over from the redwings. The turtles and the gators also love it.

The plants used to be much smaller, and they bloomed. The plants are about 4' tall now, and they don't bloom anymore, but the island still looks lovely. We can't see the rubber mat anymore due to the plant growth, so they must be extracting plenty of nutrients!

I think our island was originally tethered on both ends, but now it only has one tether, so it moves according to the wind. It's fun when we have houseguests and they notice that the island isn't where it was an hour ago.