I will update the island later with pictures. The flowers are not quite as pretty as they were as they are taller and leggy but still nice. When we do get a rare rain it beats down the flowers but they come back. The turtles love to lay on the island and one day I counted 11 on it. I had no idea I had that many in my pond. The melted skin on the foam is tough but the turtles have skinned up it some but not enough to even think about repairing. However that would be easy with a propane torch and a little spray paint without removing the island from the water. I'm pretty sure I can leave the island in the water all winter without any deterioration since I run an experiment with a piece of foam from the middle of last summer through the winter and it hadn't been effected at all. The liquid nail glue has held the pieces together ok. The original 4 cubic feet of potting soil will just be left over winter and I think in the spring I can just pull out the old plants, fertilize and replant. Practically no maintenance and super easy. The experimental plant I had on the island with it roots in direct contact with the water was only about 2 inches tall when I last looked and was almost dead. This shows that the root must be filtered from the pond water. I will take pictures of all this later, and on through the winter until planting next spring. So far this has been too easy.
