I made my first patrol of the season this week to check the progress of plant growth in the lake. Aquatic plant growth is still sparse but water temperatures a foot below the surface have warmed up to 70 degrees and we should soon see most of the plants begin to appear and take off. I saw signs of bladderwort, pipewort, ribbon leaf pondweed, watershield, and pipewort growth, but the most productive plants were yellow water lilies and floating heart.
Areas checked - Zone 1 - Turtle Cove, the north shore of Dolloff Cove, Heron Cove, and the south shore of Gerson Island.
The photo below shows the base of a yellow water lily - the red lettuce-like leaves are the basal leaves of the plant. Also note the small gray blobs in the water column - they are probably small blobs of green algae according to Amy Smagula.
