Around midday on Saturday, I was happily perched in a paysho chair surveying the garden when movement from the lawn got my undivided attention. It was Bitey, obviously. But rather than digging a hole, or having a mad turn, he was industrially twatting something in the grass. I leapt up and rushed over.
A bee! Bitey was twatting a bumblebee! I scooped it up and returned to my chair. Fortunately, it didn't seem injured although one of it's wings was sticking out a little. Still, it crawled around and buzzed a few times, so I got up and encouraged it to disembark my thumb onto one of the Echiums where it guzzled down nectar like nobody's business!
On Sunday I was out there again. As well as noticing that the rather tatty and desperate-to-be-repotted azalea had been sun-scorched (it's sitting on the Grand Paysho against the kitchen wall, in full view so I don't forget to repot and prune it. It's been there for a week or more), I also noticed the first iris bud had opened!
As had one up at Allotment Device.
Speaking of the allotment, I was up there again today (day off work!) to give it a strim and do a bit of weeding. Here is Allotment HQ being devoured by the triffid loganberry, ably assisted by a honeysuckle:
This is the first loganberry flower I noticed - back on 25th April
As there seems to be a 'first' theme going on, here are the first flowers from Salvia 'Amistad' which opened today (welcome back, Jon!):
And finally, a non-shadowed photo of the bark of my favourite Norwich mystery tree AND a photo of its leaves (I couldn't get any closer, Ms Scarlet - they're quite high up!):
My big pink bush is also scorched! Wind? Sun? It's certainly not as pink as it usually is. Very upsetting.
ReplyDeleteNice save of the Bumble!
I shall ask the tree expert about the tree. The leaves don't look quite right for an Ash - but it might be an Ash variety? I'll check back later with a better informed opinion!
Sx
Sun scorched in Devon? Have you even had any sun?? Still, I hope your Big Pink Bush is going to make an appearance at the Garden Photos Event later this year?
DeleteI have some ointment for your scorched bush, Miss Scarlet.
DeleteThank you, Ms Mistress - I hope it’s the pink ointment as it’s very effective!
DeleteSx
The ointment isn't from the Infomaniac Medical Clinic is it, Very Mistress?
Delete* crosses fingers and offers best wishes to Ms Scarlet's Big Pink Bush *
A slightly better informed opinion says a variety of Ash, but the World Trees book is going to be consulted because the leaflets have teeth, which is odd.
ReplyDeleteSx
I am now in no doubt that the mystery tree is a variety of ash, what with both you (and your tree expert) and Jon agreeing upon that. Jon thinks it may be a Fraxinus angustifolia, the narrow-leaved ash.
DeleteAh, there you are! - this post only appeared in the benighted Reader this afternoon, hence the lack of a reply from moi.
ReplyDeleteHow dramatic are those Echiums!? No wonder the poor, battered bee headed straight there - I would too. Bitey should stick to killing rats. That's his job. And those irises are a really elegant colour combination. Love them! Jx
PS No sign of even a flowering stem on our Amistad(s) yet - but then again, they have been out all winter, and it is a bit early for them...
The Google Blogger gnomes are really playing up. Sodding little buggers!
DeleteThe Echiums really are something, aren't they?! I'm very pleased with them, and they definitely will be making a showing in the GPE. Those irises, too!
As for my flowering Amistad, it's a bit of a cheat as it came from the nursery with buds on the flowering stems. It had probably been pampered in a polytunnel until the May Day Bank Holiday weekend (which is when I snapped it up).
You've got S Amistad, too! Isn't it a cracker?
ReplyDeleteThe tree looks As-y, but I'd need to see it up-close.
Might this be the year of Salvia 'Amistad'? Do you have some in your garden, Dinah?
DeleteYou are more than welcome to visit - although you might have to share the spare room with Bitey...
Oh yes-lots! And I have several stems in jars of water, rooting, for planting-out when Jack Frost has buggered off!(I think he may have paid us a visit last night!) I bought Amistad AND Rockin' Purple a few months ago. (And I would love to share Bitey's room!)
DeleteWell, when you come to stay, DON'T get off the chair by the window even for a second as Bitey will be on it like a shot!
DeleteI need to take some photos of the poppies! For some reason this year, they've decided to only grow in one spot along the side of the house! Your first flowers are delightful, sweetpea! xoxo
ReplyDeleteOoh, yes, more of those vibrant poppies for the GPE! But how strange that they've congregated in one place - putting on a concentrated effort, perhaps?
DeleteThis post just now showed up in my reader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou're a hero saving the bumble!!!! I often have to rescue a few from the birdbath. I now float a leaf in the water, so they at least have a pad to clasp on to. And that Echiums is stunning, what a unique looking beauty, and stands at attention...something that a can get behind.
Maddie, this reminds me of the time I had a handful of honey bees whose hive had been hit hard in a storm; I was blowing on them very gently to help them dry-out when 2 Mormon evangelists came up the drive, wanting to talk to me about Jesus. They asked what I was doing so I showed them...never seen 2 blokes move so fast!
DeleteLMAO!!!!! That is a great story!!!!! When I see them coming, I just answer the door naked.
DeleteAnd yet, another bumble hero!
Maddie, I would have thought you'd be in front of something that big standing to attention, no?
DeleteDinah, you really are Queen Bee!
Well Mr. DeVice, it depends on the day of the week and which way the wind is blowing.
DeleteIn the Salvia Amistad photo, is that a banana plant I see in the background?
ReplyDeleteA banana?
Delete* peers at photo for ages then finally sees the wood for the trees *
Ah, no, Mitzi. That's an arum lily (Zantedeschia Aethiopica) - which has finally flowered!
I used to really like banana plants - and had a couple of small ones years and years ago which carked it far too quickly) - but I find them rather passé, if not naff*, now.
* Depending upon their surroundings.
Echiums are the Porn Stars of the plant world
ReplyDeleteAnd these two need no fluffing!
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