Red, orange and green.
Complementary colours
Glow in the afternoon sun
Dappled shade covers the view
Humid air drips with heat
Lazy bees circle the flowers
Looking for a drink
To cool their flagging wings
Summer has arrived.
Hot and cool
Tag: Bees
Abstract ‘grain’
If all the bees were gone
There’d be no flowers
So no fruit, no vegetables
No more blossom.
We could still have wind blown pollen
So grain would be possible?
Maybe….
Not much choice
Porridge or bread?
Let’s save our bees
And pollinating insects
We need them.
Buddliea but no butterflies?
I think I’ve seen two cabbage white butterflies this year, no red admirals, no peacock butterflies, no commas, no fritillaries.
What’s done this? Could it be the weather, we had cold wet spring. Could it be insecticides? There are more being used that are affecting bees. Nicotinoids are banned in some countries, but have been allowed here I think. It’s a real worry, without insect pollenators we run the risk of not having food crops pollenated.
We really need to get our act together, now!
No cherries, no pears
Each year we have cherries and pears on our trees. The birds get most of the cherries but we get good pears, that is until this year.
We had a lovely display of blossom. The cherry and the pear tree blossomed first. Early in spring. Lots of flowers, pink and white. But I was worried because it was cold and wet and windy and I didn’t see many insects (and we don’t seem to have had birds nesting either). A couple of weeks later the blossom had faded and petals showered the ground. Then the apple tree came into blossom. The sun shone and bees arrived. Now I have no cherries, I saw the little stalks with tiny pips all over the ground, and no discernable baby pears. It’s so sad. It’s like they have given up now hubby is gone.
My only consolation is that there are lots of apples on the tree. But it hangs over into my neighbours yard and I am worried they will cut it back, and as there is a trellis fence in the way I can’t access the fruit. Drat!
Added shade
I added shading to a rose painting I started a couple of weeks ago to give it more depth. It is one of those blush roses, with pink and red on the edges of the petals and some yellow further down. Roses are beautiful flowers, but the simplest of them, like wild roses, Rosa rugosa, are better for insects to pollenate and collect nectar. That is because the petals are open and the central part of the flower is easily accessible.
Unfortunately a lot of flowers are now being bred to have twice the petals (doubles). They look beautiful and interesting, but they make it hard to pollenate by insects like bees and they are frequently infertile so they don’t produce viable seeds.
Look for bee friendly plants if you are looking for flowers for your garden.
Cherry and Pear blossom
The garden is starting to bloom. The pear trees were in blossom a few days ago, and the cherry tree has come into flower over the last couple of days. Over in the hedge a plum tree is blossoming too.
The only trouble is it’s windy and as yet I haven’t seen any bees or insects about. I hope they get to the nectar before the petals blow away. If I’m going to get any fruit this year the trees need pollinating. Fingers crossed for the crop.
Ivy flowers
Little spidery flowers
Unfold like sea anemonies
Trapping bees in their anthers.
Pollen spreads to flowers,
Ivy will grow black berries
In the winter.
To go with red holly berries.
“The holly and the ivy
When they are both full grown….. “
Simple rose.
Some flowers are very complex and can also be bred with double the petals, they look very pretty. But bees and pollenating insects can’t get at their nectar and pollen. A massive bloom could make it difficult for bees to feed and collect food for their grubs.
So try and choose bee friendly plants, they often are labelled to help you chose them. And look for simple flowers like this where the central flower parts, anthers, stamens etc are easily accessible by the insects you want to attract.
You can also build bee hotels for solitary bees from grasses and sticks and small lengths of hollow bamboo. If you look you can find designs on line to work to. Have fun and support your local bees! I was speaking to a beekeeper today. He said one honeybee only makes about a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime!
Dandelion
Blow wind, loose seeds
Fly high over grass
Dandy lion
Mane of fluff
Lifting up
Gossamer parachute
Land and grow.
Spiky leaves
Golden flowers,
For bees to drink…
Deep tap root
Ties it down
Weed or plant?
Who cares…
New seeds
Afloat….
Another idea
I might do a painting based on this photo that I have added texture to in the Photodirector app. The wildflowers were all in bloom at Westport Lake today. I could not identify many of them but they did make a lovely show. I managed to get a few thousand steps in for a change, I haven’t been doing enough walking recently. It is the season for bees and butterflies. We actually saw a few today.
Mallaband-Brown 