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The Lonicera nitida is in full flower at the moment.  With its modest bushes and small creamy-greenish flowers, nobody would accuse Lonicera Nitida of being excessively flashy, but as a member of the honeysuckle family it has a lovely scent, and seems to be deeply beloved of the bees.

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On Friday, coming back latish, we met a hedgehog in the road.  Philmophlegm did an excellent emergency stop, and we went and found the prickly wanderer, who had tootled slowly into the verge and was noisily struggling to climb it.   I escorted him well into the hedge ( Read more... )

Is a bit terrifying really.

I know that actually having a big garden is a remarkable privilege, but none the less, sometimes it does feel a bit like someone has given me a dragon's egg.  Amazing and beautiful but also quite a lot of work and somewhat painful.  And you can't look away from the bugger for a minute!

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It's all looking depressingly shaggy out there now that the campanulas and roses are over.  I have to admit I have a major weakness when it comes to gardening in late June / July, which is that I just can't summon up the energy when it's hot, so everything goes bushy and gets overgrown.   Then, when it rains, I tell myself that everything is so ( Read more... )

I'm wondering whether to make the greenhouse primarily a strawberry zone and fill it with early fruit.  The plants in there are storming away producing loads of fruit, and the ones up the garden are still developing ( Read more... )

 "pseudocopulate" :  describes what excited male bees do to orchid flowers which instead of nectar,  offer the saucy delights of a flower shaped like a seductive lady bee to insect visitors.

Native British black bees are apparently much more robust than standard domestic bees, may be a part of the solution to the famous Bee Problem:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/18/black-bee-co-op-population

I am intrigued by this as I've been flirting with the idea of having a few hives, but it seems to be astoundingly hard to keep ( Read more... )