Tomorrow is November and my sunflower “Vanila Ice” is just as confused as I am with the summer sun and temperatures. the Halictes bee is still looking for nectar and being warmed by the daytime temperatures reaching 26 and 27 degrees Centigrade.
I associate the Carpenter bee with the summer but she seems just as happy here visiting the late flowering Nerine bowdenii.
I think I am seeing more honey bees in the garden at the moment and the fuschia interests them more now.
The pink Salvia that none of the bees looked at earlier in the year is now receiving some attention.
Look you are not going to get anything like that! Your tongue is not long enough to reach the nectar.
You have to be more patient and when the flowers fall it is much easier to attack the problem from another angle.
There are plenty of Dahlias still around for the bumble bees but I notice the Carder bumble bees getting paler
and paler. These are worker bumble bees so I presume there are still nests with queens although there is not much pollen gathering.
The Hypericum is still flowering with no sign of let up and looks summery supporting the grasshopper.
The butterflies are still around.
These ones with the Peacock and Red Admiral are the common ones that I see in the garden at the moment.
Some of the Hollyhocks are still attractive and attracting the bees but there are others I would like to cut down and get the garden more tidy.
But early yesterday morning I noticed a pair of Goldfinches near the patio.
It was early and my husband has done well to get me some photographs through the window in the poor light. I noticed they were eating the Cosmos seeds. I did not realise they did that. I always leave the Rudbeckia to be stripped of their seeds but it looks as if the garden will have to stay looking untidy for a little bit longer.
I had hastily planted my broad beans when I returned from my trip to the U.K. two weeks ago. They have now germinated. I always plant the broad beans now to allow them to flower as early as possible. Spring plantings flower later and totally succumb to blackfly. I only tried to plant again in spring once when it was very early but I would never try it again it is not worth the hassle.
The other thing that is germinating is the rock samphire that I saw growing on the cliffs in my post “Gardening on the Beach” and I want to see if I can get it to grow on rocks in the garden. It is only in a small tray of gravel at the moment, the tricky bit will be getting it to take to a more convenient spot.
There is no doubt about it summer must finish soon but it has been a wonderful year in the garden.
a french garden 