There is a patch of wild mint not far from the house that we often walk past, but because of the heat this summer we have taken to walking early in the morning. It is very pleasant in the early morning but I have been missing my bees and butterflies at this early hour. At last we have had sunshine and reasonable temperatures that have allowed me to check out the mint.
At this time of year it is the Adonis blue butterflies that are attracted to the mint.
The male is a bright blue and the female has brown wings with only a hint of blue on the hairs of her body.
The Knautia also attracts them.
The Knautia also attracts the wild bees but I think many of the wild bees have gone with the passing summer.
The Malva is also managing to flower despite the lack of rain. I’ve had to pull many of these plants out of the garden and they have roots like parsnips – often branched. They are difficult to remove for a gardener but perfect for storing moisture for the plant. The Malva provide a late pollen and nectar source for the bees like this red tailed worker bumble bee.
Some wild flowers can be difficult to deal with in the garden but scabious in its more ornamental forms is welcomed by gardeners, often with the hope of attracting butterflies like this Meadow Brown.
The only colour I have seen in the wild scabious here is a very attractive shade of lilac. It has not appeared spontaneously in the garden and I have never encouraged it by trying to seed it. I am too nervous of past mistakes with other wild flowers.
We have had more clover this year and it has benefited from the rain we had a couple of weeks ago. The red clover has flowerlets that are too long for the honeybees but perfectly acceptable for the bumblebees, like this carder.
The clover nectar must be good as usually I find the Clouded Yellow butterflies quite flighty and difficult to photograph but this one was intent on his food. The clover often finds its way into the garden but never causes me any problems.
Just behind the wild mint patch there is a huge swathe of Cat’s Ears. Now these do find their way into the garden. In fact, just in front of our bee hives is being taken over by this weed. We have made no effort to eradicate it as we are totally besotted by the Dasypoda bees that make the flower heads bounce around in the summer.
There is no sign of the Dasypoda this late in the year but the honeybees were gathering nectar from them and had bright yellow pollen on their legs.
All these flowers are quickly recognised as flowers by us but there are others that are not so obvious.
The plantain flower looks dry and sterile but look at that pollen being showered from its head by the arrival of the bee! The bee has a huge lump of the ivory pollen already on her legs although she rests on the plantain for only a few seconds.
However insignificant, the seed head of the plantain, denuded of its petals and pollen makes an excellent resting place for a dragonfly surveying the area.
Now, whether the purslane is one of your preferred veggies or not, the little yellow flowers are quite insignificant but very much appreciated by the bees.
Just look at that bright yellow crystalline pollen on the bees legs!
I am quite happy to admire the large patches of purslane knowing that the masses of little black seeds, that will soon follow the flowers, will not be dropped on our garden.
a french garden 