Category: Gardening

May flowers

On By afrenchgardenIn flowers, Gardening9 Comments

May is a time for poppies in the garden. We let the poppies self seed and then give stray ones a helping hand to find more acceptable positions but you have to be quick as they do not transplant well after seedling size. This year our big blowsy pink poppies have reverted to much more normal red poppies. I did not know that they would revert or perhaps they have crossed with something else. I will have to source some new seeds.

Some of the flowers are insignificant for us, but not for the bees. Our Gleditsia “Sunburst” planted in 2016 is finally producing enough flowers to be interesting to the bees.

The Melia azerdarach has a more rapid growth and although it can become a very large tree the flowers have the benefits of being perfumed and beautiful as well as being attractive to the bees.

In May we peer up into the Kaki tree to watch for the Kaki flowers. This year they are very plentiful and are being well polinated by the bees. The waxy petals are already starting to fall of to reveal the beginings of the fruit, but they will not be mature until the end of the year.

We have lots of Nepeta and it is abundant in May attracting lots of life and our first Hummingbird Hawk Moths.

The blue geraniums multi task as ground cover all summer and food for the bees starting in May.

The Ceanothos which we have had trouble to grow seems to have finally decided that it will live. It attracts a very tiny little bee which I find very appealing.

The little bee is also partial to the Lychnis coronaria, just out in the garden.

So many flowers burst open in May and the bees are spoiled for choice just now. One of the favourites is the Hypericum. The Hypericum has bright yellow pollen and the honey bees are bringing it into the hives with their loads of bright yellow pollen glowing on their legs.

There are so many flowers in the garden just now but even as I appreciate the beautiful sports of the self seeding poppies I wonder if anyone has a good recommendation for seeds of a large annual pink poppy.

Success and surprises

On By afrenchgardenIn Bees, Gardening11 Comments

The extra wet winter and spring has changed the free seeding plants in the garden. We have Foxgloves which grow usually in the shady parts of the back garden but now this year, we have one growing in the front garden which means I can see it more often.

I was also surprised to see a Sisyrinchium in the front garden. I have not had any for years, as I weeded them all out as I thought they looked a bit weedy. This one must have survived as seed and then mascaraded as an iris to have survived.

But best of all was the success of the mud bee house. At the end of April I had made a mud bee house following the instructions of Dave Goulson (see Making our first brick) however, success was not immediate despite the number of Anthophora plumipes (or flower bees) in the garden. I had decided to place the heavy brick on a wall in the front garden but with the lack of interest I thought that perhaps it was not the most natural site for the bees to choose. So I changed its position in the front garden. I sited it on a stone wall directly opposite the first placement. Now it has the morning sun and shade in the afternoon.

I had started to think that I had put up the house to late in the season but yesterday we saw a female bee in residence.

If you look to the left of the bee you can see that the adjacent hole is being used. When these bees scrape out the stone or earth, the removed debris is kicked back and forms a path leading to the outside of the hole. By looking for these trails you can see if any of the holes are occupied. So two down, that leaves another eighteen free. They do not seem to mind living close to one another. So perhaps more will follow suit.

Making our first brick

On By afrenchgardenIn Bees, Gardening, Nature19 Comments

This is all Dave Goulson’s fault.

David Goulson founded the flourishing Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006. The first book of his that I read was “A sting in the tale”, which is still a favourite of mine, although he has written several others.

The other evening I noticed that he had a YouTube channel and I watched a short 5 minute video “Make a clay bee hotel for hairy footed flower bees”. What intrigued me was that he was so enamoured by the hairy footed flower bees which he attracts to his garden by growing Comfrey.

I too love my hairy footed flower bees that I attract with my Cerinthe major.

David Goulson has gone one step further and made a special bee house to attract them.

Straight away I wanted to do the same thing as it was the hairy footed flower bee nesting in a hole in our house wall that first started my interest in wild bees.

It was back in spring of 2011 that I saw this little face watching me from a hole in the back wall of our house. I was eventually to find out that it was a male Anthophora plumipes or Hairy footed flower bee. I often listen to the bees grating away at the soft limestone of the walls to enlarge their burrows, so I knew Dave Goulson had a good idea for his bee hotel.

If you watch the video you will see that he makes his bee hotel out of modelling clay. I wanted to immediately do the same thing but I had no idea how to lay my hands on modeling clay.

Then it came to mind that the previous day I had been marvelling about the solidity of the potter wasp nest on the house wall. The nest is empty now and the young fledged (do wasps fledge, hatch, take to the wing?) but the remains that endured the winter and heavy rain feel like concrete.

Light bulb moment! If a potter wasp managed to do it then why should not I.

Back at YouTube, we now became enthralled with “Andy Ward’s Ancient Pottery“! This guy is fascinating! So, off we went in search of clay as he suggested and found some mole hills nearby that looked worth a try. With beginner’s luck, the first test runs seemed to work and we proceeded with Kourosh knocking up a quick box for our bee hotel.

It really seems to have worked a treat. It is very heavy so we have secured it to the front wall facing the Cerinthe.

Now we just have to wait to see if these lovely furry bees will select their custom made hotel.

I think the time is running our for the nesting of the Anthophora plumipes but there are plenty of other Anthophora that will arrive later and are also cute.

In praise of Eleagnus umbellata

On By afrenchgardenIn Gardening20 Comments

No surprise here! Eleagnus umbellata is very popular with all the bees because it produces an abundant supply of nectar.

I need no other reason for planting it in my garden but E. umbellata deserves a place in the garden because of its perfume which carries a good two metres when you are in its vicinity. As the photographs show, the creamy white flowers are delcate and very attractive.

I’ve just noted all my close-up photographs are of bumblebees but all the other bees, including honey bees find it attractive and you can stand underneath it and listen to the buzz.

I bought 10 at 1.71 euros each and shared some with friends. That was in February 2017 and they have grown rapidly. For that price they were just little bare root saplings but they have all survived and they can easily be incorporated into a hedge or trained into a little tree.

I certainly got a good deal from that purchase and I recommend it as a trouble free and valuable addition to the garden. It usually starts flowering here at the beginning of April and has now sadly finished.

It is also known as the Autumn Olive or a French equivalent is the Chalef d’autumne. Chalef seems a funny name but it is used for all the eleagnus species. Perhaps someone knows where this name comes from?

It was in fact a video showing someone enjoying the fruits of this tree in autumn that attracted us to buy it in the first place. The fruits are described as being like sweet currants but we have not been able to taste them to verify this. We are not sure whether the trees have not fruited yet or that the birds beat us to it. I would put my money on the birds.

Spring 24

On By afrenchgardenIn Gardening17 Comments

Kourosh spotted out first Osmia cornuta on the third of March. He is a male bee and has decided to guard a nest filled in using the hole on the window sill of our bedroom window. It cannot be a very long tunnel and I cannot imagine that there can be many females laid head to toe along its length, but certainly it is in a very protected spot and its isolated situation perhaps protects it from pedators.

Three metres in front of the window is a large patch of winter flowering heather so the Osmia has plenty to feed on at hand. His wait for a female to mate with can be long, I have counted two weeks in other years. A male Osmia must be patient and strong to hold out until the females emerge.

I knew just where to go to catch him taking a nectar break. They are beautiful bees and I find the males with their snowy white punk haircut particularly appealing.

The winter flowering heather is also a magnet for the queen bumble bees.

Everything is pushing through enthusiastically in the garden. The daffodils…

The Hellebores are everywhere as I have been finding places for the self seeded little plants over the years.

The Camellia is flowering and full of buds.

Despite the abundance of colour in the garden there has been little time to sit and stare. In fact, the moss has taken over our sitting places. The moss is thriving in our wet spring weather.

The Natterjack toad (Bufo calamita), uncovered during a brief spell of weeding, appears to be doing well with this wet relatively mild weather. I imagine the worms and other beasties will not be hard to find, he looks well nourished and composed.

Our little Osmia will take the time that it takes to find his female.

In the meantime, we can watch the wild bees find the wild flowers and wait for our time to come.

Plum blossom and cranes

On By afrenchgardenIn Birds, Gardening, Nature19 Comments

I saw the first flower on the 9 February and in less than a week the whole plum tree is a mass of flowers. It always flowers early and last year we had no fruit as the cold weather that followed prevented the fruits from forming. Some years we have had a lot of fruit, so we will have to wait and see what the weather brings.

The flowers are not just decorative but the whole area surrounding the tree is perfumed with the special bitter sweet odour of the plum flowers. Of course, the whole tree is buzzing with bees and bumblebees, watch the buzz by clicking the Youtube link.

The bulbs are pushing forth and flowering all over the garden and I am pleased that last year’s layered bulb pot is working again. I just left the bulbs to overwinter in the container outside and they have pushed through again. They are not coming through in the orderly fashion of last year but I have no complaints.

Every year we see the cranes pass over. A wonderful sight as they fly in an arrow formation and you can watch as the front birds taking the tough front position tire and are replaced with more rested birds from the further back positions.

This time the noise was much more than usual and they flew round in circles over the garden squalking as if quarreling. Then I realised what had happened. A few days earlier we had had unusually heavy rain and the fields behind they garden were flooded again forming lakes. I could imagine the cranes who use the rivers and lakes arguing and saying “I told you we should have turned left 5 minutes ago!” “I’ve been on this route for years and there are no lakes here, I tell you!” “Look, who has got the GPS, I am tired going round in circles!”

Eventually, they reached some consensus and flew off but not with their usual elegance. Kourosh got a a short 16 second video of their disarray, here is the link.

The Gloom Continues

On By afrenchgardenIn Gardening14 Comments

In mid January we had our first frosty morning, so it has not been so cold – but gloomy and wet.

The garden is progressing as the winter wears on. The Viburnum tinus has been flowering since December and the ornamental apple is gradually losing its fruit to the birds. The difference is more with me as I am a fair weather gardener and it is the bright days that pull me into the garden. The plants do not seem as effected as I am by the low level of light since mid October. The plants most certainly appreciate the extra rain they have received this year.

The exception is that the Hellebores have not been as happy. After being scorched by an extra hot summer, the Hellebores were deluged by the heavy rain that turned many of the leaves brown and I had to cut off a lot of leaves as they had become unsightly. The Hellebore flowers are opening in earnest now and I notice that the bees appreciate the downturned flowers that keep the pollen dryer and easier for the bees to collect.

We thought that we had lost all our bee hives to the Asian hornets (Vespa velutina) at the end of the summer. However, two hives seem to be surviving and bringing in pollen. It is still early days to know whether they will survive till springtime.

There are plenty of flowers to provide pollen inside the garden and the winter flowering honeysuckle has been flowering since December and the gorse is in flower in the woods.

My Cornus mas shrubs are getting bigger and producing more flowers but I still find that the bees are not attracted to them.

Our old apple tree always has some mistletoe growing on it but this year it is covered with it. I will knock most of it off when I get around to it but there is so much yet to do in the garden that warrants more urgent attention.

Yesterday we saw the first flowers on our old plum tree. It always likes to be the first plum tree to flower. It seems to be signaling that despite rain and thick cloud the garden is pushing forward.

This is just to prove that I have been down on my hands and knees as I picked up a hitch hiker while I was weeding. I am not sure what the lizard was doing as it was not a warm day but I must have disturbed him and he was happy to stay on my fleece until I removed him to shelter under a bush.

The best thing about the garden at the moment is the flowering Sarcococca confusa which we have strategically placed where we park the car. We are welcomed home by the perfume of this amazing plant.

Seedy Garden

On By afrenchgardenIn Gardening23 Comments

The Cosmos are well past their best but I keep them for the Goldfinches.

I am not sure whether it is just the seeds they eat or whether they take the whole forming seed head from time to time.

I would be interested if anyone could tell me and also if they have birds interested in their Echinacea seed heads or any of their autumn flower seed heads.

Whatever they eat, it is lovely to see the young birds in the groups that descend. Their head feathers still have some growing to do and the breast feathers are very downy.

Most of my Cosmos comes up naturally self-sowing from year to year but last year I noticed a preponderance of the pink shades so I sowed a white dwarf Cosmos to break things up.

I sowed them out in clumps but the plants were not as strong as my self-seeders. I also noticed that they were not always pure white.

These two flowers are from the same plant. I noted that I had more pink or pink tinted “white Cosmos” when it was very hot. Sunburn?

Has anyone an explanation for this?

My Salvia leucantha has survived its first winter in the soil. I am very pleased with it in the ground so I will not move it and see if it will survive if I cut it down before winter and cover it with straw and a fleece.

The Salvia leucantha in the ground is much happier than the one in the pot on the patio.

I had no intention of growing Cosmos sulphureus around the bird feeder but it just grew there, profiting from the run-off when I watered the pots.

I have never noticed any birds feeding on the Cosmos suphureus although it is a prolific seed producer. Is this what you have experienced in your garden? It is even easier to grow than the coloured Cosmos and new plants grow continuously and for a longer season than the coloured Cosmos.

My Asters are now getting beaten down by the downpour of rain that is telling me that autumn has arrived.

It is such an abrupt change from sunny days at the beach but I am so happy to see the rain that I bought a new bird bath in celebration.

We have had so many “last day at the beach” this year but I think last Sunday must have been the final day as it has rained since them. We came across this cute little creature in a rock pool at Mescher on the Gironde estuary.

Maybe I will be able to concentrate more on the garden now.

Rain at last

On By afrenchgardenIn Gardening19 Comments

A beautiful full moon shone through the clouds early in the morning of the first of September and on the second of September it rained.

We are back to high temperatures and sun, so the garden did need the rain.

Even the bumble bees are starting to fade from their bright colours.

The Caryopteris is lapping up the sunshine and the cuttings that we have taken are doing well too.

The Cosmos provide so much colour at this time of year and apart from all the bees they attract the Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon). I do not know whether they get bleached like the bumble bees but they often look more yellow than white (it is not just a case of a poor photograph.)

The smaller Tetradium daniellii or Bee-Bee tree has again produced colourful seed pods. I have posted about the strange fruiting habits of this tree earlier. We gathered the first seeds but we did not manage to germinate them.

I do try to find good places for my plants. This Elsholtzia stauntonii languished in the shade in the back garden for years and we rehoused it last autumn. Thankfully it accepted being moved and it looks better in its new place.

It is not always easy to find good places for the plants. I have always felt that I had enough work to do in the garden without protecting tender plants but last year I gave in. I placed three tender plants together and protected them with a fleece arranged around tomato stakes. It was a cold winter and the results were mixed. The Salvia leucantha that was moved from a pot to the ground has shot up and flourished although it has yet to flower. The Jacaranda tree, that we had grown from seed died,

The third plant under the fleece was my Abutilon but it has been badly placed by me as I cram in too many plants in the late autumn when so much has died down.

I even tried some Eryngium for the first time but it does not look good squashed under the flourishing Salvia leucantha and encroached on by the Asters that are verging on invasive. I do not think I will grow this again and I must try to give the plants more space.

I cannot quite believe that it is aster time already.

The apples are ripening on the trees, the summer is passing too quickly.

August visitors to the garden

On By afrenchgardenIn Gardening8 Comments

The Cosmos have just started to flower in the front garden and the Goldfinches have already arrived in search of seeds. I am glad I have planted extra this year as we had so many Goldfinches in the garden last year after the Cosmos had finished flowering. Is it possible they remember and are coming earlier?

We are seeing more Flycatchers around the garden. We keep water outside the kitchen window and the trays have to be filled up several times a day when it is hot as the birds are very splashy bathers.

This baby Flycatcher got a bit disoriented and landed on the pot of the Lemon tree.

The Koelreuteria is covered with seed pods now, which is very attractive.

I have never seen any birds interested in the seeds, perhaps because it is not a native tree. The seeds are very easy to germinate and the tree itself is fast growing.

One of the treats of a morning visit to the garden is to find a bumble bee still asleep in a flower. I find this strange as it is a regular occurrence but surely they are so vulnerable like this? Perhaps they rely on camouflage but if I can spot them…

I was pleased to see a red-tailed bumble bee in the garden. It was the first I had seen in the garden this year. We usually have more and in fact we have had nests in the garden but this year there are not so many.

I have not planted many seeds this year but I have been spectacularly unsuccessful with those I have tried. I am wondering if it was the seed compost I bought. This is a sunflower called “Little Leo”. I chose it as it is supposed to be 45-60 cm. tall. I thought it would avoid tall broken stems and well – who cannot grow sunflowers?

I put a plastic label beside one of my failures just to show how little mine are.