♥ Pear Blossom ♥

Collared dove Streptopelia decaocto posturing in the pear tree. Nesting materials are being collected.

Ta Da

More Hippeastrum Happiness

Hippeastrum Orange Sovereign in all its glory. Thank you J.

Hippeastrum Happiness

Gong Hey Fat Choy

May it be a prosperous Red Fire Monkey Year.

Imogen Huffs and Puffs

♥ Freckles♥

Our freckly Tricyrtis Toad Lily

A Bounty of Bulbs

With all the buzz about beekeeping, we were soon entertaining dreams of ourselves waddling down the garden path in beekeeping suits to sit the summer evenings out under our hive, listening to the sleepy hum of the girls settling in after a busy day out and about. (The added attraction of course of having an excuse to wear a suit with fencing veils is that it's the closest we'd ever get to wearing a spacesuit).

Our sweet dream soon soured when we discovered that in London the urban bee-keeping trend was putting further pressure on existing honeybees, solitary bees, bumblebees, butterflies and moths, hoverflies and beetles battling to keep their niche as beekeepers were not planting sufficient forage. Professor Francis Ratnieks and Dr Karin Alton from the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) at the University of Sussex advise" “Our calculations indicate that each new hive placed in London would need the equivalent of one hectare of borage, a plant that attracts mainly honey bees, or 8.3 hectares of lavender, a plant that attracts mainly bumblebees but some honey bees."

Resource:
Rise in urban beekeeping in UK may have gone too far scientists warn, University of Sussex Last updated: Thursday, 15 August 2013
‘To Bee or Not To Bee’, Professor Francis Ratnieks and Dr Karin Alton from the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) at the University of Sussex, The Biologist, vol 60 no 4 Aug/Sep 2013

This lead us to assess the diversity of nectar sources we provided for our existing plucky plot57b pollinators. We very quickly came to the conclusion that we need to grow MORE flowers, especially plants that bloom in very early spring or late winter.

As a quick fix we dodged rain squalls to plant a good number of bulbs to lay on a veritable floral buffet next Spring. Though 'The Knees' doth protest it was good to be head to head with the breathy overgrowth, tucking in little parcels of promise in pockets of moist earth. We felt as smug as squirrels, though we'll be sure to forget where we deposited things only for them to pop up and surprise us next year.

White Ermine moth, Spilosoma lubricipeda caterpillar

Great Green Bush-cricket nymph(?), Tettigonia viridissima

Despite being banned in the EU and the UK the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) decided to allow some farmers to use neonicotinoid insecticides this July. This will harm pollinators. Some biochemical companies are profiting from the destruction of our natural biodiversity and potentially undermining our food security.

Resources:
Fears for bees as UK lifts insecticide ban, Daniel Cressey, Nature international weekly journal of science, 23 July 2015 Updated:24 July 2015
Bees are a political issue, Natasha Little, July 31, 2015

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Butterfly Conservation

The bulbs we planted:

• 40x Allium sphaerocephalon
• 5x Allium 'Spider'
• 25x Crocus chrysanthus 'Spring Beauty'
• 25x Muscari armeniacum
• 5x Tulip 'Green Wave'
• 15x Tulip 'Spring Green'
• 25x Tulipa sylvestris
• 15x Iris tuberosa
• 30x Tulip Turkestanica
• 50x Narcissi Tete-a-Tete
• 30x Obvallaris (The Tenby Daffodil)
• 50x Winter Aconites (Eranthus hyemalis)
• 50x Anemone Nemerosa
• 100x Winter Crocus Species Mixed

Mullein Marvel

This is the first mullein we've grown and we're smitten. Her superpower is that she's sprinkled in fairy dust- the white down dusting her blue-green rosette skirt, the flock of her flower spike; she's a charmed beauty and we and the garden pollinators have succumbed to her spell.

#EppingForest

A short walk today to visit the coppard beech at the lost pond in Epping Forest.

The dog violet were out, underscoring the quiet stillness.

Glam frock

A Good Friday

Drab sky and drizzle. The amaryllis bloom has started to open fully. A good Friday.

Christmas Amaryllis

A gorgeous homecoming greeting - we finally got to see our ♥ Christmas Hippeastrum ♥ in bloom.

Thanks to J for keeping her watered, staked and turned regularly :)

A Generous Gift

♥ Munstead Wood ♥ Happy memories.

Jars of Joy

We are trying our hand at refrigerator pickles. We mixed up a white wine vinegar pickling brine in which we've steeped lemon zest, garlic, peppercorns, coriander seed and a fresh bay leaf (this may prove to be too savoury; time will tell). We left the beans raw.

* 26/07/14: We taste tested these today: the beans are crunchy, the fresh bay leaf melds with the green taste of the beans; the garlic, coriander and peppercorns temper the fragrance of the bay and the zesty lemon the sourness of the vinegar. This recipe is a keeper.

We made a batch of gooseberry curd to Pam Corbin's recipe and a pot of goosberry & elderflower jam from some fruit we purchased in Ware.

The Generous Gardener

Blossom and Blooms

Magnificent Magnolia