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Here is a question for you all - what are your favourite summer blooms and what plants do you find best for wildlife?
If you care to answer this through the medium of pictures of plants from your gardens then please go ahead, just make sure they are your own!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Agree with all the above, plus pheasant berry, and bottlebrush which attracts wasps as well as bees, we also have a climbing rose, small white flowers, which bees love too.
Lot to learn
Looking at the frost covered world outside today made me think back to summer and how a bit of warmth and sunshine would be most welcome right now! What better way to bring a bit of sunshine to a dull and frosty winters day than a few pictures of summer flowers! Here's a few that I found from this year!
Top to bottom - Nasturtium, Spirea, Nicotiana, Potentilla, Gazania
Wow! A welcome array of brightness and colour! Thank you!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
I love to plant wild flowers for the bees and other insects! Last year I took over a patch of my Dads garden and smothered a bed with wild flowers! It was literally "buzzing" 24/7 lol..... I have lots of lavendar growing in pots at the moment, I will try and keep them in pots when they grow.
Cheers, Jason
This wild flower bed is from Harlow Carr, Harrogate! Beautiful!
And please don't forget Wall Germander which I have growing in my garden in two large clumps (soon to be divided) which Ian H kindly ID'd for me - this has small lilac flower spikes & a spreading habit and is always dripping with bees & regularly visited by the Hummingbird Hawk Moth - a wonderful sight to behold, just like the above pics of wild flower beds - thank you Jason!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Thanks for posting these Jason, that's a really lovely mix they've got going there.
Some of mine
My gallery here
Checkout the forums' Community HOMEPAGE for lots of interesting posts from other members.
What a lovely idea - these photos are really warming on a morning like this. -3C just now! I drooled over the Harlow Carr flowers! My oh takes pics of garden insects, here's just a taster, if I've re-sized them ok! The last one is Winter Honeysuckle so hopefully it will be in flower again soon.
I grow Penstemons, they're incredibly easy to grow from cuttings & the bees & other insects love them. I give lots of rooted cuttings to friends to encourage them to help the insects & find the ruby red variety grows best as some are leggy. They flower for months & there are still lots out there today. This winter I haven't tidied the garden at all but am leaving everything I didn't tidy up in the summer to give the insects somewhere to hide & the birds somewhere to hunt insects. The ladybird box I had when I joined the RSPB has several different occupiers, none of whom appear to be ladybirds though they stuff bits of leaves in the end of their tubes so who knows who lives there!