Ever since the abelia started flowering, I’ve been on the lookout for the return of the Blue-banded Bees. They didn’t emerge from their burrows (or wherever they hibernate or hatch) until Christmas Eve.

And, like nearly every other year, I spotted a loner in the lavender first.

Thanks for looking.

🙂

Bees & Bugs

Blue-banded bee

I’ve never grown French lavender before. Not really a fan, but when I saw pots on sale at my local supermarket I decided to get a couple of instant colour hits for my ever-expanding garden.

I thought I was going to lose one and cursed myself for getting sucked into buying supermarket plants. I persisted with watering and now it is thriving as are the two smaller English Lavender plants I’d already planted. I should have a go at propagating my old plant — striking cuttings are probably not that hard.

I haven’t shown you a skipper butterfly for a while. Here’s one now …

Thanks for looking.

🙂

Post 26/365

Missed 12

Bees & Bugs, Butterflies & Moths

Lavender

I found the plastic identification tag for the silvery plant with the purple flowers: centaurea gymnocarpa. The two I have are the Dusty Miller, growing 80 cm high with a spread of 1.2 metres. I reckon the one in my front side garden is larger than that. The one up the back has been flattened by the wind somewhat and is nowhere near as impressive.