Bumblebee Bachelors

Had to get out into the garden for some "therapy" the other evening. The sun was just starting to descend, and I was watering some new plantings when a huge dragonfly buzzed my head and landed on one of my dried Allium christophii heads. He was so majestic just perched there, taking a much needed rest.

I looked up to admire my Echinacea 'Ruby Star' which I had frantically planted last year to get some late summer color. The magenta petals seem to glow in the evening light and are held perfectly perpendicular to the strong stem. I look closer. On every flower head, there are 2-3 bumblebees who look like they are drunk. They are barely moving, just lounging in languor. They are everywhere! 2-3 on every flat cushion of flower (a pretty decent bed if I was a bumble!). There are some on the lower leaves & some on the surrounding plants. Were they dying? It would seem strange that it would be a group passing.

Upon further investigation, I found the male bumblebees never go back to the nest. They stay out partying (ok, feeding) for days and need to find a place to sleep for the night! They use up all their energy stores chasing queens and drinking nectar, that they have to find a warm place to sleep. Nature's bachelors will congregate for a group sleep fest. Often they will choose disk or bowl shaped flowers because the temperature on these flowers is often 10 degrees C higher.

I also learned bumblebees will mark flowers with their own special scent. This repels competitors and helps them find their way back to a large nectar store!

There is such a delicate and amazing balance with insects in our gardens. Once you see it up close, you realize the importance of a chemical-free garden to help these important pollinators live it up. In many developed countries, like Britain, many varieties are in serious decline or are already extinct. We have yet to see the huge impact this could have in agriculture and across our environment. To learn more the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust has a great website with useful gardening tips and a kid's page: http://www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk/

Annual sacrifice

This time of year, when the heat just plain gets to ya and you can't possibly stand to water any more, can be a time of gardening reflection. I tend to get burnt out on watering, struggling to keep things just alive... let alone springtime perfect. But yet I press on toward the goal because I can't stand to watch a plant suffer a slow painful death of summer heat.

I plant several containers in both the front and back with annuals every year. This year on the back patio I went with a "hot/warm" color palette with red wave petunias, copper diascia, & red/orange lotus vine. They have been going strong since April and are starting to get lanky and bloom less. But it is August so we should have many more months of summer-like weather before first or second frost. (Seems crazy to talk about frost in August!) So this weekend, I cut them back hard to get them to reflush; the equivalent of cutting off 12" of damaged hair. It is painful at first, but you know it has to be done to continue the color into the fall and maintain the investment of summer annuals. Now I will also need to pump them full of fertilizer to kick 'em into gear. I will play God and trick them into thinking they haven't procreated to their full potential yet.

I reflected sometimes we need to prune out the dead and crowded parts of ourselves to make way for fresh, new growth.... Sacrifice the scant bits of floral parts we have at the moment for the full promise of solid repeat masses of color later. It does hurt to remove the dead, non-productive parts of ourselves and for a while, during recovery & feeding, we don't look so hot. But it in the end, we are better off for doing it and can face a new and changing season with lush green leaves and upward facing blossoms.

Everyone must have a....

No yard would be complete without a Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa). This shrub is so gorgeous, it is difficult to even put it into words. It has so much going for it: hummingbirds love it;bees love it; I love it!; it is elegant, stately, lush, interesting, edible...okay and deciduous. But that isn't a bad thing because the canes of soft green and rich mauve lend some late season interest to the garden as well. You need to find a spot to put one today! It needs a decent amount of height 8-12 feet tall and at least 6-8' in width, but in my garden I prune up the lower branches so it arches up and above the underplanting of pulmonaria, ferns, heuchera, japanese forest grass, hellebores, rehmanian (chinese foxglove) and of course, a "Cimi" [sim-eee] (Cimicifuga simplex 'Black Negligee': who knew plants could be sexy!) There is a new variety called 'Golden Lanterns' that has bright yellow/chartreuse foliage. It is hard to pin one's "favorite" plant, especially when you are an addict such as myself. But Leycesteria [lice-hysteria!] is in my 'top 10' for sure!

Tiny Side yard...

So I live in suburbia with 5' of space on each side of my house. The house is also really long, as it takes up most of the front and back of the lot as well. So what to do with this space? Many folks just bark it and call it a day. But to do so is a tragic waste of plant growing ground. I have created a lush little walkway that leads to the backyard gate with my less than 5' wiggle room. A trellis of star jasmine and a espaliered flowering quince trained on wires help to give the siding some vertical interest. A climbing fuchsia (Fuchsia regia, it doesn't acutally climb!) breaks up the wall on the other side of the window. Loose, fluffy boxwood 'Winter Gem' give some bones to the path and eventually an Azara microphylla 'Variegata' will grow over to create a sense of ceiling. (It is doing so well!) This area gets mid-day sun and is on a drip line. Evergreen perennials for shade dot the rest of the path. Epimedium 'Frohleiten', Heucheras, Pulmonarias, Tiarellas, Carex 'Ice Dance'. I added a little variegated Isis fuchsia this weekend and golden baby's tears to brighten things up a bit. Golden bleeding heart and Astrantia 'Superstar' are some of my favorites. Oh! And I have a ton of ferns including the Wallich's Wood fern, Giant Chain fern, and the Autumn fern. They give such great texture as you brush past them.

I hope I have inspired you to take your wasted space and utilize the wide range of possiblities to create an inviting passage way along side your home.