A Dust Bath

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Gull at sunset

This is the second of my 7 day nature series on Facebook.

It appeared originally in https://derrickjknight.com/2014/04/29/a-fascinating-collage/

When we paid for Country Girl last week, Jackie also bought one of her favoured wrought iron candle holders for use as a planter. It has a screw fitted to adjust the height.

Candle stick planter

Today, I moved it to the gravelled concrete at the southern end of the garden. This involved moving a pile of bricks from where it now stands, and raking gravel to cover that corner. I had to evict a large number of woodlice, slugs, and, one snail.

Country Girl's headpiece

Jackie had moved a few of the bricks earlier. Feeling the heat she must have removed her jumper, and slung it over the nearest available hanger, thus providing the Country Girl, now dubbed Florence, with a purple hair extension

Brick path

The white climber is now making its way up the Agriframes Arch straddling the Brick Path.

Bee on geranium palmatums

The clump of geranium palmatums halfway down that shot draws bees so large that they weigh down the petals to which they cling whilst plundering the nectar.

Philadelphus

Those plants are at the corner of the Dead End Path, alongside which a large philadelphus is in bloom.

Bee and beetle on poppy

Other plants attracting bees include poppies (this one also has a beetle)

Bee on linaria

and linaria.

Insects in poppy

Bees have shaken off so much pollen in the poppy that much smaller insects avail themselves of the bowl for a dust bath.

Mosquito in foxglove

What, now, is this nosey creature entering the foxglove?

Mosquito on foxglove

It’s a mosquito making a bee seem comparatively harmless.

My afternoon tasks including gathering up The Head Gardener’s weeding and clippings, and dead-heading roses, mostly in the Rose Garden where a few clematises like this

clematis Hagley's Hybrid

Hagley’s Hybrid have been incorporated for variety.

For our dinner this evening Jackie produced a stupendous beef stew with new potatoes. So tasty was this that when offered a choice of more stew, sticky toffee pudding, or more stew and sticky toffee pudding, I opted for more stew. That way, I reasoned, I could eat more.  Jackie drank Peroni, and I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2014, except for the glassful I knocked over the table, which was a shame.

52 comments

  1. What a beautiful post. Photo 1 is remarkable, the flowers are pretty and Florence likes her hair extension. If only we could all wear purple hair with such grace!

  2. That bumblebee really took me back to Whidbey Island, Washington. While I was at Hedgebrook the property manager Billy’s daughter used to catch them and let me stroke them. They sat perfectly still in her hand until we’ve finished molesting them.

    Beef stew is probably not the best food for a flu but I want some! 🙂

  3. What a beautiful garden! I used to grow many things, then we had a horrible drought that lasted for years, so now I only grow a few flowers. Outstanding photography also 🙂

  4. I like that your like the many bugs you see. They’re industrious, aid various human endeavors and attractive so what’s not to like, I suppose…? Oddly, we have very few mosquitoes That I have run into in the rain forests of Oregon. Maybe they have moved into your neighborhood? ( PS: The “way” of it seems to be “weigh”, rather than”…bees so large that they way down the petals…”. :))

    1. On the outside of the top petal. It’s very small – enlargement would help. The mosquito was quite big. Use the foxglove as a comparison – it’s quite a close-up. Thanks for the attention, Weekly

      1. Wow. I am embarrassed to say that I did enlarge the photo twice and still missed it! It is very evident without enlargement after being told where it was. Thanks!

  5. Florence fits the maiden perfectly Derrick and her purple headdress is fitting for the young gal! Seriously the flowers photographs are just stunning – I thoroughly enjoyed our peek into the garden to day1

  6. The state of a garden’s health is measured by the bees. if they disaapear then apparently you have cause to worry. No worries as far as you are concerned.

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