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Supplementing this morning’s work on ‘A Knight’s Tale’ were my posts ‘Auntie Gwen’ and ‘One For Rebeckah’,
from which this photograph was included.
This afternoon the weather was dry, overcast, and humid, with the sun sometimes sneaking a peek at what I was up to. This was watering, dead-heading, and a little weeding.
I then experienced considerable difficulty in loading new photographs into WordPress.
Pollen-dusted bees favoured the pink and purple hebes;
Deep red Bishop of Llandaff dahlias nod to the lilies in the New Bed. (See Head Gardener’s comment below – we don’t know the name of the dahlia, but it’s not the Bishop)
We live in hope that this gaura, a plant with which we have so far been unsuccessful, will flourish in the Weeping Birch Bed.
On the other hand, Jackie has had great success with what we call ‘Pineapple’ plants, prised up from paving and placed in the Kitchen Bed.
Early this evening the sun reemerged and shed new light on the garden, bringing, incidentally, a cessation to loading problems. Maybe this was because the Head Gardener had returned and there was no further reason to sulk.
A glow was lent to echinaceas
and to phlox in the palm bed;
to the crocosmias, like this Lucifer;
to a much wider range of day lilies than we remember having;
and to various clematises,
including this one in which the Head Gardener can justifiably take great pride. As long-term readers will know, what is now the Rose Garden, was, three years ago, a concrete-bound, overgrown kitchen garden of sorts. This is where this raggedy specimen started life. Jackie lifted the wizened little plant, placed it in a pot adopted by the front garden trellis, and returned it to its roots in its birthplace.
Inherited wild strawberries are bearing fruit for the first time.
As I passed the sweetly scented lilies in the New Bed, an iridescent green glint in the centre of one of the blooms flashed enticingly. Does anyone have any idea as to the beetle’s identity?
Miss Coleoptera on Twitter offers this suggestion: ‘Probably a Cetonia aurata or a Protaetia’. Uma offers this, in his comment below: ‘To me that looks like a Bombardier Beetle. Or perhaps the fellow is an oil beetle’. Google images confirms Cetonia aurata, which Oglach, below, has named as a chafer beetle..
If I had any sense I wouldn’t struggle when there’s a blip in the system. I’d just ignore it until it went away.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s delicious lamb jalfrezi and savoury rice topped with an omelette. She drank Hoegaarden and I drank Georges DuBoeuf Fleurie 2016.
I believe that possibly the bug is Auntie Gwen coming for a surreptitious look.
🙂 a colourful reincarnation, Bruce. Or it could be Gregor Samsa.
The band or the Kafka novel? – asks me very eruditely having Googled!
🙂 and I hadn’t heard of the band – so that’s one each
!!
He looks like he has battle armor. I’m curious to know what it is!
It could be a mint leaf beetle but rare to find it on anything else but mint leaves
Thanks a lot Dorinda. It has been identified as Cetonia aurata or Chafer beetle
Interesting! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
I believe the insect is a chafer beetle or a close relative.
I have no idea but it looks like a chunk of animated paua shell ……. Glad to hear Jackie has returned and wp is now behaving – sometimes it simply doesn’t and it’s best to just go off and have a cup of tea.
Quite so, Pauline. Many thanks
We have a harlequin beetle that sports that sort of colouring but I doubt that it is the same as yours.
Thanks, Mary. Miss Coleoptera has identified it on Twitter as Cetona aurata
I thought Cetona aurata was some sort of star arrangement – like The Bear….
We live and learn – then all we have to do is remember
Remembering is the tricky part indeed!
🙂
The beetle looks like our Japanese beetle, Derrick. They are very destructive to plants and flowers.
Oh my! Your photos today are fabulous! Such brilliant colors. Thanks for taking the time to share them with your fans.
Very many thanks, Jill. ‘fans’ I like :). The beetle has been identified as a Cetona aurata which does look very like your Japanese variety.
Beautiful pictures of the flowers, feeling so very jealous this morning, it’s -1C here in Geelong this morning, and getting out of bed on this Sunday morning is becoming a frightful task.
Thanks very much, Ivor. Most uncomfortable. I hope it warms up soon.
Such a pleasant tour. Do you have rhododendron and azaleas? Two of my favorites. We planted our 59th, maybe 60th hydrangea and transplanted an older one. We always look for bargains and bought this new hydrangea at Home Depot (do you have HD?) for $15, a half price sale. Now, I’m snacking on graham cracker and milk, 2017, I hope 😂.
Thanks very much, Steve. We do have several of both plants, but they are over now. We don’t have HD, but Jackie is great at getting bargains from supermarkets like Tesco who virtually give their plants away after keeping them without water. She always revives them.
I read about TESCO and it has quite a history, seemingly both revered and reviled in Great Britain. My wife is the same when it comes to buying plants, she looks for ones that are ‘ugly’ on the store shelf, buys them at a discount and ‘nurtures’ them back to health. We would never pay full price for our Hydrangeas. I hope you found and read one of my stories from a couple of years ago, ‘The Garden and The Gardener’, a love story, her love of gardening and my reluctance to the same. If you can’t find it, send me your email and I’ll forward it. (Stephen.Bottcher@gmail.com). Have a wonderful day. Big holiday in the States this week, anniversary of our independence from foreign dominance a couple hundred plus years ago. You may have read about it…😉 (steve)
Sorry to hear about your struggles, Derrick. My recent problems with images were down to the fact that I had a Pinterest button activated on my browser. I can see you haven’t got the same problem (it was putting save…save…save on the bottom of my posts) but it shows that things are connected in a way it’s sometimes difficult to fathom without help.
Thanks very much, Susan. Eventually I got a message saying server was undergoing maintenance. I waited the suggested time and all was well.
Learning a lot about flowers through your photos Derrick, thank you!
Many thanks, Arlene
The flowers look exceptional in the magical evening light that ushered in the Head Gardener and forced open the portals of WordPress. To me that looks like a Bombardier Beetle. Or perhaps the fellow is an oil beetle.
Many thanks, Uma. I should do more in the evening light. I have included this suggestion, but in fact it is a Cetona aurata (thanks to Miss Coleoptera on Twitter.
loved finding the bee… hearts and flowers for that one!!
Many thanks, Dymoon
Good to hear Jackie has returned and all is well! Such beautiful flower photos, Derrick.
Your Auntie Gwen sounds like a very interesting person. 🙂
Thanks very much, Lavinia. I was very fond of her.
Have to say that the Bishop of Llanduff is not yet in flower (it is a single flower type), the dahlia in the picture is ‘unknown’ variety.
Thanks very much, Head Gardener. Will amend
It’s a long way from here to there – and I haven’t read any of the other comments – my my guess is Green Scarab probably Rose Chafer but I don’t have my book handy so can’t look up the Latin name
You are right, Paol
What beauty as usual !
Many thanks, Geetha
Most welcome Derrick. I am looking forward to catching up with the rest of your posts and those of others 🙂
Stunning photos, Derrick. I’m glad others were able to solve your beetle query.
Many thanks, Merril. I hope it keeps off the roses 🙂
It’s a great beetle, whatever it is. 🙂
It is, Quercus, thanks (actually other people’s comments indicate that it eats rose petals).
If you have to eat only one thing I suppose rose petals as good as it gets.
Gorgeous photo of the bee on the hebes. I had never heard of hebes (except as short for heebie-jeebies) so had to look it up.
Many thanks, Brenda.
It’s obviously not a Liverpudian Beetle.
This bit struck me as strange; “weather was dry, overcast, and humid, “; here in Australia when it’s humid it is invariably very moist. and we sweat like porcines
Rain free would possibly have been more accurate. I certainly sweated like a porcine. Thanks, Brian