With many of our gardens showing signs of spring, lots of us will be keen to get outside and begin clearing our borders and pruning back those wayward shrubs.Continue reading
Beware of what lies beneath!
Category: Wildlife
Wildlife in the garden, both the welcome visitors like ladybirds, bees and butterflies, as well as the garden pests like slugs and snails.
Tips on attracting the friendly wildlife to your garden and ways to protect your precious plants from the pesky pests.
Bees and Queen Wasps Emerging
I found the first Andrena fulva – tawny mining bee – whilst weeding the garden today. This is a solitary bee which nests underground, building a volcano-like mound of soil around the entrance to its burrow. They generally emerge in April, so this one is a few weeks early.
The tawny mining bee, Andrena fulva
I also found a queen wasp and two honey bees emerging from hibernation in our conservatory, where they have spent the winter.
Spring is definitely in the air; tomorrow is the Spring Equinox so we can look forward to longer days and next weekend 26 March, we move on to British Summer Time when the clocks go forward an hour.
Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.
© 2017 Lavender Hedge
Bee Hotel
Who needs to buy a bee hotel? This leafcutter bee was busy making a nest inside a recessed screw hole in my hosepipe reel.
What’s eating my Goat’s Beard?
Have you found tiny little caterpillars munching away on your Aruncus Sylvestris leaves? They are the larvae of the sawfly.
Hedgehog Home
Hedgehogs are known as ‘the gardener’s friend’ as they eat slugs, beetles and caterpillars and do no damage to plants or crops. Continue reading
Sunflowers: To Deadhead or Not to Deadhead?
The bright yellow faces of the sunflowers are such a cheerful sight, but the dilemma facing gardeners is whether or not to deadhead the spent flowers.
Squirrel
This little fellow was doing what squirrels do best, eating nuts!
Cobweb
A cold, foggy morning at this time of year is always exciting as there are so many cobwebs in the garden which get covered in water droplets, making them look like necklaces!
Mystery Bug
This insect fascinated me today – I’ve no idea what it is though!
Arbutus unedo flowers (Strawberry Tree)
The Arbutus unedo tree flowering in my garden at the moment is a great source of food for both bees and butterflies. Captured this rather grumpy looking Red Admiral butterfly enjoying the nectar today! The tree will carry on flowering for quite a few weeks and at the same time, the fruit from last year’s flowers will ripen. It is quite a stunning sight!
