There is a world out there…..
Let me show you some of the bee magnets in my garden.
Salvias. I love them, and so do the bees. Also I have seen a wattle bird drinking the nectar. Now a wattle bird is more the size of a blackbird than a hummingbird. The stems certainly sway when this bird comes to drink, making me fear for the bush when I see one feeding, as salvias are quite brittle. The bees are much more gentle.
I have also had a couple of blue banded native bees visit. Maybe it is the intense blue of the flower. They do say that bees are attracted to blue.
Rosemary. If you have one, you know how the bees love it. If you don’t, think about popping one into your garden. They grow well in pots. I am going to plant a prostrate one at some point.
Sedum, Autumn Joy, I think. Not only does it attract bees, but the dried flower heads make a lovely feature either kept on the plant in a winter garden or brought indoors. And it is so easy to split the base and roots and replant elsewhere.
However the most attractive flower to bees is this little unassuming one ~ oregano, if I remember right. It flowers for ages and whenever I look there are usually at least half a dozen bees in attendance. The bush sprawls its way over everything else, but I never have the heart to cut it back until flowering has well and truely finished. By that time it is already sprouting new shoots from the base.
Of course bees are not the only good helpers in the garden, so I like to encourage others too. This strategy has the added benefit of allowing me to be lazy, letting things go to seed instead of clearing and tidying. Hover flies and ladybirds love the parsley flowers and the newly setting seeds. So parsley umbels stay, set seed and drop their seed everywhere. Parsley seed is best sown fresh. Consequently I have way more parsley than I could ever use.
If you are stuck inside, longing for the outside world, my Instagram posts might help a little. On every daily walk I try to find something in the outside world that makes me feel good. When I can’t walk outside, I will post from my garden. And there is usually a bit of arty/sewing going on there too.
Stay well my friends 🙏🏽
Anne Lawson Art 
31 replies on “Beeutiful, belicious 🐝”
awesome, thanks for sharing…nothing much growing here in my pots as the drought was as much about saving water. I only watered my parsley plant, kept it by the back door, so I saw it from the kitchen sink. It’s now outdoors in open, it’s already attracting rain…
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Pots look good, but they can be very high maintenance. In our long drought I would water mine with the waste water from the kitchen. I hope more rain comes your way, and may your parsley thrive!
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Bee-st post. The bees in our garden make me happy. When I see them I get a sense of rightness in the world of mother nature. I’m envious of your oregano… I fear mine is lost to the basket grass, and have sown seeds in pots to propagate a few more plants. While we are together but apart sharing our lives via social media is more important than ever.
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They make me happy too, especially as they just go about their business. At the moment it is so reassuring to see things unaffected by our panic and anxieties. I am not sure what basket grass is…presumably a weedy grass? I can’t really imagine anything getting the better of my bush; nothing seems to get it down.
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Basket grass is a native, leaves sort of like Tradescantia aka Wandering Trad, with similar groundcover/smothering habit but with spikes of seeds. Impossible to eradicate. We went for a walk to the river this morning which we do more often this time of year when the weather is at its most enjoyable. Felt so wonderfully normal ☺
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If you want butterflies too, plant a ‘Geisha Girl’ (Duranta reptans). It’s really pretty, has those long trailing purple flowers, golden berries and makes a nice hedge if you have the space. On our recent trip I saw a bus thickly covered in Blue Tiger butterflies 🙂
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No space for a hedge, but there maybe room for a bush. Anything that attracts butterflies is also welcome in the garden. The exception is the cabbage moths, of course, but even they flit around quite nicely.
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gorgeous. Thank you.
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My pleasure, Dawn. We need the outside world more than ever at the moment. How are you doing?
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We are fine, thank you, though a couple of people close to me are beginning to panic a little. Hope you are coping. Hence today’s #cheeryuppy. hugs
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I once planted a garden to attract bees and butterflies as well as our nectar drinking birds. It was a beautiful garden, but I had to leave it. Gone but not forgotten. I think of it whenever I read such a post from another nature lover. Thank you.
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What a beautiful garden it must have been, Pauline. It would have been talked about back in the hive! Do you have a garden where you are now? I feel very fortunate that I am able to walk out my door into a space that calms me.
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No I no longer have anything that can be called a garden. Just a miniscule ‘courtyard’ that is really the size of a side entrance – maybe 2 x 1.5 m. It is all concrete, no sun in winter and scorching in the summer. I have some things growing there in pots and tubs but it is very hard to keep anything alive through the year. I walk in beautiful places instead.
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Your garden must look glorious and the bees/insects think so too. I love sitting watching the bees on our various lavender, drinking a cup of tea in the warm sunshine, and I have just planted a rosemary bush. My grandad was a bee keeper. Stay safe in your part of the world.
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Bee keepers are special people. I imagine that they need to have very calm personalities. Did he tell the bees the news of the family?
I had to smile when you wrote that my garden must look glorious….not really, but the bees seem to love it, and the birds, and me, of course!
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Did you know that the leaves of your sedum are edible? I put a few into a salad. They don’t have a lot of flavour but are sklightly succulent which is a different txture and adds moistness. My salads are usually a mix of everything I can find – baby spinch / chard or kale, some cut-and-come-again lettuce if I have some, nasturtium leaves and flowers (also good for bees) herbs especially parsley, anything I can forage like wild garlic of hedge mustard…. You could make lunch just from the plants in your post!
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No, I didn’t know! Fancy that! Although I shouldn’t be surprised, because I did know that Aboriginal people used pig face (another succulent). Your salads must be extra healthy because they have been growing in such good, wild soils. Nasturtiums wander through my garden, but I don’t see many bees on the flowers. It could be a different variety of course.
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Or maybe with lots of bees on the premises they can’t afford to be fussy eaters!
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These are lovely to look at! Your herbs are something! Our rosemary and oregano are just little things in pots, and have never flowered. Now ai have something to aspire to!
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i hope I don’t make it seem like I do anything in particular. In fact they seem to thrive on neglect. Some of the plants, especially the rosemary is looking very ragged and the oregano flops all over the place. That doesn’t worry the parsley though! We had a garden presenter here, Kevin Heinze, who, when asked the question ‘how do I get my lemon tree to grow’, would answer, sit under it sharpening your axe! He claimed the tree would do marvellously after that. Maybe it is time to have stern words to the rosemary!
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I think so! I’m guessing the climate here doesn’t allow for successful overwintering. It would be so nice to have herbs taking over! Alas, in South Dakota the only one inclined that way is mint or sage!
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I am allergic to bees but absolutely love them! (totally don’t love hornets or wasps – some don’t know there’s a difference)
The photos are calming in these times and I’m happy you get to see/experience them in your everyday life – thanks for sharing them with us.
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I am with you on wasps, especially the very aggressive ones. I find the bees just go about their business, and don’t really seem to even notice me. However, i would worry too if I had an allergy.
I am glad that the photos brought a little calm ~ to you as well as me.
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Thank you for this lovely walk through your garden. Bees are critical to our world. I’m always encouraged when I see them visit. We too have many salvia growing in the front and back gardens. They also love to visit pumpkin blossoms, sunflowers, and other annuals. I’m just now thinking I might have the energy to plant a few seeds. Thank you, Anne. xo
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Your garden is always an inspiration to me, Alys. I hope it is bringing you joy and calm at the moment. Sunflowers are another favourite of mine. They are such show offs! Unfortunately I always miss the time to get the seeds in, like I probably have missed the planting time for sweet peas. St Patrick’s Day is the key time here. take care. oxo
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That is lovely of you to say, Anne. I’m slowly getting on my feet and spending some time weeding. I’m generally much further along with the start of our spring, but my surgery required a delay, and now garden centers are closed. I need to see what my seed situation is like and make a plan.
Sunflower planting is tricky here, as the squirrels almost immediately dig them up. I’ve started them inside, but they come up leggy. They really prefer to be in the ground. Go ahead and toss out some sweet peas. You just never know. xo
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Earlier this evening, my granddaughter Natasha and I were talking about getting some seeds to plant next month (just now springtime here, with the chance for one last frost still in the forecast), and then I came to this post! Fortuitous! We always try to plant bee-friendly flowers. Our sunflowers grow to 7-8 feet each year, and are a major attraction for the local bumblebees. Every morning when i water the flowers, I have a chat with the bumblebees, and it’s not at all unusual for one to light on my nose! I keep right on chatting, while he stares at me, listening to my every word, and then when the watering can is empty, we say a few parting words and meet again the next day. I love nature and am so much more comfortable in the company of the bees than most humans! Thanks for the advice on which flowers are most bee-friendly! Hugs, dear friend!
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Sorry adding another comment quite separate!
I just realised I have a way to create a garden…especially since it will be at least another 3 weeks until the lawncare guy can return. And it’s from art objects that related to a garden during my artschool installation days…so I took out the case that held some of the objects…I’ll probably have to go for “wilderness look” due to the colourways…
I’ll be hidden from prying eyes who might wonder if I’ve lost my marbles…
Will post somewhere when I’m done with it…
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Gorgeous and uplifting.
Regards Thom
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we all need our spirits uplifted at the moment, don’t we?
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I bought an itty bitty rosemary plant last year and yesterday I noticed it’s got one little bloom on it! My oregano and salvia are months away from blooming, but I do know the bees love them, which is why I have several plants scattered around the back and front yard. Now, if I could just attract some honeybees to my still-empty hive, I’d be a very happy gardener.
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