Saturday 26 August 2017

Bee Hotel ~ All bees welcome!

I was visiting our local plant nursery Sungrown Seedlings last week and for some reason I asked if they had any Bee Hotels and blow me down, they did! If you are in Australia you may have seen Sophie Thomson demonstrate how to make one in this episode of Gardening Australia not long ago. That reminded me that I had intended to make one for some time but had never gotten around to it. It was on one of those 'One Day' lists. Do you have one or a few of them?



Anyway I bought one and was showing it to the CEO and he said it was a silly idea as it might attract wasps etc. as the holes were too big and actually someone had mentioned that theirs was full of wasps. Oops! I don't want that. The CEO suggested rubbing some honey into it to attract the bees so I will try that but I noticed at the nursery that they did sell a lure but it was nearly $10 so I didn't buy it. Now I just need to find a shady tree to attach it to and hope the bees like it and might like to move in.




While I was checking out the trees around the place for a home for the bee hotel I took a few photos of what is flowering at the moment as I find it interesting to look back to posts written around the same time in previous years and learn what likes the cold weather and what doesn't. As we have had a very mild winter for this area everything seems to be in bloom much earlier like this Euphorbia Milli.




Petunias always make a nice show and the was great variety in the punnets I bought from the big green shed. 




The couple of really hot days we had knocked the freesias around a bit but they have bounced back since it has cooled down once again.




The cliveas are rarely watered and seeing as it has been such a dry winter I was wondering if we would see any flowers but here they are and they must be very hardy plants.




I didn't realise till I put the above photo on the computer that this particular variety is being eaten by some critter. Not sure what but this is a really nice clivea. I think we bought it at one of the gardens which were in the Carnival of Flowers competition a few years ago. If you are visiting Toowoomba for the Carnival many of those participating in the competition will have plants for sale. Not all though. However, there is no lack of venues that will have plants for sale.

 


I bought a little pot of snapdragons which was virtually being thrown out for $1 at the big green shed a while back and now they are flowering and look beautiful.




I need to do some research on how to use elderberry flowers as I have been waiting for the berries for a few years since Rhonda gave me this plant and might give up on the idea of using the berries. I have it growing in a pot as I heard these plants can really take off so perhaps it doesn't grow as well in a pot.





We have had to lock up our chooks as they have done so much damage to the garden as you can see and I might plant this Red Zion Osteospermum in the ground as it is growing really well at the moment and needs repotting or planting out. Isn't it beautiful? It sits on a brick to keep the chooks out of it while looking for worms. The chooks aren't happy but I wasn't happy either at what they were doing to the plants.



Don't you love plants that don't need much TLC and you can just forget about them until they start flowering and then you really take notice of them like this Kalanchoe I was given for Mother's Day a few years ago? I don't like yellow all that much but I warm to it a little when I see this plant. 

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and I pray that if any of my US readers are in the path of Hurricane Harvey that you stay safe.


15 comments:

  1. Beautiful flowers, Chel.
    I'd love to have a bee hotel, but I have wasps here already and don't want to make it easier for them. :)

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    1. Nil, I hope I don't encourage them either. The bee hotels look really cute though I must say.

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  2. At first I thought you were going to start beekeeping for honey. Must admit I hadn't heard of a bee hotel but what a great idea. I'll be interested to see how it goes and have my fingers crossed those wasps stay away for you too.
    Those cliveas are a beautiful colour. One thing I like about gardening are those surprises when you think a plant has seen better days and then it blooms. I guess they need a recharge too.
    Kylie

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    1. Kylie, my husband used to keep bees years ago. We buy honey from a local person which is quite cheap and when we ran out of it a while back I found a container of our old honey which was years old at the back of the cupboard...saved for a rainy day.

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  3. Chel, my elderberry has taken off since transferring from a pot to the ground. And considering I live in wallum country that is quite an achievement for the elderberry. After reading that Rhonda's elderberry was in flower I have been checking mine and noticed flower buds yesterday. I have another elderberry growing in a small pot and I am thinking of potting it up into a much larger pot to see how it goes.

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    1. I probably should plant ours in the ground too, Sherri. It is a few years old now and we have had a few berries but not enough to do something with so I will just use the flowers I think.

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  4. I hope your Bee Hotel goes well Chel. It will be interesting to know. I love the cliveas you can grow in Toowoomba. Not a subtropical plant at all. Pauline

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    1. The cliveas feature in most of the Carnival gardens, Pauline so they grow well here. Ours don't get watered so it is a wonder they are still alive.

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  5. Oh dear, how I do want a flower garden, the veges come first then food for the soul. Hope the bees come to stay. My native bees are still around.

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    1. Deb, during the big drought we stopped watering the flower gardens and what survived obviously didn't need much water. We also planted succulents and some of them have lovely flowers.Yes, get your veggies in first. Good idea.

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  6. Beautiful blooms in your garden Chel. You might attract some native bees in your bee hotel, and if you do, they will keep the wasps away.It's a really beautiful work of art too.

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    1. That's good to hear, Sally. I do hope it is successful. I just have to find a shady spot for it though which is proving to be quite a challenge.

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  7. I actually like the wasps - the native, stingless varieties. It's the mud and paper wasps which can get you. Those I don't like, as I've been stung several times. But all the other varieties are most welcome. :)

    Our clivea hasn't flowered yet, but it has remained green, despite the lack of rain. They are hardy plants, and do well, even under trees. Which are normally troubled spots to grow any plant. I didn't realise you could get a red, Osteospermum. I have the traditional purple variety. I tried growing the yellow one, with a blue centre, but it died both times! So that one, wasn't has hardy. I might give the red a try, if I can find them. Because they can really weather, the dry out here.

    I also have a Kalanchoe, but it's a red flowering variety. It does look beautiful, and is also weathering the dry. It's nice to have flowers in the garden, even when growing conditions aren't that great.

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  8. Chel, your garden is truly a feast for the eyes. How beautiful! I love Clivea and have both orange and cream ones. They are one of the few plants that will thrive underneath our Eucalypt trees, and always reward us with their showy blooms. Love the idea of the Bee Hotel. I'll be keen to see how it comes along! Mimi xxx

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  9. you have a wonderful assortment of flowers in your garden & well done with the no water & them surviving, my clivia finally flowered again about a fortnight ago & it's being eaten too, a lot of my plants have been 'chewed' lately I think it's the kangaroos as there is no grass around here, we haven't had any rain for months.
    thanx for sharing

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