Bees and the garden in July

The rain continues to stop play, although there is a promise of warmer and drier weather from the jet stream which is migrating north. On one hand everything is quite lush, however the annuals and more tropical things are sulking.... I am trying to get them to grow faster and have just spread my fourth box of blood, fish and bone in order to make sure when there are good conditions they are super pepped!

I'm a big fan of using blood fish and bone as a fertiliser, although I never really knew was and when I used to go to my Grandmas I was always a little perturbed to see large containers labelled 'blood' and 'bone' but now I know!

Anyway, time for a bit of a garden wander, and advance apologies about plant name spelling....

Banana rising tall above Canna musifolia which are the only ones of my cannas to be growing well. Also the foliage of Iris confusa with Persicaria red dragon in the foreground with a magenta spot of Geranium Red Admiral.

Arundodonax above the Clerodenron. Creeping Jenny as groundcover taking over with Knipfolia caulescens making a stand before it is enveloped by Tithonia and Dahlias...

Behind the pond....the brick edge merging into the garden as creeping jenny invades and water forget-me-not's fill in the gaps. Physygelius flowering away and the background very lush from all the rain



This is a new project as Steven pointed out how I was putting the wood everywhere and it was loosing impact, so I created a screen which I hope will be covered with Ipomea rising above a sea of pumpkins, however the slugs/pigeons have other plans...

Now i am an expert builder and can do concrete and other butch stuff I have cemented the top of my mound/lookout post/neolithic burial mound and am attempting to plant it with succulents, and the Pitcairn bromeliad which I remember seeing a picture of growing on Chritopher Lloyds roof, so I figure it doesn't need much soil. Fingers crossed....

This was a bit of a plastic looking Physygelius which I bought in Brum last year and has survived, but doesn't seem to be the rampant beast the others are. Quite a remarkable colour

 Nigelica hispanica...currently self seeding all over with an eye to garden domination

 Every one likes a red hot poker?!

Crocosmia lucifer.... common but fabulous. so vibrant, and the leaves look good too

The advantage of still being a bad vegetable grower is that I can see things flower....this is chicory which threw out wonderfully odd architectural flower spikes followed by these blue flowers

Clary sage which has happily self seeded all around...I like it as it is a little unusual, but struggle using it as a cut flower, which I bought the seeds for as the stems are a little small

 Bees fighting for the opium poppy's...there are 4 of them in there...like Victorian sailors looking for Opium in London's East end!

 C'est moi! modelling all the latest in bee wear and holding up a good frame of bees.... you can see the brood (babys waiting to hatch) in the middle and lower bit with capped honey all round the edge

  a better look at the brood...if only the other hives were behaving like this. Don't even ask about honey, it ain't happening this year and is far cheaper if you get it hand delivered from Fortnums.....

 And this is the problem at the mo...evil slugs and snails. This is a dahlia that they seem to love, and can hardly get out the ground despite organic pellets, patrolling and trying to catch them overnight in dustbin lids.

The shoo fly plant below is a victim of an overnight hit and run....

Happy gardening!