This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Thursday 19 June 2014

Lots of sunshine, bees and flowers


Its been extremely warm this past week in Northern Ireland  - reaching almost 70F / 20C but feeling much warmer. We aren't used to the heat and anything near 70F is super warm for us. The plants have enjoyed the warm weather and the bees have been busy buzzing from one plant to another - great to see!

I enjoy watching the bees buzz here and there. They really enjoy the lavender and chives (both purple, one of the  most attractive colours for bees). 


Unfortunately I can't seem to remember much from my four-hour bumblebee identification course last summer - must review those notes to tell the difference between the bees!

Left: Geranium with lots of bee action.
Chives are very popular with bees.
Above: Gaillardia Arizona Sun.
Above: Bee is hard to spot amongst the flowers (can't find my tag with plant name).
More chives - worth having just for the bees!


Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

11 comments:

  1. Just wonderful photos Kelli.. especially for this bee loving person :o) x

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  2. The tagless one is astrantia. I'm addicted to photographing those at the moment. Bees have a good taste in colour - I'm attracted to purple and blue flowers too.

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    1. Thanks Sue. You are so good at plant ID-ing!

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  3. Your weather sounds glorious! I am sure you are enjoying it as much as the bees in your garden. Here is has been over 90 F and doesn't make it fun to garden except very early in the morning. I'm still trying to learn to id all the types of bees too!

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  4. June has been a rather cool and wet month for us here. It has been nice, but the garden is very late. The peonies are finishing up. I will miss them. The roses are now in full bloom. The bearded iris are all but done, with a few stragglers left. The lawn in Irish green, but that won't last, for the ground dries out very quickly. I do have one huge bumble bee that visits, but I have not seen any honey bees yet. Concerned. Your flowers look fit and pretty.

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  5. What gorgeous photos, Kelli. The bee's wings in the last shot are outstanding!

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  6. Hi Kelli,
    You got some great pics of bees and the Geranium is lovely. I'm such a novice. I'm just learning about all perennial geraniums. For years, I only knew of the annuals that are commonly put on gravesites! I have yet to see a lovely blue one like you show in the picture. 70F makes for a cool summer in my neck of the woods!

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  7. Any time there are bees buzzing in the gardens, it's a good garden day. :o) Beautiful pics! Sue Garrett's ID is 100% accurate. Astrantia is such a beauty!

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  8. Beautiful photos!! Love that you're keeping the bees happy!!

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  9. Through my love of gardening, I've come to appreciate bees so much more. As a young girl, I was so frightened of them! I had to chuckle at your hot weather. We've been close to 90F most days, with humidity just as high. If you try to garden, you nearly melt!

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