We are currently enjoying lovely warm and balmy weather. It's been like this for several days now and is expected to last a little longer yet. This means that everything is growing, flowers are developing and insect life is increasing.
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| Osteospermum Iced Gem |
My new addition is the plant Osteospermum 'Iced Gem'. These plants are very popular with bees, butterflies and general bird life and this one is supposed to be quite hardy. We shall see. Anyway it looks very lovely as it opens completely each day in the sun shine.
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| Cornflower |
After last year's hopeless disaster with cornflower seeds I am so pleased that this year, I have managed to grow several lovely tall plants, that are now flowering. We currently have four lovely bright blue flowers and many more promising buds.
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| Cuckoo Spit |
This plant is the residence of something I have never quite understood before 'cuckoo spit'. I have seen it but never know what it is. Well, apart from the fact that it starts to appear on plants in spring, when you might start to hear cuckoos, this has nothing whatsoever to do with cuckoos. It is, in fact, a white frothy liquid secreted by the immature nymphs of a sap-sucking insect known as a
froghopper. (Philaenus spumarius) The froth is there to protect the nymph and has very little detrimental effect on the plant. Here is the cuckoo spit we have and so this froghopper nymph might be our first permanent or long term resident!
I very often now see bees hovering around one or other of my plants but as yet, only the extremely rare butterfly. The buddleia plant now has growing buds, which should flower soon and this might be enough to attract some into our garden.
