Clover

I did mention that I had surplanted some clover from our lawn to my wildlife area. This is doing well and on a lovely sunny morning like today there are insects buzzing around all the plants.

More planting

Hebe, Poppy and Sedum

With a few more tubs moving from the front of our guest house to the back I have done a bit more planting.  This might be it for this year as I want to now see what happens, ie what attracts wildlife and what actually also survives, but we will have to see as the year progresses.  Anyway, I have put in the following - sedum selskianum, achillea x lewisii King Edward, and Hebe Blue Star also another Iceland Poppy.

Achillea x lewisii King Edward

These all are hardy up to grade 9, which appears to cover northern coastal areas.

I already have one hebe, which is recovering from a bad stay at the front of the guest house with north winds battering it.  So 2 hebes, might work quite well together.

Last weekend we had a strong wind battering all the plants I have put in and they all survived.  The most pleasing success was the buddleia, which still looks very well, although slightly bent.  It appears to be much hardier than I originally thought and has developing buds, which I hope will flower soon.

A sliver of success

It was a beautiful evening yesterday and so I went out to take a picture of the sea.  As I passed this geranium plant I noticed a bee buzzing around all the flowers and enjoying the plant and the sunshine.  It's really the first one I have seen so far as the weather has been so dire, but this at least shows that things I have planted are of interest.

On clearing out an area at the front of our guest house, I discovered some daisies flowering quite happily.  Obviously the old idiom is correct that a weed is a plant in the wrong place.  Because I took up a few with their roots and planted them in my little attempted wildflower garden.  At first they looked as if they were thinking - we didn't say we wanted to move,  but now after the sunny evening and some rain today they look much happier, so I hope they do settle in.  I also transplanted a couple of clover cuttings to another pot in the hope that they might grow.  Fingers crossed!

Wildflower Area

This is another piece of optimistic gardening!  Today, in the beautiful sunshine that Scarborough has been experiencing, I have finally managed to start a small area that is going to become a wildflower garden.

It is made from three of the trays that our breakfast mushrooms are delivered in.  I have put a base in with holes and then covered the base with small stones.  Around the exposed edges I have put moss and then potting compost in the middle.  As it's now too late to plant true wildflower seeds I have bought one poppy, and also some marigolds and pansies.  From experience one poppy is enough as it will produce seeds to create more plants next year.  Marigolds attract butterflies, and can also deter unwanted aphids.  Pansies are loved by bees and butterflies.  Marigold and pansy seeds were included in a pack of seeds to attract birds and butterflies in our local garden centre.

My cornflower seedlings are still coming through but taking their time.  If they succeed then some of them can be transplanted into this area.

A further bug b&b

Bamboo cane bug home

As a follow up from my last post,  I now have the tied up bamboo canes in place and here's a picture on a lovely sunny day in Scarborough.

I have decided to put it by the sea thrift and also the sea holly, which you can just about see here.  But as this is starting to grow a couple of lovely thistles then it might just be a good place.

Today I have seen a hoverfly buzzing around a hebe I recently moved to the wildlife garden and also around the sea thrift underneath the cane bundle.  It's only a start but does mean that the flowers are of interest and they are getting noticed.

Cornflower Seedlings

I have started to see the cornflower seeds coming through.  Not very dramatic as yet, but obviously going the right way.  There should be some to move into the wild flower patch I am creating.

Poorly hebe

I moved a small and struggling hebe to the wildlife garden area earlier this week.  At the front it was being bombarded by wind and also not getting much sun.  So I cut it right back to the new growth that was fighting its way through and moved it to the back of the guest house, where there is more sun all day.  It looks slightly pathetic at the moment but obviously now has a chance to grow to its potential.  Here's how it looks now.  Hopefully in a few weeks it will look much better and will start to flower.

Wildlife homes

Well the weather is still fighting against me and I am sure everything must be later than last year.  However, all things planted are still alive, and some are thriving.  The cornflower seeds planted at the end of May are starting to show and I am  in the process of planning a small wildflower garden area.  More on this later.

For now, I have created two trial wildlife homes as suggested in http://www.wildonwight.co.uk/doyourbit.

The first is about 20 pieces of bamboo cane cut to roughly 15cm long and tied together with string.  I can't quite decide where to site it yet, so no picture in situ, but it will hopefully attract the attention of some insects when put in a permanent home.  This will most likely be from the railings of our car park near some of the plants that should attract the insects in the first place.

The second one, which has proved rather difficult to photograph is an upturned drinks bottle, with rolled up corrugated cardboard inside.  I have put it behind a bench to protect it from the worst of the weather.  Despite some heavy showers and thunder storms the cardboard inside is still dry.  This is placed near my buddleia, herbs, cornflower and lavender.  So again these plants will attract the insects that will hopefully wish to explore this home.

Fingers crossed!

Chelsea Inspired

Well the sun's out, I've been watching the Chelsea Flower Show all week and also got some inspiration from Grows on You.  Hence a further bit of planting has taken place.  This is Golden Marjoram, which has been suggested to me as another beneficial herb for butterflies and bees.  It adds to the other herbs to make a slightly bigger herb section.

Alongside this I have planted some cornflower seeds.  Nothing to see there as yet, but hopefully a lovely bright blue flower to attract insects of all types.

My most optimistic bit of planting is a buddleia.

This has been suggested by one of our guests and somebody on Grows on You.  It seems to be fairly hardy to coastal weather and wind, also it appears to be able to grow out of walls and other strange places so hopefully a large tub in sunlight will be OK.

Fingers crossed!