Spring has officially sprung

When the hyacinths peek their fragrant heads up through the tangle of winter grasses, I know that spring has officially sprung. The nights may still be chilly, but the garden knows that spring is here. On hills and glens not far away, I spot almond blossoms coming forth on trees left to fend for themselves. Yes, spring has arrived. 

Another arrival has occurred. A pale pink camellia has been adopted into the garden. She has lived her life in a pot for the last decade and a half. My mom couldn't keep her so it was time for this "pink lady" to have her roots put into the earth here among others that have now become her sisters. Already she is happy. Soon she will be as tall as the "old lady" on her right and the "showoff" on her left.

The "showoff" has been dazzling us with quite a show. Thanks to Hubby's expertise in installing windows, we can now enjoy every moment of this brilliant camellia's performance even on the rainiest of days. 

The bees are busy on the north side of the house where all the camellias live. The saucer-sized blooms have the bees in quite a tizzy trying to decide which bloom to explore next with their chubby pollen-laden legs. As I meander down the shady path, I hear their happy buzzing and it makes my heart sing.

Spring has officially sprung.

I wonder what Spanish lavender honey tastes like

Just outside my studio window sits a row of pots that I planted with mostly flowering annuals like the snapdragons I put in at the beginning of the winter so I could enjoy some color during the colder months. One pot, however, contains a perennial Spanish lavender that is in full bloom right now.

When I'm sitting at my computer working, I can look to my right toward the window. If I look past the plethora of pluck marks in the window screen courtesy of very naughty ginger tabby, I can see honeybees buzzing about the brilliant purple heads of lavender.

When I need a break, I go out on the deck next to the pots of flowers and pull up a comfy thick-padded patio chair. I sink into the cushions, stretch out my legs and just watch the bees.

Today the honeybees were busy. A Valley carpenter bee joined them periodically, but was not as industrious as the busy girls that buzzed from bloom to bloom, their legs laden with bright yellow pollen.

I don't know where the bees go with all that they collect. Where their hive is located remains a mystery.

But wouldn't it be wonderful to find it and take just a bit of the honey to see what lavender honey tastes like?

New pollinators visited the garden and heralded the official arrival of Summer

I was standing outside in the late evening the day before the official arrival of Summer, and I noticed some activity on a lone volunteer garlic bloom growing at the edge of the pond. I quickly got my camera, installed my new zoom lens and made my way back out to garden to try and take some shots.

The garlic bloom was covered in little golden specks of pollen. Some honeybees were gathering sweetness from the tiny flowers while other honeybees were gathering water a few feet away on the rock of the pond waterfall.

I focused my attention on the garlic blossom again. Then I saw her!

I had never seen this garden visitor before. I didn't know what she was (or that she was a SHE) until I took my shots back in to the computer and did some quick internet hunting.

She is a female Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa varipuncta)!

The honeybees moved aside and continued gathering while their much larger cousin did her share of gathering. I noticed she had a sister that was buzzing around the other flowers in the vicinity. When the first female I saw would buzz away to check out the other flowers, the honeybees would go back to gathering from the spots they had vacated while she was there.

Ms. Valley Carpenter Bee came back around and seemed to be particularly smitten with the nearby Japanese Water Iris. I didn't think the iris were a favorite of pollinators but I was wrong.

Ms. Valley Carpenter Bee loved the welcoming throats of the iris bloom because she could fit her whole round fat body inside without much effort.

I was also surprised to discover later that the Valley Carpenter Bee is usually in Southern California and in the Central Valley of California (the large flat topography running vertically through the center of our state). I don't know why these two girls are so far from "home" close to the waters of the San Francisco Bay, but I'm happy they came for a visit so I could see them for the first time.

And, ironically, this week just happens to be National Pollinator Week. Maybe the girls were doing a special publicity tour?

October Blooms Around Rosehaven Cottage

Since the garden has decided to act like it's spring instead of fall, I decided to just embrace it, photograph it, and share it.

Just last week I commented on Jeanette's photo of her wild iris that I haven't been able to get a good photo of ours that look the same (we call them "fortnight lilies", but I'm probably wrong on that). Then yesterday, I was surprised to find that ours was blooming again. The autumnal light made shooting the white flower much easier than it usually is and I was very pleased to finally have a photo that shows its lovely contours.


The "Gold Medal" rose lives right by the "fortnight lily" (please correct me if I'm getting this wrong), and the older pale yellow blooms looked stunning against the blue sky. I didn't doctor this photo in post-processing either. This is how the photo was shot. I love how the blooms of the "Gold Medal" change colors throughout their life. It makes for a multi-shaded display all on one bush.


The blue sky also looked great over my lovely purple roses that look a lot like "Angel Face" but aren't (the tag fell off this one so now it's a mystery rose). This thing is SO tall right now! The blooms at the top of the canes are about 7 feet tall. I shot this at my full height of 5 foot 2 looking up at them. And I didn't doctor this photo in post-processing either.

I moved to the back garden to look for more photographing opportunities and found many. Probably the only flowers that I expect to see in my October garden are residing in the back. One of the blooms I love in autumn is the diminutive "Cardinal Climber" from the ipomoea (Morning Glory) family. Each scarlet bloom is less than 1 inch in diameter yet they have such detail.


The honeybees and bumblebees are loving all the October flowers. The newly blooming "Cosmos" were being visited by a honeybee or two.


But the majority of the pollinator activity was occurring on the other side of the back garden at the "Pineapple Sage" (from the salvia family) that is in full bloom with its scarlet trumpets. One big fat black bumblebee buzzed from blossom to blossom so quickly that it was hard to photograph it. I did get a couple of good shots, thankfully. I wonder if the nectar tastes like pineapple as much as the leaves smell like pineapple...

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It's That Time of Year Again...

It's that time of year again when I need to be thinking about laying out calendars so everyone that wants one can get one before the first of next year. September seems to be a good month to do that.

Today, I laid out the first of the 2009 calendars. It's called "Cute as a Bug" and has a collection of my photographs in it that feature beautiful insects (nothing scary or gross for the squeamish).

Cute as a Bug 2009 Calendar

I'd really like your feedback on this calendar and also some suggestions on calendars you'd like to see me lay out based on what photographs or art you've like from the blog and whatnot. I'd love to hear from all of you and can't wait to read your suggestions!

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Balance Starts With "Bee"

This morning, I was out under the plum tree enjoying the pond (as I often do daily). With camera in hand, I was paying more attention to the buzz of life around me on a summer day than I was on shooting photos. I did photograph the plethora of lily pads that the water lily has produced, floating on the pond's surface. Then I noticed that one of the honeybees was buzzing around a lily pad looking for a landing spot to get a drink, and it reminded me of another reason I'm glad I have this pond.

Many of you may not know that Rosehaven Cottage's gardens are certified as an "NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat" with the National Wildlife Federation. It's really a relatively easy process to become certified once you've changed your gardening focus over to the 5 essentials required for certification:

• Food Sources. For example: native plants, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, nectar
• Water Sources. For example: birdbath, pond, water garden, stream
• Place for Cover. For example: Thicket, rockpile, birdhouse
• Places to Raise Young. For example: Dense shrubs, vegetation, nesting box, pond
• Sustainable Gardening. For example: Mulch, compost, rain garde, chemical-free fertilizer
  

Because the elements can be both big and small, even a balcony or patio garden can become certified.

I dug our pond in such a way so that it would have a gentle river rock beach on one side for critters to come down and get a drink. There are lots of rock protrusions for birds and creatures to get a footing and splash in the recirculating water that runs over the rocks adjacent to the pond's "beach".

The slope is boggy and in full sun so I have canna lilies, potted Japanese water lilies, and lemon balm growing along the "beach" that provide cover for the critters.

The unplanned bonus of this design has been the honeybees! Every day, particularly in the warmer months, honeybees come from wherever their hives are and drink from the water on the "beach" side of the pond. The area is literally buzzing with activity everyday while the sun is shining.

I've had a number of visitors to the garden look in horror at the "beach" with all the bees and paper wasps buzzing about and say, "Oh my! You've got a yellow-jacket problem!"

Then I kindly explain the difference between paper wasps and yellow-jackets--how the paper wasps are so non-aggressive that they won't even sting me if I knock down one of their paper-like honeycomb nests.

I also explain (and often demonstrate) that I can walk right out on the rocks through the buzzing activity and step into the pond to perform maintenance. I'm usually met with looks of astonishment.

How come I don't get stung repeatedly?

Well, when bees are focused on drinking water that's what they're focused on... water. They are visitors on turf that isn't their hive, and they know it. If I came to their hive and started jostling them about, then it would be a different story. Even though there are a large number of bees on the water's edge, they aren't swarming (a behavior associated with hive defense and colony relocation). They aren't agitated, and as long as I don't step on one or have one fly down my shirt and get scared (that's only happened once), they leave me alone as if they were a bunch of butterflies.

I've been highly fortunate to have these wonderful pollinators in my garden year after year. They have blessed us with wonderful produce: tomatoes, beans, mandarins, strawberries, pomegranates, lemons, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and plums. And I always plant some flowers just for the bees and the butterflies as a repayment for their services.

Yes, balance definitely starts with "bee".

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Bees and Lavender Blossoms

I only have one surviving lavender bush (at one time I had three). I almost lost this one too due to a very rude fennel that was its neighbor (fennel isn't good at maintaining "personal boundaries"). I cut out the fennel and then trimmed the pathetic sun-starved lavender back severely with the hope that it would come back.

Well, it loved the haircut it got and has thanked me with a profusion of lovely blue blossoms. This round little orb of a bush has been a favorite of the bees since it started to bloom a couple of weeks ago.

I went out a couple of days ago to look at it and all the buzzing activity going on. In less than five minutes, I saw two different kinds of bumblebees and also honeybees climbing around on the blue blossoms! It seemed so magical and serene, I ran inside and got my camera to try and capture the moment.

As I took these photographs, I couldn't help but think of Penny over at Lavender Hill Studio. If you go take a peek at her blog (and website), I think you'll see why. So these photos of this year's lavender bloom are dedicated to Penny.

Too bad no one has invented smell-a-vision for the internet, huh?