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?

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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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?

Triple Digit Day

On a day like today when the temperature climbs to 100 degrees in the shade, everything in the garden changes priorities. Instead of seeking the warmth of the sun, nature tries to seek relief from it. Birds and insects flit about looking for a water source to quench the thirst brought on by the dry baking oven air. Flowers seem jealous of the mobility of the birds and bugs, seeming to yearn for the freedom to seek cooler climes.

I do the same. I hibernate in the comfort of Rosehaven Cottage where we are blessed to have the relief of small air-conditioning units in windows to drive the heat out. I venture out only because my photographic eye sees the photographic possibilities out the large picture window in the living room. I can only stay out for 15 minutes or so and then I duck back in to the cool refreshment inside.

During my short foray into the heat, I find things that fascinate me. For instance, the paper wasps that walk on the moving water that flowing from the waterfall in the pond. They stand on the water's surface and drink as the current carries them toward the deeper end of the pond. The honeybees choose to stay on the safety of the river rocks and sip. But the paper wasps risk their lives in their pursuit of water refreshment. No wonder I find so many floating dead on water's surface.

Some flowers in the garden really thrive in the heat. The sunflowers seem at home with their distant solar cousin gazing down on them with it oppressive rays. The bougainvillea looks perkier than ever as it basks in the heat radiated off the concrete of the driveway. The zinnia look quite pleased with the triple digit day soaking it in with all of their hundreds of scalloped petals. The canna lilies are a tropical sort and seem grateful to finally have the heat they crave.

Then I see the pomegranate bush burgeoning with its shiny fruits. It is bent over from the weight of so many as they begin to blush deeper with the onset of autumn that seems so far away on a day like today. I find a pomegranate that has literally split open while still hanging on the branch. The heat has made its ruby contents known.

I am reminded of something I just read a couple of days ago. In Jewish tradition, the pomegranate is highly symbolic. Those glistening translucent ruby morsels represented the many seeds of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is fitting that I found this split open fruit today in this heat, less than 72 hours after acquiring that piece of insight. The layers of symbolism flood my mind as I think of the seeds and what they represent to me in this context.

As an 135th great granddaughter of Abraham and Sarah of Agade, myself, I ponder being one of those seeds. Do I glisten? Do I shine? Am I as vibrant as they? Do I do justice to the fruit and bush that bore me? Would Abraham be satisfied to claim me as one of his own?

My mind is as laden with questions on this hot day as the pomegranate bush is with fruit.

August Color Galore!

I took a small break from my classes outside midway through the day today. Somehow the fresh air of the outdoors can transform my brain from "mush" back to the mental sponge I need it to be in order to learn and retain information.

I had my camera with me in my pack (like I wouldn't). I strolled around looking for something other than basic grass to photograph.

Then I found a beautiful spot where the landscapers had put in a huge bed of seasonal flowers. The rudbeckia were larger than my hand! Now, I either have small hands or the rudbeckia are quite large.

I was captivated by their bright citrusy yellow petals in the afternoon sun and so were the local honeybees. They buzzed around each saucer-sized blossom. I was fortunate to get a beautiful shot of one busy bee as it gathered nectar from the dark chocolate colored center of one of the massive rudbeckia blossoms [left].

I also found the bees on the smaller flowers too. Size doesn't seem to effective nectar yumminess in bee-dom.

The colors just sent a thrill through me--so vibrant and so representative of the last vestiges of summer.

Why the Right Water Source Is So Important In My Habitat

One of the four main components necessary in order to have a backyard wildlife habitat is a source of water. I always assumed it was for the birds and that a birdbath would suffice. It wasn't until I put in a pond a few years ago that I realized that the water sustains more than just the birds and that a birdbath doesn't really cut it particularly for important insects, like honeybees, that often drown in it while trying to get water.

I designed my pond based on the guidelines I found at the National Wildlife Federation's website on backyard wildlife habitats (it is also where I eventually applied for and received my official certification from the NWF).

NWF's guidelines suggested that somewhere in the pond needed to be protruding rocks for smaller creatures to be able to get to the water or out of the water if they fell in accidentally.

NWF's guidelines also suggested possibly a "beach" area that sloped into the water so the transition was gradual. Again, it was for smaller creatures to be able to access the water without falling in and drowning.

I did both in my pond just for safe measure. I put in an "island" with rocks of all sizes on it, and I also made a flowing water current over river rock that was set on a beach-like area. The water current starts from a waterfall over flat rocks and then passes on both sides of that "island" in a Y to the main deeper section of the pond where the pump is located that sends the water back up to the bio-filter and then out over the flat rocks and back down the river rock again. It's kind of a closed system beach, creek bed and pond all in one.

This evening as I was out feeding the fish before sunset (they're favorite feeding time), I noticed once again why my design and the NWF guidelines are so critical to my habitat. The honeybees were coming down to the water's edge on the big round river rocks at the tip of the Y and getting sips of water as it gurgled by. The bees like to get down in the crevices between the rocks on the island in little groups. It's quite enchanting to watch them. I can get within inches of them, and they've never stung me. They are too busy getting the precious water to be concerned with me.

As I watched them, I knew that they had just finished a busy day of humming from one bee-friendly flower in my garden to the next. They probably lighted on the newly bloomed sunflowers in the front garden at some point today (bees love sunflowers). They also probably sampled the canna lilies too just as the hummingbirds do. And then I'm sure they did the job that I need them to do of pollinating all the blossoms in my fruit and vegetable garden in raised boxes throughout the flower gardens (done to encourage balance in good insect population so I don't have to use pesticides on my produce--this is the year 6 that I haven't had to use ANY).

I had my camera with me this evening, and I photographed the bees as they got their drinks before going back the hive for the night, wherever it may be. And I found myself being thankful that I had made my gardens a wildlife habitat. I found myself grateful that the honeybees have not disappeared from my little part of the world.

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