Return to the dasy

You'll have to forgive the lack of posts, another trip to Tanzania for work.  The problem of going away for two weeks is that the other projects build up, so you get back to a desk piled up and then have to slog through everything.

Thankfully the garden looks after itself and is looking great.  The joys of succulent rockeries requiring no maintenance. 

The dasylirion serratifolium flower is now in the cherry tree, but at least it has stopped growing.

The flowers are starting to open and very disappointing.  I would have put more effort into the flowers and less in the stalk. 

The bees however seem to disagree.  The whole stalk buzzes and everywhere you look there are bees. It doesn't seem to smell too strongly and the colour is not super bright, but something is working for them.

Many of them have leg sacks full of pollen.

The garden is full of bees, they are on every succulent that is flowering.

The other plant they are loving is the euphorbia

All these bees are a good thing, and promising for the future. I found at the last house,  that once the bees found a plant they would return in force the following years.  Sadly they will be disappointed to find the Dasy not flowering next year.

The irony of all these bees, is that the only plants go no where near are the flowering plants I bought especially for them! It just goes to show, even the bees think that succulents are the way forward.

I'm watching you

Spikies from out of the blue

I have been absent for a couple of weeks, enjoying my summer holiday on a beautiful Greek island. If there is one thing that could get me more obsessed than my plants, it's the oceon. I have always loved it, the sounds, the smells. Being on it, under it doesn't really matter.  For me there is nothing like it.  The sea in Paxos was crystal clear and while there was sadly not a huge amount of fish, being able to see so far in into the depths made snorkling every day a pleasure.

But even in this underwater world there were spikies to attract me, in the form of sea urchins.  Finding there shells was like looking for treasure as a kid.  Each one you saw and dove down to collect was a treat.  In many respects they mirror what I love in my plants; the symetry, and structure to each one.  Even the lines formed as the urchin grows are perfect geometric shapes.  We collected almost 100 shells in the end (all empty when we found them, we left the harvesting as a delicacy to the locals) and have a few project planned for them.

But now it is back to the plants and I need a good look around at how they have coped without me.  So it will be back to the more normal spikies for the next post.

Sitting out with a drink and the parakeets

The good weather continues and it actually feels like summer, after the wet July.  So we took the opportunity to sit out and enjoy the evening in the almost finished seating area. The seat is in, the decking waxed and who would of guessed one or two pots may have migrated to the area as well.

There are still a few bits to finish off, and I have to re-lay or seed the lawn in places, but it is finally getting there. The pots on the flower bed are only temporary while I wait for the holders that I can attache to the posts and trellis. Funnily enough, if we hadn't decided to move the original idea included converting that bed into a raised succulent bed  to allow most of the plants to be planted. So it is good to see them there, even if it is only for a short time. 

Living where I do in South West London, we have the pleasure of flocks of parakeets.  No one is sure where they came from, but there are now thousands of them living wild in the local parks and in fact there are so many they are considered a pest.  No matter how you view them,  there is no ignoring them. Sitting out on a summers evening you see flocks flying home to roost and it's still a sight I enjoy, even if it is a noisy one.

Photo by miacat63, and is much better than any I have.

They are a lot prettier than pigeons!

Lucky dip.

It's a good time of year for growing echeverias, the garden is full of plants in flower.  Every where I look there are little spikes of colour vying for attention.

Normally I would be looking around trying to decide which plants to cross, but it seems there is a very good reason that experts hybridize in more control environments.

The bees have decided that echeverias are the flower of choice. You don't have to watch a plant for long before the next one comes along for a top up, often there are two or three on a plant at once. It is funny watching them trying to get into the delicate flowers, but they have worked out how to do it, going from flower to flower on a plant before moving off to the next one.

I am pleased to say that the garden is full of bees this year. Last year was terrible and it as noticeable how few bees were around, but they are back with a vengeance this year. It has been interesting to watch them with the succulent flowers.  Whenever I bring a new variety into the garden they usually take a while to work out what it is.  I would have thought that any flower would be attractive,  but right now they are all flying straight past the cactus that is as bright as can be.

With all the activity any selective hybrids are out of the question, so I guess I am going to have to see what nature comes up with, my very own lucky dip.