The Lonicera nitida is in full flower at the moment. With its modest bushes and small creamy-greenish flowers, nobody would accuse Lonicera Nitida of being excessively flashy, but as a member of the honeysuckle family it has a lovely scent, and seems to be deeply beloved of the bees.

Is that a bee, or something bee-like? It doesn't look quite as bumbly as the second one:

This bee- attraction makes the plant not beloved of poor Brythen, who loathes buzzing things and looks sideways at the Lonicera nitida and sits worriedly on his bottom whenever he goes near enough to hear the bees at work.
I don't seem to have noted many garden updates this year, although I've taken lots of photos. I think the figs are ahead of where they were last year, I note that I did a fig update on 19th May 2013 with a photo showing figs at a stage very similar to these.

The bluebells and blue geraniums are looking good - although I think these are mostly hybrids with Spanish bluebells, they look a little chunky to be 100% British bluebells. The leaves are quite fine though and they do have some scent so they aren't entirely Spanish.
These further up the garden are the real deal though. Love the colour.


Is that a bee, or something bee-like? It doesn't look quite as bumbly as the second one:

This bee- attraction makes the plant not beloved of poor Brythen, who loathes buzzing things and looks sideways at the Lonicera nitida and sits worriedly on his bottom whenever he goes near enough to hear the bees at work.
I don't seem to have noted many garden updates this year, although I've taken lots of photos. I think the figs are ahead of where they were last year, I note that I did a fig update on 19th May 2013 with a photo showing figs at a stage very similar to these.

The bluebells and blue geraniums are looking good - although I think these are mostly hybrids with Spanish bluebells, they look a little chunky to be 100% British bluebells. The leaves are quite fine though and they do have some scent so they aren't entirely Spanish.

These further up the garden are the real deal though. Love the colour.

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Date: 2014-05-04 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-05 08:17 am (UTC)*"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
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Date: 2014-05-05 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-05 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-05 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-05 12:00 am (UTC)Perhaps the less-bumbly one was a leaf-cutter bee (http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/insects-and-invertebrates/12902-leaf-cutter-bee-sp.html) of some kind.
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Date: 2014-05-05 08:19 am (UTC)Also, what a great forum thread "Was having a smoke after a couple of hours gardening and a leaf flew very slowly by, making a noise." :-DD
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Date: 2014-05-05 12:12 pm (UTC)Your bluebells are so much bluer than ours... I was out photographing some this morning, but they came out disappointingly purple.
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Date: 2014-05-05 07:19 pm (UTC)Based on my photographising yesterday, I have just formed a Theory of Bluebells, which essentially goes 'photograph them in the evening when the shadows are turning bluish anyway'.
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Date: 2014-05-05 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-18 10:55 pm (UTC)That particular colour you see in bluebells, and blue geraniums, and the more bluey-purple irises, is one of my very favourite colours in the world.