In a Vase on Monday: 🐝One for the Bees🐝

On Sunday afternoon (after a delicious gooseberry crumble with the last of this year’s crop ), I decided to pick some flowers for my Monday vase. I am usually a little earlier in the day picking flowers, but walking around the garden on a hot afternoon made me realize just how many bees are visiting at the moment. With the exception of the yellow Rudbeckia and the Stipa seedhead, all of these flowers were smothered in bees!

The Althaea cannabina has exceeded itself this year and is well over two metres tall. It was buzzing with life too. I decided to use some in my vase. In the initial photos I took the flowers were still open indoors, but when I took more photos this morning they had closed. I like the airiness of them, and their delicate pink.

The Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’ is also a bee magnet.

Verbena bonariensis draws both bees and butterflies and constantly branches out producing more flowers all summer. The Rudbeckia has finally got established… it usually doesn’t get enough rain to flower nicely but this year has given it a boost.

The Veronicastrum ‘Diana’ at the back is a favourite for pollinators too, and grows in the Moon Bed, also reaching about two metres in height. Much shorter are the Scabiosa ochroleuca (below). These have been with me for at least ten years – I brought some with me from my old garden and they have seeded themselves around nicely.

Finally, some pink Persicaria (no ID as it wasn’t what the label said it was).

I wonder what is attracting the bees in your garden at the moment?

I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her In a Vase on Monday meme. Do visit her to see her fabulous vase today, as well as all the others linking in from around the globe.

Happy Gardening!