Oh good grief! I cannot believe that it has been WEEKS since I've posted. My bad... At one point I was poised to do a nice entry about the Autumnal Equinox and the waning of the growing season. Then it just slipped away as I dove into 'winterizing' the gardens and grounds.
Then I was going to post about finishing reconstructing the deck arbor after 2 months of deconstruction, timber reclamation, wood protecting, arbor redesign and rebuild. But it was hard to get me to come in from outside where I was totally enjoying actually sitting under the arbor. LOL
Then I was going to post about the success of the left-over WS'd plants at my Mom's neighborhood garage sale. The English lavender, Canterbury bells, butterfly bushes, balloon flowers and bellflowers (not WS'd).
Then I absolutely was going to post about what was still blooming at this late date and providing late forage for bees and pollinators. And, by gum, I'm not letting that one get away from me!
First off, the native asters (pic) are just coming into their own blue glory. (OK, bluish-purple glory.)The green metallic bees are obviously finding them yummy and as recent as 2 days ago cabbage butterflies were visiting them.
The blue lobelia (lobelia siphilitica - pic) is blooming away and I think this particular bumblebee just lives there anymore. LOLOther WS'd perennials that are still blooming and attracting pollinators are:
Blue Bedder salvia
Feverfew (honestly, not so much traffic all season on this one)
Lavender hyssop
"Apricot Sprite" hyssop
Butterfly bush
Sweet Joe Pye weed
"Tall Boneset" Joe Pye weed
English lavender
Coneflower (echinacia tennesseensis)
Cardinal flower (lobelia cardinalis)
"Dwarf Munstead" lavender (pic)
And, as the pic at the top of this post, the WS'd annuals of Yvonne's salvia and 6-8 varieties of zinnias are still going gangbusters.And, lordy, let's not forget those scary castor bean plants. In spite of being hit with a couple of early light frosts, those things are putting out NEW flower stalks. What's THAT all about??
One thing I've noticed this season is that bees (all types) seem to prefer blue flowers. Big, small, doesn't seem to matter. Blue blooms get the most traffic. So I'll be adding more blue next year. (NEXT year? Oh man, I'm not done with THIS year yet! Hold my horses, Nellie! LOL)
flowrgirl1 - yeah, sad, ain't it? ;-D
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking what a great success winter sowing was for me and I didn't start nearly as much as you. I hadn't thought about the color the bees were most attracted to here, I have quite a bit of blue.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you've been very busy!
Hello Catherine :-D
ReplyDeleteYes, it's been a very busy season - that whole "bite off more than she can chew" thing for sure. LOL
There's no doubt that the native bees prefer blue flowers, especially the lavender hyssop. Sometimes it was hard to tell the hyssops were blue, it being so often covered with furry yellow bees. Right now the lavender and the native asters that are getting all the attention even though the weather is cold and spitting snow... (*sigh*)
I usually start angst-ing about winter about this time, but now I know there is WS-ing to be had! LOL
I know the scenario - writing posts in your head which then get overtaken by events! And you're quite right to enjoy the sun and daylight while you can.
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