Some More Nectar-rich Flowers

I did a bit of gardening before Easter and a bit more during the holiday, but I've been quite tired lately, so haven't done as much as I would have liked to. Then I was busy cooking most of Easter Sunday and it poured with rain on Easter Monday. I did get into the garden on the Tuesday and the Wednesday but unfortunately I had a bad headache on Thursday, which didn't clear properly until Sunday, when I did an hour of digging in the afternoon.  That may have been a mistake as I felt too rough to go to work on Monday.  I felt a bit better Tuesday and Wednesday and then woke up on Thursday with no voice.  It's been over a week now since I've had the energy to do any gardening, which is a bit frustrating.

The plus side is that I have time to blog, so here are some of the flowers I have been planting recently to attract more bees and butterflies to our garden.

Erysimum or everlasting wallflower has a long flowering period

Scabious or pin cushion plant (Scabiosa) and Aubretia. These Scabiosa should continue flowering until the first frosts if I look after them properly.

I planted some more rock roses (Helianthemums) on the rockery a few weeks ago, as they tend to do well and flower for several months in the summer. Having recently been made aware of the importance of nectar rich flowers early in the Spring when bees and butterflies emerge hungry from Winter hibernation, with the exception of honey bees, which don't hibernate, I decided to plant more heathers on the rockery.  Social bees such as bumble bees and honey bees will need plenty of nectar and pollen to feed their brood early in the year. I also added a few more herbs to provide flowers in the Summer.

Heathers, hyssop and lavender

Now I have removed the strawberries from underneath the blueberries it seemed a good place to plant some more heathers, including Autumn flowering heathers to provide nectar late in the season when honey bees are making honey stores to see the colony through the Winter.

blueberries under-planted with heathers