The clover is done, and there aren't a lot of other things blooming en mass this time of summer. I have some milkweeds that are finishing, and a few zinnias that are starting, but that's not enough for a difference. Oregano plants are still covered with bees, but I don't have a huge amount of those. The main flowers are dandelions and Queen Anne's Lace. Our yard is filled with those, and the honeybees are foraging them now.
This was an area that contained irises. I didn't want them there, because it is on an easement than can be paved at the whim of the holder. Instead of just planting grass, I mixed together clover, grass seed, and wildflower seed. I really didn't expect much, it has been hot and dry. Even so, they are starting to bloom now.
I think some of these mixes are just extra annual flowers. I really don't think zinnias, alyssum, cosmos, and bachelors buttons are native wildflowers. Even so, they are nice. Pollen and nectar sources are welcome now.
I removed the remaining wrap from the chestnut grafts - two more grafts. They appeared a little constricted. I think they will be OK in the long run, glad I removed them now.
The graft that was loose, I thought did not take, actually remained alive for the past two or three months, hanging on bt a thread. I shortened it, and splinted it to see if it heals and maybe next year grows better.
This is very worrisome for me. I saw that some yellow jackets had taken to a fig, and wondered if there might be a problem by the beehive. So I set out a yellow jacket trap. Within an hour, there were three dozen yellow jackets in the trap. So I set out three more traps. Time will tell.
I don't know where their nest is. I wondered in the past if yellow jackets had killed off a beehive or more than one. I read that they can kill them off in a few hours, for food.
I have ordered some insecticide that can be mixed with cat food and placed in an animal-proof cage. The yellow jackets carry it to their nest. That will take a week to arrive. Meanwhile, the traps will have to do.
So far, no bees enter the traps. Just yellow jackets.
Tomatoes got off to a late start this year. I think we are heading into a good tomato month. This being the Pacific NW, I'm grateful for whatever tomatoes I get. I don't know if they are supposed to be this lumpy, but lumpy is fine, these are garden fresh, home grown tomatoes.
"Bodaceous Tomato" 8.20.2020
Edit: Unfortunately, this was not flavorful at all! I hope the future tomatoes are better. It was basically like a grocery store tomato.
Just a mixture of photos of flowers with honeybees.
I think borage is one of the top honeybee forage flowers. They do self-seed, prolifically, year after year. However, the volunteer seedlings are easy to pull out if not wanted. Borage has a long period of blooming, and is at its peak when a lot of the others are done.
A groundcover sedum, I think Sedum kamtschaticum. These were cuttings, basically trimmings from someones plant, they left them on the break table at work for anyone who wanted them. I just stuck them in the ground, no special care, and they took off and filled their space. Honeybees seem to like most of the Sedums.
Milkweed. I think this one is Asclepias incarnata. I had covered the area this Spring with a ground fabric and tree mulch, but it came up at the edge. I'm glad it did. It also has an offspring in a container, which I intend to transplant.
Oregano flowers are usually covered with honeybees. You can hear them hum before you see them.
I don't know this flower. It came up in the uncut grass.
Some of the Chinese chives are still blooming. Good for honeybees, who are always all over the chive flowers.
More oregano.
This is the larger, bushier perennial type sedum. It's similar to "Autumn Joy" but I don't think it is.
This year I didn't do as well with zinnias. Something ate the first batches that I planted, and the second group never really took off. Finally I bought a six-pack, which was so root-bound that I had doubts about the viability. However, they grew and some of the earlier seedlings are starting to bloom too.
So far, there hasn't been much honeybee activity in the zinnias. Not like, say, alliums, poppies, milkweeds, etc.
No a zinnia, but an African marigold. It's not supposed to have single flowers. They rest of the plants have fully double flowers. But I like this one more than those. I think I'll save seeds from it.
More zinnias, this time from the seeds that I planted. On the side is a "wild" petunia.
When I first started growing Four O'Clocks, I thought they might be difficult to grow. I planted the seeds inside, coddled them, transplanted, gave them TLC. Now, having grown them for many years, I usually just plant the seeds directly in the garden. This year I didn't even try. Within the vegetable garden are volunteers that grew from volunteers that grew from volunteers. I transplanted some, left some where they were. They turned out very nice.
I don't think I ever bought or planted pink 4 O'clocks, but here they are.
These red ones are a very rich color, quite lovely.
I think I planted this yellow one in front of the house a few years ago. It comes up every year.
Honeybees generally stay away from 4 O'clocks, but there can be exceptions. It's possible that the flowers bloom before the bees are active, and close up too early.
This year I want to save seeds separately for each color. They are all nice, and have an antique feel to them.
I grew these dahlias in the vegetable garden. There, they were safe from deer and rabbits. I didn't tie them up very well, and the garden is crowded, but some came out very nice.
This was the first apple from my first-leaf Redlove® Calypso® apple tree. The apple fell off the small tree, so I took that as a signal it was not going to ripen further.
Some precautions -
First year fruits are not always reliable indicators of the future fruits from the same tree. Next year, this tree might have larger, sweeter fruits. Or it might not.
This fruit might not have fully ripened. The tree does have two other fruits. Maybe they will ripen further.
A small tree may not be able to support full ripening.
That said, this small (about silver dollar size) apple was colorful on the inside. The flesh had a crisp, juicy texture. It was not astringent or bitter. What it was, was very tart - like a lemon candy. Or a pineapple, or grapefruit, but crisp.
This is the leaf curl resistant "Sunny Day" peach that I did patch grafts. I think they both took, but the heat was too much and I was unable to look after them for a while. One started growing, but the other one dried out and baked. I think I'll just let them alone except for watering and shelter, and cut the top from the one that took, next Spring. I might keep the other one for another graft attempt next year.
The bigger garlic heads are Music, the smaller ones are Spanish Roja, I think. I'll save about 5 of the largest to plant next year. Raised bed, inside fence, made a big difference. Animals didn't eat them and they did really well. The fall planted ones were bigger than the spring planted ones/
These are Shirley poppies. It's interesting how many seeds one can collect from the pods, even though the pods seem small. I'll continue saving them, since the honeybees like them so much and there aren't as many other bee forage plants blooming now.
The Four O'Clocks are all volunteer. I moved a few seedlings this Spring and left the rest where they were. I think they are a few generations past the original seed packet now. There were only two yellow flowered plants. I want to save those seeds, so I labeled them. They are open-pollinated so who knows what the seedlings will be. Honeybees don't seem to like them. Despite being Four O'Clocks, they seem to bloom best in the am so should be "Nine Am O'Clocks". :-)
This dark one is especially brilliant. It's not a pure red. I think the marble types interbred with the pure color types.
These are wild petunias. The flowers are the same size as the Four O'Clocks, but the leaves are very different. Also, they stay open in the afternoon, when the Four O'Clock flowers are closed.
I just like taking photos of flowers with bees.
I didn't think the honeybees were into dahlias, but this time there were a few.
Before and after. I wanted to take him to a groomer because he is very strong and Mr. Squirmasaurus and I'm still recovering from surgery. However, when I took him there, the waiting area was a tiny enclosed space and there were three women struggling with three very large pitbulls. And none of those people were wearing masks. Not wanting to contract coronavirus just to have him groomed, I took him home and did it myself and here we are. Not the best grooming job, but then again no viruses were contracted in this bath and haircut. All that wool will go into the compost, lots of Nitrogen and Sulfur.
After. I guess in the time of coronavirus, casual clothes are accepted.
Before the haircut. Where's the dog under all that wool?
Lots of food and collecting seeds. Shirley poppy seed heads are becoming light brown, so I cut them off and place them, pod down, into glass jars. The dry seeds fall into the jar for collection. It works out almost the same for garlic chives.
Harvest: beans, potatoes, cucumbers, a few peppers, blackberries, a few figs, Asian pears.
Here is a cucumber salad I made, all but onions from the victory garden.
