Flower Power

[Coco61]

What we did with the cuttings elusive, was to bring them into the utility room area rather than leave them outside.
I suppose that might not protect them enough as there is an outside door and in this weather that is open a lot. An outside atmosphere for some of the time. I have heard H cursing while caring for those plants that need to spend the winter in there and talking of infestation. However, it does get very hot in there. So I will be in and out of there, fussing over the cuttings, and will consider more protection if need be.

 

[Coco61]

That is so good to see Beryl.
Shown the photo to H who says it is a yucca gloriosa

 

[Member ID2]

I get black fly every year. This spring i cut the honeysuckle and the fake orange bush right back in the hope that it would get rid of them. Now they are on the miniature pear tree! There aren't enough lady birds anymore either to keep pests under control.

 

[Coco61]

Green fly too can be such a pest. Any time I see a ladybird in the wrong place eg flown into the utility room by mistake if the door is open, I always carefully transport it outside and put it onto an infected plant in the hope that the ladybird is really hungry!

 

[elusive]

The Yucca’s look really striking Beryl, they must be loving this weather.

I haven’t seen a ladybird for years now sadly, I get greenfly quite often too but they never seem to get out of hand, the birds & wasps eat a lot of them.

 

[Maz]

Coco - I'm sorry about the insects and fingers crossed too. At least one of the cuttings seems ok.

As for aphids. Beryl - the solution is to attract hoverflies that eat the aphids, and apparently supposed to be mixed planting - vegetables in with flowers and herbs etc. I had this once at a different house for some years. The entire garden was organic and no bugs - except one plant each year and that was the honeysuckle! That always got greenfly every year. But no bugs or diseases in the rest of the garden.

Rosemary and Sage plants attract bees too and I seem to remember hoverflies liked those too.

There's an article about it here hoverflies devour aphids! It's an interesting article but be warned there are some close up insect photos that might be a big gruesome!

10 Plants To Attract Hover Flies - Nature's Super-Pollinators & Aphid Eaters

Hover flies are truly unsung heroes in the garden. Operating like undercover agents, hover flies are easily mistaken for bees or wasps. When at rest on a flower, it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference.

www.ruralsprout.com

Plants to attract hoverflies are the daisy family type and sunflowers apparently. I am sure there are more - my herbs used to attract them. Basically anything that looks daisy like usually! Anything that has plenty of nectar - most herbs I think. You can just stick herb plants in a flower bed in between other plants.

 

[elusive]

Hoverflies are great for aphids & are attracted to many other plants, most plants I see bees on will also have hoverflies other than those with deep trumpet like flowers like honeysuckle.
A pond is great for hoverflies too so you should have some around I would think Coco. Your robins should help too!

 

[Maz]

That's what I seem to remember too Elusive - that whatever bees liked, hoverflies like. An easy solution is to plant calendula. (English marigold) - you just throw a few seeds in and they grow and come back most years.

I was thinking of Beryl's aphids and her honeysuckle!

 

[Maz]

I mentioned the Calendula as I plant that in my small veg bed - it keeps carrot root fly away and worked well. Unfortunately it didn't keep rabbits out though! I am thinking of changing my name to Mr/Mrs McGregor! Who didn't like rabbits in the veg garden There is a huge rabbit hole in one corner this year and if anything does grow at all now I expect it will get eaten straight away! The joys of living in a farming area - gardens struggle.

 

[Maz]

And we did try mesh fencing round the veg patch but the rabbits just bit a hole in it that year! Or climbed over it. Or dug underground and came up the other side. They were relentless! Which is why I didn't grow any veg last year. This year I've planted broccoli, beetroot and calendula and nothing has come up so far. Apart from a couple of green leafy things - they might survive if they don't get eaten!

 

[elusive]

I think all gardens have their problems but I don’t envy you rabbits they do devastate everything & are quite unstoppable.
I have some large containers on legs, can’t remember what they’re called now but they’re big enough for some veg & I can’t see a rabbit jumping into something like that, might be worth thinking about.

 

[Maz]

You should see the size of the rabbits! Ha ha. Maybe if it was 6 feet tall! Having said that I haven't actually seen any this year - just found the large rabbit hole.

 

[Zara]

Yes, they sure can get through a lot of plants of an evening. Hopefully there numbers won’t be too large this year. My aunt had awful problems with a badger set in the field behind her garden. They would pull up everything.

Great yucca plants Beryl, really like those

 

[elusive]

Someone’s at the door!
Bit hard to see through that glass, woodpecker having a feed on my door.

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[Maz]

Cheeky woodpecker!

 

[Coco61]

The bigger birds are always on the look out for smaller birds treats.

Elusive - bee rescue service has begun! In the utility room today, H called out that there was a bumblebee that had flown in from the garden. The annual service provided is to encourage them to return outside before sticking to spider’s webbing. He avoided the dead yucca leaf I tried to use to transport him so I used it to clear some webs. He flew out unaided after some webs were cleared and H was asked to clear the remainder. Sometimes I have had to take one out and leave it in a safe place to clean up before being able to fly off. No bee goes unaided here!

 

[elusive]

Lovely to hear of a bee rescue Coco, they’re well looked after with you.
That reminds me I need to go check on the mason bee tubes for cobwebs.

 

[Maz]

I also let them outside again Wasps however get swatted. Sorry if there are any wasp lovers.

 

[Coco61]

It was the first major clearance after the winter.
I had a look today at my bee hotel hanging from a tree. Present from daughter/son in law. Some tubes are blocked now.

No wasp rescue service provided either Maz

 

[Maz]

To be fair I do try and get wasps out of the house rather than swatting but don't try quite so hard!