Dahlias

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Catherine

Dahlias in all shapes and colours at Chenies Manor. The single ones are the most bee-friendly, though with the more complex flowers the centres can open and become more accessible to insects as the flowers age (as in the Karma Choc and Karma Prospero photos below).

Karma Choc
Bishop of Llandaff
Bishop of Auckland
Berlin
Fascination
Karma Serena
Twynings After Eight
Cornell
Karma Prospero
David Howard
Bishop of York
Bright Eyes
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Bees in the garden

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Catherine

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Honey bee on an aster. I’m seeing very few honey bees now it’s getting colder, but still quite a few bumblebees.

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Bumblebee on buddleja. I cut this buddleja back by about a third in late July. It looked very scruffy for most of August but the hack is paying off now as it’s been back in full flower for the last 3-4 weeks and still attracting lots of bees, whereas my other buddleja, which I did not prune in the summer, finished flowering in early September.

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Bumblebee on Dahlia ‘Happy Single Wink’. I think the bumblebees are both common carder bees, but let me know if you think differently.

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