Doing Our Bit For The Bees

Sometimes sacrifice is, well, it is hooey unless there is some disadvantage to the person doing the sacrificing.

So to say I am sacrificing a neat and tidy lawn for the bees wouldn’t really be right.

There are many species of bees happily bobbing up and down all over the yard here at Mist Cottage, enjoying the organically grown bounty. What do we have on offer? Wild Strawberry blossoms, very popular with the smaller species of bees; Wild Violets, again very popular with the small set; Dandelions, a universal favourite, which is great because there a lot of dandelions in the yard; Blackcurrant blooms, the bush is humming with activity; Primrose, and Lungwort, the first choice of discerning big bumbling bumble bees. A few of the neighbours are horrified, and helpless to prevent our bountiful blooming yard.

We also have a lot of up and coming treats for the bees. In the lawn there will be White Clover, Chickweed, Plantain, Yellow Hawkweed, and the aggressive Bindweed.

In the garden there will be Bleeding Heart, Wild Geranium, Lavender, Echinacea, Wild Rose (fingers crossed, this is a transplant from my Granny’s garden), Day Lilies, Columbine, Ajuga, Lily of the Valley, Peonies, Hosta Lillies, Irises, Lilacs, Scarlet Runner Beans, and Sedum. And the blossoms on the crabapple tree will soon be filling the air with their delicious scent.

The vegetable garden will also sport a few blooms, squash, tomato and peppers. And the rest is yet to be determined.

I can’t figure out if it is a case of great minds think alike at the same time, or exposure to Joan Brennan’s post of Facebook, which was 45 minutes ago, which I don’t remember looking at until just a few minutes ago, after I’d been sitting out on the back porch, looking at all the yellow and violet and white blooms, and writing about them. Scrolling through Facebook posts might just be leaving more information in my brain than I am aware of! She posted a photo of her yard which looks to have Wild Violets, Dandelions, and I think a few Wild Strawberries.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

13°C
Date: 2:00 PM EDT Monday 14 May 2018
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.4 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 13.0°C
Dew point: 10.5°C
Humidity: 85%
Wind: S 25 km/h
Visibility: 19 km

Quote

“Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive… then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Howard Thurman

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Eileen Barton

Sounds like your yard is a bee’s paradise! I just bought some packets of seeds of different flowers that supposedly attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. We get fined in our town if our lawns aren’t mowed so can’t go the natural route so I just try to have a bunch of different flowers for the bees. Love that spring is finally here. Saw my first spring rabbit today. 🙂

Joan Lansberry

I’m loving all the photos of people’s flowers via Facebook. I enjoy vicariously all but the smell, 🙂 That’s a wonderful inspiring Thurman quote. (I’ll soon have some posts about things which make me feel alive, 🙂 Yes, Egyptology related, 🙂 )

Bex Crowell

Wow, first bunny? We’ve had bunnies here right along all winter and now have a new family born in the back yard that Paul uncovered when he was cleaning up leaves. So cute. He hates them but I love ’em. They did a number on a lot of our plants/shrubs though.