Everything Raring to Go

Red tree peony - recovered

It's so hard to know what to write about at this time of year, so much is happening in the garden all the time. It seems sensible to write about the things that don't last long but are so beautiful so I've chosen my  tree peonies. I have two,  a deep red one and a flighty pink one and both are fully out at the moment. These peonies are earlier than most and really brighten the whole garden. 

Flowers on the red tree peony - looking really healthy

I had trouble with the red one last year. It's buds got some kind of illness and I had to cut them all off. I was worried that it would affect the plant for good, but this year it has recovered and has five or six really healthy flowers. The pink one has more than ten and I think the red one will catch up with it by next year. They don't last long, but they are really heart lifting when they appear. 

Pink tree peony 

Flowers and lots to come on the pink tree peony

The wisteria I have dragged from the wall, where it couldn't be seen very well and  was growing enormous and turned it into a free standing umbrella. It is out now, Last year it was a bit spindly but this year it has lots of flowers and looks great. 

My Wisteria flowering happily as a garden rather than a wall plant

I can't take pictures of the things I have designed my garden for the ants and bees and other things finding it so difficult in a world where there  is no room and not enough to eat.  They are too small and my camera can't cope. But there are plenty of bees in the garden of different kinds. The great big bumbles, the smaller bumbles and the little black female bee that specially loves the pulmonaria. 

This is the Hairy Footed Flower bee, which looks a bit like a small black bumble bee  and makes a nest in the mortar of old walls. It also nests in the ground, liking bare, compact clay -  like mine. The male is quite different, a rusty brown with different cream marking on its face distinct from all bumble bees.

Two views of the female Hairy Footed Flower Bee