Echium

Looks a pretty one, Wylie..plus you get a lot of plant and flower if it self seeds...without the frustration of it going crazy!

Is it very tall? I've never seen short ones. Lovely colour.

I think that the location has stunted its growth. It gets morning sun, but is blocked by the trees behind it that also block the wind. Echium vulgare are the shortest ones, and there is a good size patch up the street from me in a cow field.

I likwe echium for their blue colour and the fact that the bees adore them. Lucky you!

Lovely colour, Wylie! I always knew they are adored by bees even if I have never grown them!

The more plants that we can grow & that have a great attraction for pollinating insects the better as with climate change we are losing a great many beneficial insects all the time.

I have mostly these wild bumblebees, although many people around here have honey bees. When you live on an island 800 miles from land, there is no where for them to go, so we need to take real good care of them.

Bees - I was distressed to see that my broad beans are in full flower and only had one bee and one other insect on the whole row!!

Then you really have to take good care of them, Wylie!

I've not seen many bees yet this year but, just as the same happened with the Ladybirds, I expect I will see many more when the summer planting gets underway.