Busy Bumble

It must be hard work for them at this time of year. Our camellia has been pollinated by someone busy!

Great capture Janey 🙂.

It must Ange, this is the only one I've seen lately. Good to hear, you've some lovely camellias..:)

Thank you Klahanie, he seems to.be around most days..

Thanks Sheila..:)

So lovely to see, Janey! Hope he'll be okay if the frost arrives!
Talking of Camellias...
I've only one camellia and it struggles every year. It's a white one. It always seems to be poorly. I had a pink one, but it didn't survive.

I can't grow them either Kate. I'm not sure why, I had a lovely red one, but it didn't grow. I can't grow Pieris either. Must be the soil here..

Ah, you could be right there, Janey. My pieris plants always struggle.
Acidic soil needed I guess?

That’s the answer Kate, or of course ericaceous compost. My Pieris is happily growing in that, in a pot of course!

Wow! That's early Janey.
It's not often you see bees in January.
My two Camelias are white and struggle every year like Kate's.
Maybe it is the type of Camelia that struggles!

Yes, ericaceous soil, woodland soils. It's good to know yours is doing well Sheila. I do love Pieris.

I know Rose, and he's been busy today too. Very low temps today aren't they and there he is on his own buzzing merrily along..:))
It could be the type of Camellia. Mum used to have a pale pink one that grew to about 12ft tall and a deeper pink one that Jim my son bought her one birthday, both were fabulous and her Pieris forest flame was gorgeous.
She had more sandy loam type soil.

Lovely to see a bee at work even if it is January! Hardly saw many bees at all last year & even fewer butterflies or hoverflies. 😥

You can buy chelated iron which will help your plants that need acidic soil to grow better. I think it needs to be applied at least once every year. It will also blue Hydrangeas that were once blue but that over time have turned a muddy pink.

Here's a link to a page that explains what it is used for:

https://www.trees.com/gardening-and-landscaping/chelated-iron

Hi Balc, it is lovely, and the sound of him in these cold temps is so cheering..:)

Now that is interesting, I shall look at the link and see if I can buy it. I do know my soil is quite impoverished regardless of the amount of compost I put on it. I hope it will feed my old hydrangea and I'll have the pretty blue and white ones I bought it for!

What a hopeful and positive sight Janey! HNY!

Thanks Karen..:) your new garden should attract lots of pollinators too in the summer.

Happy New Year too!

Great photo Janey.

Start of the 2nd week in February& I still haven't seen any insects - excepting the tiny green caterpillars that were feeding on my Cyclamen.

Though we have lots of tiny fruit or compost flies bothering us - especially when I'm sitting here at the computer! The monitor seems to attract them. I think they must have come in the peat-free bags of compost. We always used to have a few in the kitchen but now they are always flying in our faces in the living room!