September Song

 

Usually, I like September.  After all the show and froth things turn to fruit and seed.  Roses become hips.  Spiders spin webs everywhere.  Wasps over-indulge on fruit sugar and are more erratic than ever.  Younglings are back to school in new shoes, some in a whole different uniform.  Hopefully not bottle green, like mine was.

September means you can legitimately wear lots of layers without looking like a freak but I'm still in flip-flops.  It has started  sunny and feels more like summer than summer did.

  Spartan Blueberry 

 

 

 

The Spartan has stopped giving, but is more than making up for this with it's new colours.  The Bluecrop blueberry is still fruiting, and has been extremely generous :)

rudbeckia Goldstrum

 

 

This gorgeous specimen cost a measly £1.50 as a liner last year and warms the cockles of a Yorkshireman's heart!

rudbeckia Marmalade

Even cheaper, I grew several of these from seed and they have been going strong since August.  I think I prefer this one.

apple Scrumptious

 

This beauty was picked and eaten straight from the tree last week, the skin was redder than in this pic. A cross between a Discovery and Royal Gala, firm white flesh and the right side of sweet.  Truly Scrumptious! (sorry) 

Echinacea

I adore this, planted last year.  The tips of the cones go so orangey-bronze they mesmerise the bees.

Honoire Jobert anenome

I had to grow this, an old classic. The white is really white. I can't resist the simplicity of white flowers...

 gladiolus africanus

 

 like this, elegant as a 1930's evening gown

The Sedum and the Bees 

Since the sedum began flowering it has been crawling with bees, mostly the bumbly type, the kind you always draw.

They are without doubt in a happy place, like revellers at a foam party, often face-planted in the tiny pink blooms or disappearing with only their fluffy rears still visible.

This must indeed be A-grade nectar, judging by the inebriated behaviour.

four bees finding nectar nirvana

Today a bee cartwheeled across the flagstones in front of me, at speed, and for a minute I thought it must be a dried up bit of leaf til it righted itself, vibrated, then flew straight back to the Holy Sedum of Glory.

 Go bees! 

Purple Emperor sedum - comes with a health warning

Thanks for looking - happy September :)

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