It seems crazy to be thinking about next spring at this time of the year, but I’ve been drawn in by the bulb catalogues that have started to appear. This year I’m focussing on planting some bee friendly flowers that will give them vital pollen in the early spring, of course a few others seem to be creeping on to my list too…

I’ll be ordering:

loads of crocus, daffodils, grape hyacinths, and alliums.

Over the last month or two or garden has really started to produce some wonderful fresh produce – all thanks to the pollinators who do all the hard work for us.

The honey bees seem particularly fond of the melon flowers at the moment.

While I was inspecting the hives in Hendon the other day I noticed that some of the bees flying into the hive had a distinctive white stripe on their back. This is a sure sign that they are foraging on Himalayan Balsam.

A and M decided that they were being explorers today, and wanted to hot air balloon into a rocky canyon (our street) we ventured out with magnifying glasses to discover what there was to explore… I got rather distracted by the bees though. I was struck by how lucky we are that our bees have to just nip out of their hives to find a wide variety of forage right on their door step.

Today’s sightings included…

Fushias

Buddlia

Indian Bean Tree

And lots and lots of lavender.

Walking down to Dartmouth Park earlier A noticed some wild flower planting, so we had to have a closer look.

We were really chuffed to see some honey bees enjoying them.

Thank you people of Laurier Road!

The Lime trees are in flower!

We spent a few minutes gazing upwards at the bees busily working yesterday. The scent is almost overpowering in this hot weather. Our hive 1 has drawn and filled an entire super in just 10 days since the local limes flowered. I have heard of this happening, but never really believed it – how wrong I was. For once I’m delighted to be corrected!

This year all the flowers seem to be about a month ahead of usual. Our bees have been very busy collecting nectar from a huge range of plants and trees. This gives our honey a complex flavour and makes London honey unique.

Here are a few that I’ve recently spotted while walking around our local area

Callistemon

We are lucky to be surrounded by gardens and parks with such a wide selection of flowers at the moment.

Hebe

Geranium

Around here there are a lot of privet hedges, they are humming with bees at the moment.

I’m particularly pleased to see bumbles busy dipping in and out of the foxgloves that I’ve grown from seed.

Busy on the blackberry blossom

Evidence that they have been here!

The huge lime tress are just starting to flower, on our walk to school every morning we check their progress. If the weather stays warm I’m sure our bees will be feasting on the nectar soon.