The butterflies and the bees

I went with Plan B. A trip to the garden shop. I was a Bad Girl. (Well, of course I was. That is, after all, the name of the book club of which I am a member.) I did not ring ahead to make an appointment. I just turned up. (I did take a book in case I ended up waiting.) Fortunately my timing was perfect and I was able to saunter right in.

Left an hour later with two flowering-abundantly blueberry bushes (Hurrah! Blueberries for sure, at least this year.) and two raspberry plants, another bee balm plant for the garden (annoyingly they didn’t have a purple one, so it’s a second red) and a tray of petunias and lobelia for the hanging pots and window boxes. Paid extra for the lobelias in order to maximise the number of dark blue ones. I don’t know why, but for some reason butterflies like the dark blue ones best.

I also, for the first time ever (and because I was smitten with the colour) purchased three begonias.

Three great things I discovered yesterday about begonias: They don’t like full sun, so perfect for a pot on the deck (where the deer can’t get to them). They flower almost as late as fuchsias (which flower very late indeed). And they’ll be back again next year. (Thanks to my friend Krys for the parrot. Not sure he’ll live there permanently.)

The hanging baskets and window boxes have now been planted.

What you can’t yet see in the hanging baskets and window boxes is that each contains a fuchsia which is only just starting to come back to life. Long after it’s too cold to sit out on the deck, these will (apparently along with the begonias) still be flowering.

What other flora do we have on the deck? Well, let’s see.

On the left is the rhododendron I acquired from Rhodo Dave last year. It obviously likes its pot, as it’s grown quite a bit. In the coming weeks it will produce four flowers. This may not seem like many, particularly in comparison to some of the rhodos in Dave’s garden (which I visited last week), but it’s quadruple the number of flowers a couple of my rhododendrons are going to produce this year.

On the right we have the ceanothus (or California lilac), which is already starting to be covered in tiny blue buds which in a month’s time will be like crack for the bees. (Speaking of lilacs, lots of flowers coming along on the big one in the garden, none whatsoever on any of the other three. Insert sad face.)

In the middle we have the Buddleia davidii or butterfly bush my friend Tony very kindly purchased last summer when he was visiting from London. (Oh, yes, travel to and from London. Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end.) It lost more leaves than I expected last autumn and was looking quite twiggy in a very not good way, but it’s bouncing back nicely, so it seems I needn’t have worried. Sincerely hope it will make some butterflies very happy in the coming months.

Okay, time’s up. Enough about back deck flora. I need to get down to the garden to get those blueberries and raspberries into the ground.