Yesterday it reached 70 degrees here in North Carolina, could not beat a day like that. Meg and I worked most of the day in the garden, raking leaves, getting up acorns and planting pansies and violas. Meg also pulled up the remaining pepper plants done in late last week by an icy night. I tilled in one of the remaining beds and Meg sowed a cover crop of rye grass and crimson clover.
On Friday I stopped at the farm at the bottom of the hill and got a flat of mixed pansies, 48 in the flat. Saturday while running errands Meg and I stopped at the Durham Garden Center and bought a flat of violas for a winter planting, hoping the bees would use them for food.
Here are some of the flowers we got. Above is Victorian Burgundy pansy, this one isnew to me.
Above is Sorbet Orange viola and below is Sorbet Yellow Frost viola, I really like this one.
We planted the one below last year Sorbet Orange Duet viola, clearly I like this one a lot.
Below is Sorbet Yellow Baby Fa viola.
The bees were very busy yesterday, the entrance is reduced a lot more than in the summer making the bees dodge traffic to get in or out. We did see medium sized packets of orange pollen on a few bees. Lots of ants coming and going into to empty top feeder, might have to do something about that. Feeders so many choices, yet not found the ideal one yet.
The birds are visiting the feeders and suet, most of the usual suspects have stopped by.
8 comments:
You think like me on the violas and pansies. I have some flats of violas that need planting but all it does here is rain. Yuck. Good after planting but right now it is holding up progress. The bees are pretty neat. They will be most happy to have those lovelies you purchased for them. I bet pansy/viola honey is a nice light honey.
Viola's are my favorite flowers. I love how happy they look. I'm sure your bees will appreciate them.
You weather sounds perfect! It's a bit brisk here, nearly freezing in the mornings, and barely cracking 60 in the afternoon. I see our bees a little if the sun is out in the afternoon, but not much.
Your violas look like they'll give a lovely splash of late season color in the garden.
As for the perfect bee feeder, I've tried a few, and I'm fairly convinced a perfect one doesn't exist. For ants I'm using Tanglefoot on our hive stand legs, and it cuts down on the ants, but it has to be reapplied every few weeks to stay effective.
Violas and pansies are my favorite in addition to snowdrops, croccus and wisteria, but all of them are temperate plants which we don't have here. So when they are posted, i am very glad, especially yours because your photos are always stunning.
planted my jump-ups last week. mine are similar to your blue ones.
Our bees are quite active. I see lots of pollen still making its way into the hive via the pollen pouch. Not having to do any feeding at this time.
I finally finished planting all my pansies and violas on Monday. The weather in NC has been so wonderful this year. The sorbet yellow frost violas are some of my favorites.
I have a few jump-ups. I wonder how long they will last in the mountains here. I love your photos.
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