The Flowers and the Bees

There was a white tailed bumble bee buzzing around the big purple hebe bush at the top of the steps to the woods today. The hebe is one of the many garden plants which have either never stopped flowering or are coming into season again, and there are so many I thought I'd try a list. Here in Cornwall there is always a certain amount of merging of the seasons, but there seems to be more than ever this year.

Garden flowers/shrubs: apart from the big leaved big flowered hebe mentioned above, there are several other varieties, including the small pink flowered one from which my bird feeders emerge. There are some scraggy roses left, and several different varieties of fuschias. Cyclamen and pansies (normal for the time of year). Campanula and those ubiquitous tall red lily like things I don't know the name of. Lots of heathers. Red Jasmine and lavender! Mexican wall daisies. Primulas, although no 'proper' primroses yet.

Continuing with this theme, I went to Churchtown this afternoon and kept my eyes open, for once. Apart from the usual lawn daisies and dandelions, I also saw red campion, herb robert, white dead nettles, self heal, a couple of types of speedwells and - this really was a surprise - honeysuckle in full flower!

My honeysuckle in the garden looks very wintry from a distance, but on close inspection I can see new leaves coming. Elder leaves are also emerging already in several places, and the hedges are full of new shoots of goosegrass.

The bumblebee this morning was a surprise, but there are still clouds of midges to be seen anywhere there is a shaft of sunlight. This in spite of the fact that the daytime temperature has been hovering around freezing for a week or so now. Of course, coastal Cornwall being as it is the temperature doesn't go down more than a degree or two at night, either, so there have been no really hard frosts since the couple we had at the beginning of December.