Well, I can tell you that over the past couple of weeks I have seen to it that I had my (in my eyes) timely and well-deserved breaks from the rigours of getting the veggie plots sorted. They say that one ought to take time to stop and smell the roses. Well, mine are not in bloom yet, so I sniffed an Arisaema triphyllum...and a Allium ursineum. Not a rose, exactly but none the less an attractive woodland flower. In fact, I have two sorts growing in my little shade garden: The greenish variation one is also interesting to me. But then there was the Wisteria. What to do with that monster!? Well, actually I have known all along. I acquired this type after trying two other sorts with no success. This time I bought a plant with blooms on it, so I knew that it was not sterile or a tardy beginner. I planted the thing and then gave it a number of years to establish and become robust. I believe that one could call this "robust", don't you think? It has taken over it's support and now is the time to carefully un-twine some vines and encourage them to head around the corner and on to the pergola. I have had Lonicera and Clematis covering the fencing atop the pergola... to the point that it had matted. I ripped ot all out and cut back what I would leave in such a manner that the wire fencing/mesh had nothing at all on it. I ascended the ladder and began the work of selecting and guiding. I made a small "ladder" from a post at the corner of the garden house to the pergola. I tied the Wisteria vines in along the ladder and they reached across about 1/3 of the pergola mesh area. In time that will become romantic hopefully. Here it is at the front of the garden house. I apologize that you cannot actually see how it spreads across the mesh very well. You can see how it is lying on the ladder, but the pergola "roof" is only partially visible. Bare with me a few years, and see how it turns out. Back to the pauzes-- What does one do in a pause? Well, there's tea, there are puzzles and sudoku...there are tablet games like Gummy Drop. There is also bird-feeding. After going into the bees, I trimmed off a bit of comb which the colony used to brood drones. I use this technique as one of the things that I do to keep the varroa mite population down. The mites choose the drone cells to hide in and grow large because a drone cell is larger and stays closed-up longer than worker or queen cells. They are protected in the cell. So i place a honey frame over to one side of the brood box...one space before the last. they use the honey foundation to lay eggs for workers in, but build their own drone cells under this. Once the drone cells are capped, I come in and trim this strip off and take it away. I lace the brood strip on top of the bird feeding table and the tits find it immediately and take the larvae out and fly away to feed their young. You see, the tits are brooding at this moment, so it all comes out perfectly. A bit of reliable protein for the developing chicks is good for them. It is sort of like air planes coming in to an airport--one has landed and the next one is waiting. The one on the bee comb looks a bit tacky because it had just bathed in the birdbath. You can see that this great tit has two larvae in its bill. It is fascinating to watch how gently they finesse those delicate larvae out of the cells without tearing them open. At the end of the feed (after a few days), the top of the bird feeding station was littered with cell caps that they had lifted to gain entry. I could watch birds birds all day, but alas...work calls. Back to the lottie this evening for a few hours work on the weedy flower plots.
Fantastic photographs Sjoerd. I especially like the ones of your wisteria and, of course, the Great tits.
Totally interesting! I have a wisteria planted (1980-ish) on the back of the house. Grew extremely well. I moved and took it with me to another place (re-planted 1994) and it grew and grew and grew and grew taking over fences, gates. I tried digging up said wisteria more times than I can count and still to this day it grows and grows! Never killed by transplant, shovel or lawn mower. It has more lives than 10 cats!
Wisteria runs rampant here. It gets so heavy it can seriously damage buildings. It is as hard to kill as privet hedge is !
Such a beautiful wisteria plant! Un-fortunately, none of them will grow in my area. I was really impressed by the photo's and information about the mites. I have never heard of them.
Thanks so much, EILEEN--Those tits were something to watch. ISLAND--What an interessting Wisteria story. Gad--you ought to take cuttings and sell them billed as a Super Wist. You could almost give a guarantee with the plantlets. chuckle. MART--Why, I had no idea. It is a bit of a diva here an the sense that it it meeds to be molly-coddled so much. I suppose that its the weather. Thanks for your nice words, 2OF--What a pity that the Wist will not grow in your area. It is dramatically beautiful if you see it in person.
Brill photos as ever Sjoerd. I love that you have a wisteria on your allotment, I’m yet to own one but grew one from seed when I was a little girl and it grows in mums garden and is full of bloom, she tells me there are masses of rooted cuttings so hopefully I will get some to take when we visit this week. I wouldnt get any work done if I had the birds feeding like you have, it’s bad enough watching them in my garden, I am mesmerised.
Thankya EJ--I'm glad that you like the foto's. Those little tits are so tame. Now there's a blackbird nesting in the arch near the sitting place. What a good nature year it is so far. I shall be interested in hearing a cutting from your mum does it.
Glad you took time to stop and smell the flowers, no matter what kind they are....beautiful wisteria and pictures..
Beautiful flowers, I've seen similar up the garden centres in some lovely colours and regarding your Wisteria, I saw one on the front of an house in a very rich deep purple and it did look stunning
