There are so many pretty flies I had never seen before. Today I came across a red bodied one that was too fidgety to photograph well but was unlike the one with a red stripe I found on the glass last week. And a golden sheen one with a metallic blue bottom that appears to have white frets on the side #biodiversity#inthegarden#insects#latespring
I don't think that sawfly, likely Allantus viennensis is resting in a comfortable position. In fact, it reminds me of bugs infected by zombie fungus, which I think should be rather referred to as an entomopathogenic fungus. I will keep monitoring. Fungi are having the time of their lives this season, just ask my apples... #biodiversity#insects#parasites#inthegarden
The enemy... and my herbs. All the borage seedlings that I put in the ground were eaten even though they were 10 cm. I had to pull out and pot up most of the Asters I planted in the autumn as new shoots cannot get past the gastropods. So I'm keeping my seedlings on the patio at home until we get a dry spell #gardening#plants#biodiversity
Little beauty on the left/on top is a wasp, in the Ancistrocerus genus, possibly A. nigricornis which lives around houses making mud nests. The other one, instead, appears to be Nomada flava, a cuckoo bee of mining bees. #biodiversity#inthegarden#ontheplot#insects
The plot is so alive today in the warm sunshine! I am seeing more and more of those slender tiny wasps, and what a treat the orange tip was! #biodiversity#ontheplot#midspring#insects
In my garden there are a handful of lilac shrubs (sering in Dutch) and they appear to be two species and one cultivar. The one in the first photo appears to be Syringa vulgaris, of which we have also a rather ugly mildew-susceptible double flower cultivar in a nice burgundy colour. Then we have Syringa meyeri, a smaller, rounded shrub with delightful little round leaves #plants#plantidentification
One lilac remained on my plot after the various ornamental moves in the winter. I think it might be S. microphylla 'Superba' #plants#plantidentification
Actually, there are 2 more, which are out of sight so I tend to forget them. One is a Syringa vulgaris with pink lilac flowers, which seems to flower more abundantly than the one I have at home. The other is the rootstock from the S. microphylla above, which suckers freely and I grew on out of curiosity, and which I actually like more than the cultivar that was grafted on it! I think it might be S. josikaea, the Hungarian likac. It flowers later in the spring #plants#plantidentification
Pollinators love them, in fact they are one of the earliest sources of food in the spring, they are as cheerful as little sunshines and delicious to eat (the whole plant in fact is edible: flowers, leaves, roots): dandelions #plants#weeds#foraging#pollinators
My little garden with botanical aspirations hosts two species of flowering currant: Ribes sanguineum and R. aureum, which I just moved here from my plot. Both plants derive their botanical name from the colour of the flowers #plants#plantidentification
What to say, for al my skepticism, bees (and wasps) seem to like my bee hotel: one of the bamboo canes has been sealed off and there are at this moment two bees sheltering from the cold. I am assuming they like the fact it's a sunny spot and the horizontally laid canes remain dry inside, so I decided to offer them more real estate and cut a couple of largish canes. My garden certainly offers plenty of opportunities for pollinators to feed, and it's managed organically #biodiversty#gardening
Good morning. The Solanaceae are coming out one after the other. Toms first, then peppers and aubergines have just started. Indoors in a very warm light room when the sun is out
Having just read about tree felling, I was reminded of the incident of two weeks ago. So I'm sharing with you this final image of the "improvement" that our gemeente, keen to make the neighbourhood greener, has carried out, sending men with chainsaws.
I guess I should be happy they left the shrubs!
But all the healthy native alder trees have gone, you can see the stumps. 360 degree view of the road! Please tell me why...
I find labels tricky to get right in the garden. My UK tagging strips written in pencil have lasted intact for years but the equivalent here faded to illegible under the relentless rain of the last few months (extremely frustrating because I won't be able to identify all plants from records after the move). In the garden I am now trialling slate + outdoor marker, but I still have to look for something more practical for the fruit. Has anyone out ther found the perfect labelling solution?