It might be September, but my garden is still teeming with bees (and the odd butterfly) and the flowers are still blooming.
One bee I’ve noticed buzzing about is a Red-tailed Bumblebee. It’s noticeable because it’s much bigger than the other bees buzzing around the garden.
The Echinacea ‘Delicious Candy’ plant is a new addition to the garden. I spotted it last weekend and just had to have it. It looks great and has a wonderful name too.
The Gaillardia Aristata plant is also new to the garden. I could see it was attracting bees while we were in the garden centre and I just had to have it. If a plant attracts bees and butterflies then it’s very welcome in my garden!
The Serenity flowers have done very well this year. They’ve flowered all summer and still seem to be going strong. You might remember them being doused in rain back in June.
Dahlias – Quite possibly my favourite plant. Yet another flower which has done very well this summer, however, something has been eating the foliage on these.
Having seen butterflies around and bees around the Black-eyed Susans at Blaen-y-Cwm, I decided I wanted some in my garden. I ended up coming home from a garden centre with a more compact version, this Rudbeckia Little Gold Star.
The Red-tailed Bumblebee spent quite some time on the Hebe. A White-tailed Bumblebee landed next to it and was soon pushed away. It obviously wanted some peace, and, to be fair, the Hebe plant has plenty of flowers to go around. The White-tailed Bumblebee just needed to choose a different part of the plant!
I love my pinks, purples and blues, so when I saw a Penstemon in these colours at The Old Coach House garden I knew I had to get one. Such wonderful colours!
Again, the Marigolds have done very well this year and have flowered throughout the summer. They’re always a joy to photograph.
Fuchsias have always been a feature in the garden. I remember them in the garden of the house I grew up in.
Finally, tomatoes! Still waiting to ripen.
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How is your garden doing now summer is almost over?
28 Comments
Kelly
Your photos are always gorgeous! Love the bumblebee battles. It’s funny how territorial birds and insects can be. 🙂
We’re still getting some tomatoes and a few gardenia blooms. I’m hoping my moonflower will go to seed so I can stock up for next year! It’s been brutally hot the past week or so with no relief in sight.
Nikki
Thank you! My sunflowers are only just flowering and are quite small.
Somewhere in Ireland
What beautiful close-ups of the pretty flowers. Awesome photos of the red-tailed bumblebee. I never heard of them but you photographed them perfectly. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful week ahead.
Carol
Great shots – gorgeous flowers and bees!
CherryPie
Lovely photos 🙂 In the past week near to me it is the butterflys that are prolific. It is a wonderful site to see. Unfortunately they don’t stay still long enough for all but the occasional photograph.
Nikki
I find it’s the white butterflies which don’t stay still long enough to photograph. One tip is to use a zoom lens and not get too close.
Lady Fi
Simply bee-autiful!
Johanna Bradley
Fabulous photos, Nikki! 🙂 🙂 Many thanks for your visit.
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
These are absolutely stunning photos! Thanks again for visiting The Glasgow Gallivanter.
Jo
Wonderful photos. Your garden must be a riot of colour with all those different plants, the bees will be spoilt for choice.
jeanie
Your garden is simply unbelievable, it’s so beautiful! Oh, I love that “Delicious Candy”– I’ve never seen that one before and I love the pink center. I’ve only seen the white-tailed bumblebees here (although I never knew about the white tail part!). Every photo is dazzling! (Thanks for stopping by the other day!)
Nikki
Thank you for your wonderful comments!
Anca
Gorgeous pictures! Like you, I still see butterflies and bees in my garden, and, of course, other insects too.
Ageeth Mooij
Bees heaven! I love the color of your new Echinacea!
chickenruby
My garden just doesn’t exist in the summer in Dubai, shrubs and grass sort of survive due to the humidity but the plants and flowers don’t stand a chance. Gorgeous photographs
'Wisps of Words'
So wonderful, to have so many bees!!!!!!!
We don’t really have a lot of flowers in the back… Just in pots, on patio. And I really wonder if the flowers we get from the nursery, are not “good”??? They don’t seem to attract bees, as I think they should.
-sigh-
Nikki
Don’t tell anyone, but most of the plants here are also in pots!
Corinne
I remember fuchsias in my garden growing up too. We used to always pop the buds! I loved the pink and purple though as they were my fav colours as a little girl!
Lauren
You have taken some beautiful detailed photographs. It really has made such a great post. Thank you for sharing your post xx
jessicabookworm
Nikki, what gorgeous new additions to your garden and great to see they are bringing the bumble bees in. In my own garden two of our apple trees are proving very fruitful and our bird feeding is swamped. Sadly we don’t have any flowers.
Felicity Grace Terry
Isn’t Mother Nature wonderful. The plants in our garden have attracted an abundance of bees this spring/summer but alas very few butterflies which is a shame as our garden normally attracts lots.
Caz / InvisiblyMe
Such pretty flowers I love dahlias. Those Gaillardia Aristatas are new to me; they’re so interesting and it’s fab they’re a delight for the bees, too. Gorgeous photos!
Jayne
Absolutely beautiful – you put me to shame. Late season blooms are something I never seem to master, despite telling myself every 12 months “this year I am really going to sort out late-flowering perennials”. I am very envious of all your flowers and the photos are excellent
LL Cool Joe
I love all the macro shots of the bees!
Barbara Lofgren
What gorgeous pictures of the bees! Stunning.
Kris P
This may be the first time in viewing a UK gardener’s blog that I can say that most of the flowers you featured are currently also growing in my own garden in coastal Southern California. I love the bee shot. Our carpenter bees are similar in size but don’t have the red rump.
Margaret Griffin
What a wonderfully colourful garden! Red tailed bumblebees, how gorgeous!
Lisa
Wow, your flowers are doing beautifully, so vibrant and colourful, no wonder they’re bee magnets! Our dahlia leaves have all been munched too, I’m not sure who the culprits are, caterpillars perhaps? And I love your osteospermums, all mine have died and I’ve missed them this year, I’ll have to restock ready for 2020. Lovely round up, thank you for brightening my day 🙂 Lisa x