My Garden Treasures
  • Home
  • Flowers
    • Pelargoniums
    • Cuttings
    • Garden Accessories
  • Blogs
    • Garden Blog
    • The Bantam Blog
  • Seeds
    • More Seeds
    • & More Seeds
  • Store
  • Chickens
    • Chickens for Sale
    • Chicken Stories
  • Contact
  • Yesteryear
  • Art
    • Folk Art
    • Folk Art Gallery
  • Links

Spring is the Time for Flowers 

3/11/2016

1 Comment

 

Echiums @ My Garden Treasures

Picture
Blue Echiums make a stunning show in the garden
The blue-grey leaves of the hardy echium plant are no longer the main attraction once the magnificent spires of its flowers start to develop. Within weeks they have grown to the stately length of 50 or 60cms and opened to a burst of brilliant blue.

Birds
They attract the honey eaters . We have a constant supply of birdlife visiting our garden. The Red Wattle Honey Eaters and New Holland Honey Eaters spend their day feasting on the nectar of the flowers, dipping their long beaks for the bounty. The tall blue flowers sway to and fro as the birds come and go.

Insects
Bees also love this plant, and are seen buzzing around gathering pollen and nectar. Bees love blue flowers. Moths are attracted to the flowers at night. My granddaughter came with me outside one evening. We had torches and she watched, fascinated, as the moths flitted around the flowers.

Echium Plants For Sale
Last year, one of my plants was so happy that it spread its seeds far and wide and hundreds of small echium plants sprouted.

Many plants have gone to new homes and I have plenty more for sale.

To see regular flowers in my garden, follow me on Instagram @tossyv


1 Comment

Insects in the Garden

18/6/2014

0 Comments

 
When I mention insects in the garden I bet you started to imagine all those creepy crawlies that you don't like.
  • ants
  • earwigs
  • mealybugs
  • wooly aphids
  • wasps
  • slaters
    • harlequin beetles
Picture
Good Insects
Well, hang on a minute there. I was actually going to talk about all the good insects that can also inhabit your garden like
  • lacewings
  • hoverflies and
  • ladybugs
We seem to be always looking for ways to get rid of the bad bugs but just how do we get the good bugs? You just can't go out and buy a bucket load of them in the supermarket or garden centre.

Here's the secret. If you plant certain plants in your garden, they will attract the good bugs who will shoo away the bad bugs. How about that? Could it really be that easy?


Good Plants
Here's a list of these special plants. Search them out in your garden centre or mail order catalogue.
These plants will attract lacewings. Lacewings prey on aphids. Aphids attack your roses.
  • yarrow - Achillea millefolium
  • golden rod - Solidago virgaurea
  • chamomile - Chamaemelum nobile

These plants attract ladybugs.
  • yarrow - Achillea millefolium       
  • calendula, also called pot marigolds - Calendula officinalis

These plants attract hoverflies
  • yarrow - Achillea millefolium
  • lovage - Levisticum officinale
  • dill - Anethum graveolens
  • sweet cicely - Myrrhis odoratum
  • fennel - Foeniculum officinale
  • golden rod - Solidago virgaurea
  • centaury - Centaurium erythraea

    You can see from the lists above that your first purchase can be yarrow and golden rod. This will be a good start to attracting all these insects into your garden.
Happy gardening



0 Comments

    Author

    I love growing flowers in my garden and sometimes make Flower Essences from them. They have great healing properties. Chickens adorn my backyard and give me much pleasure too.

    My garden is free range like my chickens, there is no order here. All plants get along happily together.


    Blogs

    Let's Talk Health

    WindowLane

    The Bantam Blog

    Archives

    August 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Bulbs
    Compost
    Cottage Garden
    Frogs
    Insects
    Roses
    Succulents

    RSS Feed

    Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
    for your garden