This year, the weather conditions has been pretty forgiving in The Netherlands. We did not only have an early and long summer but a very gentle autumn, too that these plants are still in bloom in my front and back yard.
These are flowers from seeds I got from The Green Peace Netherlands when I signed up to adopt bees some years ago. No, I didn't get those bees, I may only watch them and a bee keeper tends to them to make sure they survive. I am certain that the project paid off because I've seen more honeybees this year compared to the past two years ago. If you would like to attract bees in your garden, these flowers are highly advisable to have. Some of them are perennials and some, I have collected the seeds of to propagate and from two to three seeds they have multiplied. Some, I used to spread in meadows near my place but since the meadows are being trimmed here, I've decided just growing them in my garden.
These are the seeds, once they turn brown and before they fall off the crown - I'd collect them and put them in boxes like the ones you'd find in this article.
Bees, flies and hoverflies love these flowers. This is a gif of a fly grooming itself on top of a Pot Marigold. I have shared this gif photographs privately in my social media but I have recently made this gif. The rest, I took recently and today except for the darker toned Pot Marigolds which I photographed in summer.
I propagate these Siberian Bellflower or Blue Stars by cutting their stems in Spring and just planting them in a row.
I took the one with the bee on it last summer. On the photo below it are the seeds, I'd let them brown and dry then finally replant them in Spring right after the last frost.
I have featured both the Blue Star and the Ibis Pink Ice in these two articles..
All of these flowers love the full sun but all of them are also low maintenance so it doesn't matter where you plant them - they'd find a way to thrive and even dominate.
Now is not the time to plant - now is the time to gather information of what to plant for the next Spring and to gather and store seeds.
sources:
Iberis Pink
Siberian Bellflower
Calendula or Pot Marigold
California Poppy
disclaimer : This article is purposed to help flower identification and not to recommend alternative medicines. Consult your doctor or alternative medicine practitioner before using any of the plants above.
I usually blog about cooking, gardening and photography and if you happen to be interested in all of those, too .
I took all of these pictures using my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition.
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