#plantsforbees

[easterncurvegarden]

Sunny February saw the Garden come back to life after the darkness of Winter and the big team effort of planting thousands of bulbs last autumn, really started to show. 

Sweet little Snowdrops have been giving way to beautiful Crocus - we have been planting the variety ‘Ruby Giant’ here in Dalston for the last couple of years. Crocus are definitely best planted en masse; we plant them under the birch trees, throughout our ‘Bee Bed’, and this year in shallow clay-pots raised up on planters to really put them on show. Not only do they look beautiful - we love seeing Crocus open their ‘faces’ to the sun - but they offer early nectar for bees. Win win!

Other flowers looking beautiful here at the Curve Garden right now include little pink Primulas which were kindly donated to us from a garden in Wales, and Hellebores, which have been looking radiant in the sun. The first of our Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’ started flowering early too, so there are lots around all over the Garden in pots and tins, just in time for St David’s Day and the meteorological first day of Spring! 

The Garden is open from 11am every day in March, so do come by soon and enjoy Spring in all it’s green abundance. 

Thanks to Rosemary Kirton for her ‘Crocus & Bark’ photo and to photographer Sandra Keating for all other photos, recording the Garden in February so beautifully. All photographs are copyright of Dalston Eastern Curve Garden.  

[luminalqueen]

Red bottle brush. #plants #flowers #plantsforbees #beautifulthings #favoritethings #outandabout #todayssights #photography #picoftheday #photooftheday #potd #LOVE (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_eJURDjDWQ/?igshid=dxzhz8q8b48i

[thegardenrevampco]

Trees. Salix catkins. Beautiful furry golden bee food. Willows that are coppiced in late winter (cut down to the ground) will have their size kept in check and provide a rich reward of vibrant new stems and stunning catkins throughout the remainder of winter into early spring. Not to mention the bees will thank you for the bounty of early pollen! #salix #willow #catkins #plantsforbees #treetuesday #treesofinstagram #plantsofinstagram #urbantrees #coastaltrees #coastalgardendesign #coastalplanting #southendonsea #seasideplanting #gardendesigner #gardendesignersouthend #gardendesignerleigh #gardendesignersofinstagram #thegardenrevampcompany #smallgardendesign #urbangarden #urbangardendesign (at The Garden Revamp Company) https://www.instagram.com/p/B--chxRFkBe/?igshid=gr34g85rkop2

[pulsepointoils]

Let’s do something for the 🐝s this summer, consider planting some bee friendly plants in you borders. Helleborus Niger (Christmas Rose) and H. orientalis (lenten rose) Salvias are sun-loving plants but good drainage is essential. Echinacea purpurea daisy like flower is a long-flowering border perennial which is easy to grow. It is an ex- cellent plant for pollinators, rich in nectar through late summer and autumn. Rudbeckia laciniata Striking larger plant with tall upright stems, divided foliage and many single yellow flowers in late summer. Lavender angustifolia is a good choice and a superb plant for introducing vibrant colour and scent into a garden, ideal for a mixed border but it also makes a fantastic edging plant. Galanthus nivalis common snowdrop. A delicate little flower bravely flowering in early Spring, often covered in snow, but a vital source for pollen and nectar. Crocus species (winter-flowering) An early source of pollen for the bees Cosmos easy to grow and have edible flowers. simply scatter the seeds and these freely flowering annual plants will spring up. A good choice is Cosmos bipinnatus. Sedum spectabile,‘ice plant’, is a good choice. Verbena officinalis is a good choice for long lasting blooms during the summer, tall, fragrant flowers on rigid stems and will attract many pollinators. #plantsforbees #savethebees🐝 #beegarden #beefriendlygarden #lavendersalve #peppermintbalm #pulsepointoils #plantforbees #gardenvisitors https://www.instagram.com/p/ByioznoFgh0/?igshid=1rhx49n13t879

[takaplantbasedlifestyle]

columbine flower - bloeiende akelei #columbine #akelei #columbineflower #plants #gardeninspring #gardening #flowers #lovemygarden #gardenplants #gardenlife #bees #plantsforbees #savethebees #veganlifestyle https://www.instagram.com/tak_aplantbasedlifestyle/p/BxNP3hAgXtL/?igshid=11lupbwa6mdme

[221177]

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A post shared by Wendy Bailey (@wendybaileypr)

Bees 🐝 love lavender. #plantsforbees #plantforbees #beesmakehoney https://www.instagram.com/p/B0ejEVJn6FR/?igshid=z9br54kdqvqm

[saveourbeesaustralia]

Worker Bee on Lavender. Lavender is such a great plant to have in your yard, balcony or anywhere you can gather a bit of earth. They thrive in sunny positions, look wonderful, smell magnificent and the bees absolutely love them. So get some #lavender #today . #earlwood #sydneysummer #summer #saveourbees #sydneyhoney #honey #australia #honeybees #savethebees #raw #rawhoney #photooftheday #photoshop #macro #love #plantsforbees (at Earlwood, New South Wales, Australia)

[heritageartifacts]

Calendula. #nofilter #garden #plantsforbees #flowers (at At Home in Napa)

[blacksquirrelonline-blog]

Ooh thank you for buying this plant ! I'm deliriously happy now ! #plantsforbees #mothersdaygifts #mothersdayplants #wyevalegardencentre #wyevalehitchin #rhodo #rhododendrum #christmascheer #hybridrhododendrum #lovenature #nurturenature

[easterncurvegarden]

Spring in all its glory has come to Dalston Curve Garden in recent weeks, with fresh leaves unfurling, the delicate beauty of Wild Cherry blossom and new drifts of Spring-flowering bulbs emerging every day. We have been very lucky to have photographers Sandra Keating and Alex Bogdan here to record this beautiful botanical moment in time.

Spring-flowering bulbs make the most of the light beneath the bare stems of deciduous trees before the ground beneath them is shaded out by their new leaves and in recent years we have planted more and more of these plants in our ‘woodland’ style beds. We love dainty Erythronium ‘Pagoda’ which produces little nodding, star-like flowers with sulphur-yellow petals. Their nearby companion Pulmonaria has blue flowers and interesting spotty leaves and is welcomed on warm March and April days by bees searching for nectar.

Everyone at the Curve Garden loves tulips and we plant hundreds more every Autumn!  We don’t plant ours in the ground, as they never look quite right here, but instead we create a glorious display of pots and containers. We’ll be sharing photos of this year’s April display next week, but for now we are shining light on one little early flowering variety. Tulip ‘Turkestanica’ is named, not surprisingly after Turkey, its place of origin. It flowers in March, way ahead of most of our other varieties and is a beautiful wild-looking species, with up to twelve star-shaped flowers.

Visitors to the Curve Garden often ask ‘What Is that blue plant that looks like Bluebells’? The answer is Muscari latifolium (Grape Hyacinth) which we plant in drifts among all the yellow Narcissi (Daffodils) and best of all, the bees love them! 

We are in love with Leucojum aestivum the wonderfully but rather confusingly named ‘Summer Snowflake’ which flowers in Spring!  A member of the Daffodil family, it has dainty white bells with green ‘dots’. We grow the variety ‘Gravetye Giant’ and this year we planted it in locations all over the garden. 

Spring really is all about Daffodils or Narcissi and we grow about seven varieties here, some directly in the soil and others in pots and tins, aiming to get successional flowering from February to late April. Our favourites include dainty little ‘Hawera’ which we’ve combined with Summer Snowflakes under trees, the delicately scented ‘Pipit’ and for the first time this year ‘Thalia’ which has a long flowering period and is great for vases.  

Thanks to Gardener Emma Rey and to all of our volunteers for their hard work from September to December last year planting all of these beautiful bulbs! And we are also grateful to volunteer Eco Zhang for her lovely hand-painted signs identifying our plants that are of special interest now.  

The Garden is open from 11am every day over the Easter weekend and til 10pm Friday - Sunday so why not come in and enjoy the botanical abundance?

All photographs copyright of Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

[frederica-10passions]

SAVE THE BEES! They are our friends. Bees Matter! https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/sustainable-agriculture/save-the-bees/ #savethebees #greenpeace #flowersradiatebeauty #floweroftheday #flowers #bee #springiscoming #beesarecool #beesareimportant #flora #springflowers #summerflowers #bees🐝 #pollinators #beesmatter #bees #wednesdaywisdom #wednesday #flowersofinstagram #environment #flowerstagram #plantsforbees #pollination #honeybee #sustainability #protectthebees #naturepics #greenliving #health #earth (at Fishermans Wharf, San Francisco) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9VcKVQJu-L/?igshid=1fqb3tyg634n4

[gardenerblind-blog]

Yesterday before I left the allotment I got to sow a row of Calendula Art Shades in front of the broad beans. I plan to sow another row later on for longer flowering period. #goodforbees #plantsforbees #gaden #flowers #forthebees #bee🐝 #gardening #sowing #gardenflowers

[easterncurvegarden]

The bees and butterflies have been loving our flowers here in Dalston during this sunny month of June. Even though we have quite a lot of shade from our beautiful Birch trees, we still try to grow as many nectar-rich plants as we can find sunny patches for.

At the end of each month we like to look back on the stars of the previous weeks, thanks to Sandra Keating’s beautiful photos and Gardener Emma Rey’s observations and advice.

Our Hollyhocks are great ‘self-seeders’ – not necessarily in the places we want them, but always dramatic and in gorgeous colours. We transplant some, when they are still small, to the planters outside the Garden.  

We love Scabious or ‘Pincushion’ flowers and grow several different varieties. Knautia macedonicalooked good this month next to Linaria purpureaand our tall, airy Cephalaria giganteawas stunning and a magnet for the bees.

We grow lots of Salvias and one that’s looking good right now and attracting many bees is Salvia forsskaolii.Earlier in Spring its giant leaves helpfully covered the ground, keeping weeds down and hopefully it will now flower right through to September. It self-seeds and is also very drought tolerant, so no watering is needed on these hot sunny days.

Every garden should have Geraniums – we mean the Meadow Cranesbill types, not the Pelargoniums that you see growing in window-boxes and all over Spain in pots (lovely as they are too). We have several different varieties here and many will grow well in shade, so a very useful plant to have.

Hostas are a plant that we probably wouldn't choose to grow here, as they are magnets for snails, who can shred all the giant leaves over just a few nights! However we were donated some a few years ago and they do look impressive now all displayed together in pots. We don't use any chemicals at the Curve Garden and that includes so-called ‘wild-life friendly’ slug and snail pellets. We find that if you keep them a little on the dry side, they grow less lush and a little more snail resistant.

The herbs in the Garden are at their most abundant now. We try to grow a good range, not least to show people who might just have a window-box or balcony what you can grow in the smallest of spaces. Our lavenders are looking lovely right now in pots and planters and are covered in bees and butterflies. Our favourite herb though has got to be Lemon Verbena, with its Lemon sherbet scent. It makes a beautiful tea which can relax or energise, depending on how strong you make it. Emma loves it because she associates it with her childhood in Spain. So perfect for hot, sunny London right now!