For successful pollination in the garden.
First provide a food source for the likes of bees so they will actually want to be in your garden.
Gardens without the addition of flowers are like eating scones without cream and jam!
A passionfruit vine that has been shy to provide you with fruit, then consider planting around its base strong flowering plants such as Nasturtiums , Allysum, lobelia or Cosmos.
As the bees forage amongst the flowers, they will naturally make their way into the vine ( when in flower) and pollinate these also.
Of course annual flowering plants are not the only choice that one can make.
For those with a fondness for native plants, choose the likes of Callistemon (Bottlebrush) , Xanthostemon (Golden Penda) and any of the Melaleucas (Paperbark).
Bees are incredibly fond of any member of the myrtaceous family and will seem to forage for hours on end while the plants are in bloom.
A simple herb like Rocket is a wonderful way of seeing honey bees in full swing.
The tall panicles of cream or yellow flowers are beacons to draw the interest of bees form far and wide.
If you grow any members of the brassica family and you will be for sauerkraut making.
Leave a few to grow to their full potential. They will attract an assortment of bees right where you need them the most.
If you can spare the space, why not have an area in your garden in close proximity to fruit trees or the like and fill in with the likes of mustard, linseed or marigolds.
If tidiness is your thing, then consider planting a hedge of lavender around the edge of the vegetable garden.
The best lavender for this use are the Italian forms ( stoeches sp) .
The bottom line is that in order for all us to have strong productive gardens, we equally need to place emphasis on the integration of some reliable flowering plants whether they be annual, perennial of shrubs .
Contrary to what has been thought, having Flowers in your garden won’t take up extra valuable resources such as water , but will open the doors to a better understanding of the unseen connections between flowers, insects and productivity that we can all benefit from and help to educate our next generation of budding gardeners.
And many flowers are edible, too. Great for fermented flower buds or add to kimchi, sauerkraut and vegetables bound for fermentation.
Whatever the weather in your district,
Happy gardening, happy harvesting and happy fermenting.
Love and bacteria, Xo, Lynnie
A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. — Gertrude Jekyll (2011) ‘Wood and Garden: Notes and Thoughts, Practical and Critical, of a Working Amateur’ Cambridge University Press
Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade. –Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Glory of the Garden’ (1911)
There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments. – Janet Kilburn Phillips
The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway. – Michael Pollan (2007) ‘Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education’ p.64, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul. – Alfred Austin “Growing with the Seasons: A Sharing of Insights Into the Creative Aspects of Organic Gardening”. Book by Frank Giannangelo and Vicky Giannangelo, July 1, 2008.
There are always flowers for those who want to see them. – Henri Matisse (1992). “Jazz”, George Braziller
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