A Snippet of Summer
I thought I’d share this photo as a wee snippet of my Southern hemisphere summer. 🙂
The shrub is a hebe, a cultivar of a New Zealand native. This particular kind, with its flowers shading from pink to white is called “Icing Sugar.”
The reason “this photo” though, is because it’s alive with bees: bumble bees, honey bees, and NZ native bees, too — and has been for weeks now. They’re a tad hard to pick out though (although there were masses of them at work) so I honed in on this bumblebee for a closer look.
For me, a garden that’s alive with bees is quintessentially summery — and also makes me feel that I’m doing something for the planet by having a garden that attracts them, since both honey bees and NZ native bees have been hit hard over the past few decades, in particular.
Watching the bees so busy at work also makes me think of Alison Moyet’s song, Honey for the Bees — an oldie now, but still a goodie.
I like the picture. The flowers look lovely. I am glad the bees approve of it.
I’m glad you like the picture, June. 🙂
And the bees do approve. The same day this posted I heard a piece on radio NZ talking about helping inner city bees with garden planting: Here