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This blog, mostly photographs with little text, is a record of another year in the life of our garden. For the derivation of the title 'Insnared with Flowers' (original spelling) click here.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Yellow flowers - heaven for pollen beetles

 A selection of yellow flowers in bloom at the moment, starting with Anthemis
 Evening primrose has a very long flowering period, right up until the first frosts.
Lady's bedstraw, a native wild flower that weaves its way between other plants in the border and fills the gaps with a mist of tiny yellow flowers.

 A lily whose label I lost long ago, but that blooms well every year, even in the current drought.
A few years ago I grew several Verbascum species that seeded themselves everywhere, so that a random assortment flowers every year - I can't remember what this large-flowered species is, but it's a very handsome plant.

The yellow knapweed Centaurea macrocephala. Those little black dots are pollen beetles, that are irresistibly drawn to yellow flowers - in vast numbers.

4 comments:

  1. I saw some opium poppies in pink last week. All heaving with small beetles-pollen beetles?

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  2. Love the Yellow Knapweed.
    Is there something Fibonacci-esque going on in the middle of the Anthemis?

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  3. Hi Chris, my sweet peas have been absolutely infested with pollen beetles, that all emerge from the keel petal when I bring them indoors

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  4. You're right Rob, they do follow a mathematically-determined pattern but I can't remember exactly how it works.

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