Bee-friendly plants

Bee on coriander

I've noticed that the favourite plants of bees in my garden changes with the weeks. Earlier in the season, the bees were all over my snapdragons. Bees love snapdragons. In my anthropomorphic mind it's because the snapdragon not only gives the bee nectar, but also a hug as it goes in.

Bee about to enter a snapdragon

Bee part way into a snapdragon

Bee completely engulfed in a snapdragon

Now, though, even though the snapdragons are still producing a multitude of blooms, the bees have new favourites and are no longer swarming for antirrhinums. In the front garden that favourite is fennel.

Bee on fennel

Definitely fennel, possibly a bee

Definitely fennel, almost certainly not a bee, but busy pollinating anyhow

And in the back garden it's coriander.

Quite possibly a fly pretending to be bee, but definitely loving my coriander either way

Both are buzzing with bees. Or at least with yellow and black stripy insects. I'm not 100% certain that some of my photos aren't of wasps or other flies mimicking bees. It's probably as well if they are just flies, my other half points out there's a fair chance I'm allergic to bee and wasp stings, and all the stripy insects have probably not been impressed with how closely I've been jamming a camera into their faces to get those shots.

In other news, leaving the courgette for a couple of days really paid off.

It went from this on 30 July

To this on 2 August

It's now sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten for lunch. Update: it has now been grated, fried and eaten for lunch with tortellini.

And finally, here's a quick overview of the garden: