It's been a while since I had time to write anything here, but as the end of the fresh flower season swiftly approaches, I though I would share some of our top pollinators in our cut flower garden this year; (and when I mean pollinators, I mean when you can't get close enough to the flowers to cut them for fear of being stung because the bees are all over them and even sleep on them!)
1. Red field poppies (Papaver Rhoeas or Common Poppy)- in bloom from May-July
2. Purple phacelia tanacetifolia in bloom from May-July
3. Dahlias - specifically dwarf and cactus varieties - in bloom from late June - October
Although these are my top three this year, nearly all the flowers in the garden have been enjoyed by the bees with orange cosmos coming a close 4th place.
Interestingly, when you grow flowers for cutting, the ideal time to cut them is before the stage where the centre of the flower opens enough for the bees to be able to access the pollen, so ironically when our garden is at its best you can't actually see that many flowers out, as we have usually cut them just as the buds are opening.
However, to say goodbye to the 2023 cut flower season, I thought I'd share a photo of me among some of the flowers in the garden fully out, at the end of August after having come back from a week's holiday!
