The Bees Knees...

Brynwood Needleworks - Bees In The Mums

 

The weather is getting cooler at night, although it is a little warmer lately. It's a signal to many of Mother Nature's critters to prepare for winter. The bees around the farmhouse definitely got the memo. They needn't worry, though, because many of the flowers I planted last fall are in glorious bloom now!

Brynwood Needleworks - Large Mums

These mums began a year ago as small plants purchased at a local nursery. They didn't get too big that first autumn, but over the summer they exploded with a riot of blossoms and color. 

 

After our porch was finished, I moved the granite monument Dad had salvaged out of a very deep lake in Wisconsin to the corner of our retaining wall. I wanted it in a place of prominence here, like it had at our home in Florida. This piece is heavy, but it's traveled to each of our homes since Dad gifted it to me over twenty five years ago.

 

I then planted a small Lamb's Ear plant in front of it, and the two small mums behind it, to tuck it into the location. Well, just look at how the Lamb's Ear and those mums took off this summer! Every time I walked past the corner of the wall, I stopped to clear a little more mulch away from the base of each plant. I guess they took that as an invitation to grow wild, because they certainly did.

 

Now, I'm contemplating purchasing more of these to decorate more of the flower garden I'm trying to create on that upper area. As soon as I'm able, I'm going to be cleaning up and moving around a few more established plants I already have. This may take a few seasons, but however long it takes, these mums will be the obvious show stoppers. I'm pretty sure the bees agree.