After a blustery early summer that must have made life on the wing a chore, our furry garden friends are back in abundance, loving the lavender and hanging around the honeysuckle in search of a high-energy drink to keep them on the go.
Supping in our herb garden a natural nectar-bar designed to delight our buzzy guests leaves many winged visitors looking so drunk they seem unable to take off again and can be seen slowly crawling across the garden paths or climbing aimlessly around the nearest garden structure.
I have to hope they sober up enough from their excess of sugared water to get home before they are missed.
Nectar is natures reward to the bees for popping into a plant and picking up its pollen, which will be brushed off at its next drinking-hole, thus pollinating the flower and keeping everybody happy.
With us gardeners benefiting from the resultant burgeoning crops, not to mention the pleasure of having these happy little creatures hovering around, it is a win, win, win situation.
If you would like a little more hum in your plot, add some open flowers, in the blue/pink range of the spectrum.
Bees need flowers that provide either flat landing pads or tubular flowers, to give them a chance of reaching the nectar they seek.
They see colours differently from humans, detecting the ultraviolet light that we cannot see, which draws them to blooms of a certain hue.
Double flowers make it too difficult for them to get where they want to and they tend to pass them by.
With bees around from March to September, it is helpful to have nectar plants in flower throughout the year, to ensure a constant supply.
Spring can offer bluebell, crab apple blossom, hawthorn and hellebore.
Early summer sees aquilegia, comfrey, foxglove, hardy geranium, teasels and thyme, with buddleia, cornflower, globe thistle, heather, lavender and sedum later in the season.
BARWELL Village Hall Gardening Club will be holding a plant auction at its meeting on August 11.
The event, to be held at the hall at 7.45pm, will also include a ploughmans supper. Tickets cost s2.50.
For more information call either David Hopkinson on 01455 842591 or Margaret Pickering on 01455 843007.
BURBAGE Gardening Club is gearing up for its annual show to be held at Hastings High School, Burbage, on August 16.
Schedules are available from show manager Helen Roberts on 01455 238413 or by e-mail at hjroberts52@aol.com
Prize money totalling more than s770 is on offer, plus a wealth of trophies, to be presented on the evening by The Hinckley Times gardens writer, Rachel Parrish.
THE MIDLANDS Dahlia Society is marking its 50th anniversary year with a trip to the Netherlands in the autumn.
Places are still available for the trip, which will run from September 15 to 18, leaving Barlestone at 8am on September 15.
Booking costs s245 per person, to include three nights bed and breakfast accommodation and a packed programme of visits to places of horticultural interest, including Amsterdam flower market, flower auction and nurseries.
For more information or to book a place, call David Reid on 01455 290612.
GARDEN ORGANIC, based at Ryton, near Coventry, is running summer holiday childrens sessions throughout the month.
On August 13, between 2pm and 4pm, youngsters will be able to get to grips with willow weaving, making a plant support or seasonal crown from green withies.
Children must be accompanied by an adult, for whom admission (including one child) costs s6. Extra children cost s3 each.
For more information call 02476 303517 or visit www.gardenorganic.org.uk
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