I’d never seen so many bees in one place – a veritable hive of activity in the lavender bed at The Botanic Gardens in Durham back in August. We spent a peaceful morning strolling round woodland and bamboo groves with our dear friends Dan and Ruth and their lovely boys. We spied on birds in hushed whispers from within the hide and found art work* intermingled with plants and trees from around the world.
I loved the swathe of colour created in the wildflower beds and have seed packets at the ready to scatter in Spring for a Durham inspired wildflower corner at the plot.
My favourite part of the garden? This grassy knoll for the squeals of delight it squeezed out of Rory as he hurtled down it!
* Botanic Gardens Artwork: Millennium Bug by local artists Graeme Hopper and David Buxton
Nip it in the bud 
How beautiful! I love the wildflower garden, great idea. We had an abundance of bees on our own lavender this year, more than we’ve ever seen before 🙂
Beautiful photos – made me long for a field of my own to turn into a meadow. Also reminded me that I’d promised myself I would grow some lavendar in a pot next year, since my garden soil is not lavendar friendly. Nice to come across your blog – found viaGardenGrab.
PS Never having come across ‘Gardener’s Voice” before I clicked on your link. They seem to have a problem with their site, as trying to read more of any of their featured blog entries brings up a window with a tiny scrolling section for the content, making it unreadable for all practical purposes. Since you are featured, and they don’t seem to publicise how to contact them, I thought you might want to let them know…
Gorgeous pictures, your Panasonic certainly takes lovely pictures, love the wildflower meadow. I saw a coach holiday that is to the Durham area, looks like it could be worth doing do you think?
Karen – bees certainly love all things purple. Glad to hear you had a thriving bee population this year. Wildflower sowing for you too next year to welcome in yet more bee visitors?
Janet – thanks for popping over. I wish you well with your lavender pots. I just can’t seem to keep anything in a pot – killed two lavender plants through total yard neglect. The one fending for itself at the allotment though is thriving!
Have emailed GV about issues with their site – thanks for pointing it out.
Ann – we really like Durham. A very historic, small city – you’d not be short of places to visit if you took a place on the coach
Absolutely wonderful pictures of the bees on the lavender. LIke you I manage to kill off just about anything I try to grow in pots.
thank you for the kind comments about my pics.
Yep time to clear the yard of dead plants and stack up the pots for another year!
Wow, thats so gorgeous! I have recently planted some bright colours in our garden and can not wait for them to bloom. Spring time in Australia is nowhere near as colourful and inspiring as your photos. But none the less its so exciting to see all the bees and birds that are now loving my garden 🙂
I envy you your sunshine and paddling in the sea in October!
Autumn has come too fast and my enthusiasm for gardening in the cold and rain is waning fast. Enjoy your Ozzy summer :O)