For my Summer seasonal tree I have just made these sweet glass beaded hanging flowers. The green beads are fluorite and I am now going to have a good look through my bead collection to see if I have some other flowers or leaves that I can use!

What have you been making?

I’ve had these little flowers waiting around for me to make them into something for a while now and so tonight I sat down, turned off my laptop, and crocheted a chain adding a flower every 12 or so stitches … I’m so pleased with how it’s turned out and I think I will pop it on my seasonal branches (tree!) for the Spring and Easter! 

It is World Bee Day tomorrow and I just love seeing bees busy in my garden. Have you ever wondered what to plant to benefit honeybees and native bees, and attract them to your garden? One of the best things you can do for both honeybees and native bees is to plant things that they love and avoid using pesticides or fertiliser's. Why not create a little nectar and pollen haven for the bees in your neighbourhood and for optimal results, try a combination of herbs, annuals, and perennial plants!

Here is a list of some

BEE FRIENDLY PERENNIALS:

Basket flower

Black Eye Susan 

Calamintha

Candytuft

Creeping Thyme

Crocus

Dame's Rochet

Echinacea

Foxglove

Gaillardia

Gayfether

Geranium

Globe Thistle

Goldenrod

Helenium

Hosta

Lilac

Lupine

Money Plant

Nepeta

Peonies

Poppy

Rock Cress

Rose 

Sea Holly

Verbascum

Veronica

Winter Jasmine

BEE FRIENDLY ANNUALS:

Ageratum

Alyssum

Anchusa

Angel's Trumpet

Baby Blue Eyes

Bachelor's Button

Butterfly Weed

Calendula

Cape Daisy

Coreopsis

Cosmos

Honeywort

Runner beans

Stock

Sunflower

BEE FRIENDLY HERBS:

Anise

Bee Balm

Borage

Catnip

Chives

Clary Sage

Comfry

Fennel

Hyssop

Lavender

Lemon Balm

Lemongrass

Marjoram

Mint

Oregano

Rosemary 

Thyme

Valerian

I am sure there are a lot more ... comment below of any others!

What are you going to grow this year that you never have before that will attract the bees? ... I have a few that I have had in my garden for years, like cadytuft, geranium, roses, poppies, thyme, mint, lilac, lavender, chives and rosemary and often grow runner beans, cosmos, sunflowers and stocks. This year I am growing sea holly, which I never have before!

I have seen a saying on instagram recently and I just love it and the New Year is a perfect time to think about it

... LET YOUR PILE OF GOOD THINGS GROW ...

Rather than at the start of a New Year cut things out and try and be strict, we should fill our good things pile and there will soon be no room for the bad. Good habits will soon outway the bad, joy will soon outweigh sadness, and happy moments will outweigh the others.

I want to adopt this way of thinking this year ... how about you?

One thing I like to treat myself to occasionally is cut flowers, usually from good old Aldi as they are so cheap there! This has happened a lot less in the last 2 1/2 years when I started getting my groceries delivered, so when it does I want them to last as long as possible!

Add this super easy recipe to your flowers and enjoy them for longer!

+ 1-2 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil

+ 2 tbsp of sugar

+ 2 tbsp of organic apple cider vinegar

+ 200ml of water

DIRECTIONS:

Add the sugar and essential oil in the mixing bowl and stir them together.

Add the water and vinegar in the bowl and continue mixing until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Pour the solution in the vase or glass bottle and arrange the flowers.

The sugar nourishes the plants while the powerful antibacterial and antioxidant properties of Tea Tree Essential Oil and the apple cider vinegar help prevent bacterial and mold growth while slowing the oxidative process of the flowers and elongating their lifespan.

 I am in love with this dahlia that I have grown ... and all the more because at one point I thought it was no more! My grandfather's garden was full of dahlias and so was something I had always wanted to grow.

Back in June a car crashed off the road and into our yard knocking over the wall we had liturally just put up and all my tubs that I had put ontop of the wall while we did some more work, were knocked off and crushed. My little dahlia plant included.


I thought that was the end of my little dahlia plant, but Steve, without telling me, re-potted it and by July I was so surprised at how well it had recovered!


In early September I got my first bloom ... this little plant had been through so much and was so beautiful!



And now here we are in September with the most beautiful flowers ... each one is perfect and just a pretty peachy/pink colour ... I am so thankful that Steve gave it another chance as I honestly thought it had been crushed and was no good! Just shows how well plants can recover!






I can see I will be growing dahlias for years to come, but this one will always be special to me!