February Flower Hunt 2019 – Brisbane City Life

It’s important to have a variety of flowers all year round for the pollinators. Yesterday I brought home my first beehive so was a bit worried that there might not be enough flowers for the visiting bees as well as the new residents.

Time for a flower hunt.

Pandorea Jasminoides – Bower of Beauty along the back fence

Scaevola and Alyssum provide thick ground cover between large paved areas

Portulaca/Purslane on the ground against the back wall – dry spot in full sun.
I’m just trying an offshoot on the vertical walls to see if it copes.

Red Geraniums. There are also white and pink geraniums in various places in the garden, on the walls and on the verge.

White Cosmos. Also pink. The pink ones seem hardier.

Statice – long-lasting papery flowers popular with bees and butterflies
near the back tap, and on the side of the driveway at front

Crepe Myrtle – lives in a pot. Every year I wonder whether to keep it, but then it flowers.

Coleus – these survive along the bottom of the western fence better than anything else. The bees love their flowers. Regularly visited by the blue-banded bees.

Blue salvia and Osteospermum (African Daisy) on the verge.
The blue salvia is a bee magnet

westringia on the verge – always flowering, popular with bees

Pink gerbera by front path, more alyssum in the background

Petunias in pots on the wall. Bottom left pot is myoporum which seems to cope very well in this position. I have a suspicion that native bees don’t much like petunias – but possums do.

Pineapples with Acalypha reptant Stephie which is sold as a ground cover but does well on vertical walls. Odd fluffy red flowers.

Viola banksii starting to recover in the pots facing south. Cheered up by some worm castings.
That’s a hoya in the middle.

Close up of Cat’s whiskers flowering near the bottle tree and bird bath, front garden and starting to flower on the verge.

Snapdragons having a second burst of flowers after the rain with some euphorbia behind in eastern bed near front corner of house

Plumbago often has the little blue plumbago butterflies on it. (Hibisus leaf in background)

and there are more. Zuchinnis, cucumber, eggplant and tomatoes are flowering. And another lot of sunflowers will flower any day now. And the pink and white begonias in front of their pot. And as for the weed flowers…

That should be enough to keep the new bees happy for a while and the rain this week is making things look much better.