Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Bee and the Borage

Average daytime temperature: 22°C / 72°F

9 comments:

K and S said...

am amazed that you have 2 gardens!

Val said...

Once you have Borage you will have it for life as it seeds everywhere. Blue is a bee's favourite colour! And Borage flowers and young leaves can be used in salads or floated on drinks like Pimms! Val

Rowena said...

Kat - I'm a glutton for punishment. The front is actually more of a yard, with fruit trees and veggies here and there in containers and around the edges of the lawn. The back is all veggies and fruit trees. I wish I could take over the neighbor's vacant lot next to ours which is nothing but weeds. Too bad they're not friendly.

MAYBELLINE said...

I understand having bad neighbors. Money might make them friendlier.

chaiselongue said...

Beautiful photo! Borage should self-seed - all over the garden. It grows here all along the sides of the roads and on any rough uncultivated ground. And, yes, it's good to have in the garden because bees love it. Unless they're very young, I think it's better to cook the leaves because they are quite prickly when raw. There's a recipe on my blog, mediterranean-cuisine.blogspot.com, for borage and cheese parcels which were nice.

Gail - Fort Rock Glimpses said...

Rowena that is a fantastic photo! I love it! You can see the little hairs on the bee and how he clings to the stamens. Nice work.

Rowena said...

Chaiselongue - cheese parcels sound great (just the thing for this weekend's bbq). I've already made a few ice cubes with the flowers...they are so pretty in a drink.

Gail - thanks, but now after having seen Obama and the fly, I think I might try a different subject for awhile. Flies are difficult to capture in front of the lens!

Anonymous said...

That is the most beautiful photo - of both bee and borage - complimenti. Love the idea of putting flowers in the ice cubes, too. We had borage forever, but not much this year. Lots of bees though, and they love lavender, too.

Rowena said...

Farfalle - of bees and butterflies(!), it's always a delight to see them at work in the garden. In fact, the task of weeding seems less of a task when you've got these wonderful insects in your company!