So you blink and the summer’s gone, you’ve not written a thing, witty or otherwise for some little while now. Call it obligation, inspiration, whatever, here we go again.
Regular readers will recall that I am a keen watcher of gardens rather than a gardener, but I am kept informed of what is prevailing in the floricultural sense by Wife and Wife’s Garden Help. So it appears that a lot of creepy crawlies are actually the friends of gardeners. Who’s to know? And not being warm-blooded, have a bit of a time of it when it gets cold. Which it just has. Since to the best of my knowledge there are no bug heating engineers, it is beholden on those who care to come to Insect Aid.
Just to save you Googling it, no there isn’t an organization known to Google called Insect Aid. Maybe there should be. There a tax-deductible opportunity waiting for someone. Anyway the answer turns out to be a ‘Bug Hotel’. I know what you’re thinking and I’m ‘way ahead of you. No it doesn’t have anything to do with Spooks, either real or imagined. Spies that is, not ghouls. So without further ado, I present you with the Ritz, for bugs.
The deal is that you get as many different habitats as you can that bugs might find comfortable. So loads of different holes and materials is the order of the day. I haven’t been able to figure out whether rather than being a secure home, it may become a four star restaurant for Bugs Who Eat Bugs. However short of buying some of those little padlocks you get for travel luggage, I couldn’t think of any means of adding security. Maybe the Bugs Who Are Eaten By Bugs will band together and post sentries. I was going to add ‘stranger things have happened’, but I’m not sure they have. Only one piece of furniture was harmed in the making of this hotel, although the need for bottles did require me to sacrifice some time imbibing alcoholic beverages. The sacrifices I make.
So with Winter well and truly pouinding on the door, I was looking back at some pictures I took during the long Autumn and thought they beared sharing. I am a sucker for an Acer of just about any type and we have a few in our Garden. This year the Liquid Amber was quite wonderful in colour and intensity.
Rather nice huh? Not to be outdone our tiny Paper Bark Maple did it’s utmost to put on a bit of a show, particularly when the low afternoon sun hit.
Just in case you are wondering, that’s Blanche the white fowl. OK it’s actually a cockerel, but that wouldn’t allow such a clever play on words in naming it.