Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Bee's Bottoms?

A couple of years ago MeMa and I decided to take a drive, one of those weekend days when we just didn't want to stay at home....call it spring fever, or maybe it was that new Volkswagen Beetle she bought. We took what ever road caught our fancy and found a little nursery to stop at in our travel. I don't recall the name of the establishment but it was a very small family run business. As we walked up and down the rows of plants MeMa spotted this annual and asked the owner about it. She said that it was "Cerinthe major purpurascens" or Honeywort. She said they refer to it as "Bee's Bottoms" because most of the time that is all they see when the bee's dive into the pendulous flowers, all that is visible is the rear end of the insect. So Bee's Bottoms it is and has become a regular in the gardens at Menagerie Manor. It lives true to its name as the bee's swarm to the beds were it grows. Virgil described using this plant as an offering to swarming bee's in order to entice them to a new hive. Not only do the bee's love this plant, hummingbird's find it irresistible as well.


2 comments:

  1. Very interesting. And lovely pictures!
    I'm thinking it would be good to put some in the vegetable garden to encourage bees there, too.
    Thanks for sharing this with us, Doc. Hope you're all having a great day!

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  2. They're gorgeous! Thanks for alerting me to this post. Yours are looking much fuller and better proportioned that mine - mine look like gawky stalks! And I love the name - it will definitely be adopted here at Mucky Boots!

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