They spent last Winter in the unheated greenhouse and were planted out in the Spring.
Today the three I planted against an East facing fence have grown to be lovely bushy plants
They have flowered continuously for over six months attracting bees and hover flies.
I would love to have photographed one of their visitors . I tried but it wouldn't co-operate.
It was a hovering fly of some sort. A type I had not seen before or since. At first I thought it was a bee fly but the markings were wrong for that. Its rear end had very distinct longitudinal black and white stripes. Not once did it land on anything but hovered all the time while feeding. I spent ages perusing various sites but could not find a photograph of anything which had remotely the same markings.
The plants looks super and it is great news they are attracting bees and hoverflies. It is always good to find a plant that has a long flowering period. When I get a minute I will have a look at my hoverfly book and see if I can find anything resembling your description. I did wonder about hummingbird hawkmoth but they don't really have vertical black and white stripes at the rear although do have blackish whiteish markings. They do hover constantly though!
ReplyDeleteRR: The Hummingbird Hawkmoth does look very much like the one I saw. Maybe the markings were a (local) variation.
DeleteThey do look very much like tiny hummingbirds - a great sighting.
DeleteThese were a good buy. A beautiful and useful plant.
ReplyDelete