Red Bottle Brushes

The Callistemon (bottle brush plant) may be somewhat straggly in growth



but the unusual brilliant red flowers make up for it



Even though it is not a native British plant it attracts a lot of bees.
I wonder what bottle brush honey tastes like.
This coming Autumn I will try to cultivate some cuttings.

Monday Mystery

Last week's close view



turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. It was part of



a whistling kettle which was correctly identified by Adrian. In fact a camping kettle (the handle folds down to take up less space when not in use) as identified by Kev Scott. Well done to both. Thank you to all who had a go.

I used to have an electric kettle that had an electronic whistle which sounded as the kettle switched off but it developed a leak. I replaced it with another electric one but the water from that always tasted foul. Some chemical in the plastic seemed to be contaminating the water, even after several uses. In the end I went back to using metal whistling kettles to heat up on the gas cooker.

Another close view for this week



Can you identify what it is?
If you would like to have a guess please leave it in the comments.
Any will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.

Hover Fly

Not anything of note going on round here this week. Yesterday's storms passed us by. Looks like being a wet day today.  Earlier in the week I was sorting out a problem with the pump on the water feature when a persistent hover fly kept getting in the way. They seem to be one of the most inquisitive insects, often hovering a few inched from my face. Maybe they can't quite believe what they are seeing.  This one kept landing on the plastic box of screws I was trying to use.



No matter how many times I shooed it away it returned to the same spot to give its eyes a thorough wash and brush up.

Seeing Red

At long last the first flowers are opening on the Callistemon (bottle brush plant).



The first of nearly fifty flowers showing this year.

Having survived two winters the Salvia Hot Lips are putting on a good show



When they finished flowering last Autumn I cut them down to about one third their height.
Without pruning they could become too leggy with long bare hardwood stems.

Monday Mystery

Many correct guesses for last week's mystery object:



Congratulations to Adrian. the Veg Artist, Kev Scott, Rachel Phillips (welcome), Ellen D, and Kris who sussed out it was the end view of



a remote control. This one is for a radio.

Many thanks to all who had a go.

A close view of an object for you to identify this week:



If you would like to have a guess please leave it in the comments.
They, along with the answer, will be revealed next Monday.

Nearly There

The pitcher plant has been losing a lot of pitchers recently. I think the main cause was it becoming pot bound so yesterday I re-potted it in a larger container with new compost designed for insectivorous plants. The plant appears to have a main growing 'crown' with two smaller ones. It is the pitchers from the smaller growth areas which have been drying out.

Anyway the flower bud looks about ready to open up fully in the near future:



As well as new compost I am putting the plant outside when the weather is suitable. A bit of direct sunlight may help restore it to full health along with having a better chance of attracting more flies.

Welcome Visitors

Recently there have been a couple of juvenile Blue Tits making fleeting visits to the bird feeders:



I wonder whether they were from the nestbox behind the shed.

Also nice to see are the occasional visits from Goldfinches:




There was a time when I could see up to a dozen visit but there seem to be far less of them about now.