a garden at the international garden festival, domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France

 

these sculptures are made from old drinks cans and look like this close-up:

mason bee colony made from illy coffee tin, my allotment, London, England

‘mason bee’ is the common name for a species of bees in the genus Osmia, of the family Megachilidae, they are named from their habit of making compartments of mud in their nests, which are made in hollow reeds/canes or holes in wood made by wood-boring insects

 unlike honey bees or bumblebees, mason bees are solitary; every female is fertile and makes her own nest, and there are no worker bees for these species, they produce neither honey nor beeswax

the bees emerge from their cocoons in the spring, with males the first to come out, they remain near the nests waiting for the females, when the females emerge, they mate - the males die, and the females begin provisioning their nests.

 mason bee females like to nest in narrow holes or tubes, typically naturally occurring tubular cavities, most commonly this means hollow twigs, but sometimes abandoned nests of wood-boring beetles, they do not excavate their own nests

the material used for the cell can be clay or chewed plant tissue

because mason bees provide an invaluable pollination service for gardeners it is possible to buy ‘nests’ for females to use – or you can make your own, as i have, out of an old coffee can and some hollowed out bits of bamboo

females then visit flowers to gather pollen and nectar, and many trips are needed to complete a pollen/nectar provision mass - once a provision mass is complete, the bee backs into the hole and lays an egg on top of the mass, she then creates a partition of mud, which doubles as the back of the next cell. the process continues until she has filled the cavity, female-destined eggs are laid in the back of the nest, and male eggs towards the front.

 once a bee has finished with a nest, she plugs the entrance to the tube, and then may seek out another nest location

 by the summer, the larva has consumed all of its provisions and begins spinning a cocoon around itself and enters the pupal stage, and the adult matures usually in the  winter, hibernating inside its insulatory cocoon until warm spring weather arrives

mason bees are increasingly cultivated to improve pollination for early spring fruit flowers, they are both beneficial and benign, since they both pollinate plants and do not sting

 one of my coffee tin mason bee colonies showing both occupied sealed tubes and empty tubes

escutcheon, church of Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau, Domfront, Orne, France

the charming Romanesque church of our lady-on-the-water dates from the late 11th century it was severely damaged in the 20th century and five of the seven bays of the nave and side aisles were demolished - to make way for a road!

fortunately, some fine features have survived - the chancel is decorated with lovely arcading and it has a granite altar resting on three pillars, 12th century frescoes were uncovered in the south transept depicting the 'doctors of the church'

corrugated fence, near Thames path, Greenwich, London, England

bicycle, Piacenza, Italy

 even saint rita cannot protect against rust

beach 'bud', Whitstable, Kent, England

 

no theme this week, other than rust

 

Amsterdam canal house gardens - 7

 

 



even with all of the canals someone still has to do the watering...

 

farewell to the week of canal houses

 



 

Amsterdam canal house gardens - 6

 

of all the gardens this Alice in Wonderland one was the craziest

 

 

 

 

a very literal interpretation of a herb bed



Amsterdam canal house gardens - 5

 

 

Amsterdam canal house gardens - 4

Amsterdam canal house gardens - 3

Amsterdam canal house gardens - 2

 

Amsterdam canal house gardens - 1

contrary to what you may believe, the main reason for going to Amsterdam a few weeks ago was not to photograph rusty parts of bicycles nor was it to partake of the weed that is so prevalent in that fine city

no, dear reader, the main reason for going was to visit canal house gardens, which for only one weekend per year are open to the hoi polloi

behind many of those magnificent 16^th 17^th and 18^th century facades lie some very imaginative gardens and, yes you’ve guessed, within those green spaces (not many flowers – gardening after my own heart)  there are many pieces of rust, so this week we are in Amsterdam canal house gardens

 

 

 



 





stop these terrible puns - and make it snappy

this is the hafway point in this project - if you've stuck with it up until now, you may as well continue