family | urbantreesandbees

A Ladybird enjoys a stroll across a Spiderwort plant

It’s been a long Winter in Wales – not rainy and mild like last year but a proper cold Winter with proper snow.

The trees and bees have been delayed, and, like us – particularly with Easter being so early at the beginning of April – have been desperate to move forward into more warmth and sunshine.

The daffodils struggled to appear for Saint David’s day this year. Last year I took a photo of them on Feb 26. This year it was over a month later nearer the beginning of April.

The park’s tulip display was at its’ best on May 6th.

Equally magnificent before Spring’s arrival was this highly ornamental shrub called Stachyurus praexox which was laden with blossom in March.

But then May’s first bank holiday brought hot weather records, flowers and pollen. Everyone and everything burst into bud with renewed energy and now we are enjoying a Spring where everything is playing catch up. This was last week’s beautiful horsechestnut bouquets

and here is a white rhododendron called the ‘Loderi King George’ which Terry Davies planted in Roath Botanic Gardens.

Terry with his rhododendron planting

Terry led the 2018 spring Walk in the Botanic Gardens along with Malcom who planted these two Callery Pear trees guarding the entrance to Cathays Library in Cardiff.

The Callery Pear tree in the Botanic Gardens is one of hundreds of Welsh champion trees in Cardiff. It usually blossoms in early spring but is running late. It is more of an ornamental tree as the fruit isn’t edible. Due to its’ beautiful vertical tallness it is perfect for street planting (although In N.E America is considered invasive)

The Botanic Gardens have an interesting history and reading this website – Cardiff Parks – maintained and updated in great detail by Anne and Andy Bell, gives you a great insight into the parks of Cardiff..

One of the original trees planted by William Nelmes in the thirties is the Indian Bean tree on the bridge next to the conservatory in the Botanic Gardens.

The Oak (left of yellow Laburnum) planted in memory of William Nelmes

It has a beautiful canopy of foliage and in Summer there are tall white pannicles of flowers. This particular tree doesn’t flower as well now so the Friends of Roath Park who charge a mere £5 membership fee , have planted a young replacement on the river bank opposite. More info here –

https://en-gb.facebook.com/friendsofroathpark/

Our bees in the garden noisily made up for lost time and are now busy foraging and building up their honey stores.we have had to speedily add two honey supers on top of their brood box so they have room to expand and store their nectar. The hot sun directly on the hive means that we have had to increase the ventilation by placing four match sticks between the Queen excluder and first honey box. It will save the bees having to fan quite as much to keep the hive cool.

Not far out from Cardiff is Cosmeston Park.. in the Vale of Glamorgan.

History of Cosmeston

I didn’t spot an otter but they do live amongst the other wildlife on the West Island of the lake that was once a quarry.

But what made my day was this little family gathering!

Creating space

Head space is something to be treasured and retirement offers you the chance to find it. It gives you permission to find pleasure in simple everyday life and absorb the natural living landscapes on your doorstep. .

My real appreciation of the relevance of Nature as an everyday art form was in my visit to Tokyo a few years ago. Nature is considered vital to the wellbeing of the population crammed into every square inch of this high rise clean cut sophisticated city. The revered Tea ceremony, the neat gravel swept zen gardens and the beautiful cherished blossoms surrounding the many temples are honoured by the fast paced work-driven city dwellers.

‘Hanami’ – literally translated as ‘looking at flowers’ is the art of picnicing beneath the cherry blossoms or ‘sakura’in Spring.

The outstretched flower-laden cherry trees in Roath Mill and Waterloo gardens invite passers-by towards the grassy patch beneath them.

The most common cherry in Japan is the ‘yoshino’ variety, known as the Japanese flowering cherry or Tokyo cherry. When at least five flowers have opened on this tree the official cherry blossom season is declared open n Japan.

Cardiff has an abundance of beautiful cherry trees – I was blown away by the stunning show in Cathays park in the civic centre this year – the cleverly planted red tulips vibrant against the pale pink background.
It is a place to sit and contemplate the words of the Japanese haiku poet named Basho

The group to which cherry trees belong is called the ‘prunus’ group and this belongs to the rose family. Almond, plum, peach and nectarines also belong to this group and are a favourite for bees – especially the pollen and nectar of the large cherry plum ( prunus cerasifera) – one of the first cherry trees to flower.
Prunus padus in Bute park -is also good for pollen and nectar. The Cardiff parks website lists all the champion cherry trees in the various parks –
http://www.cardiffparks.org.uk
Were it not for our Victorian ancestors and their belief in the importance of providing green open spaces for leisure we would probably have covered every inch with concrete. In these times of climate change and the realisation that our planet is changing we are perhaps prepared to now appreciate the importance of nature, the animals and insects – and the need to protect our wildlife such as bees.

As well as bees and trees, another addition to my newly found freedom since leaving work is airbnb –

There is a lot in common with renting out space whether in frames (for bees ) or rooms (for people.) Organisation and communication is key. I suppose the difference is that people can be guided and manipulated far more easily than bees can..

Being given enough ‘space’ is an absolute must in all cases. When left to their own devices bees will build horizontal combs in their nest site and the space between the combs is just enough for two bees to pass each other back to back in order to go about their day to day tasks – ‘the bee space’.Beekeepers provide manmade hives with ready made combs in the form of wax frames that slot into the hive in a way that honours the dimensions of the ‘bee space’

So in our terraced human hive in Cardiff my son wasn’t too perturbed when I rang him at university to let him know my planned use for his room space. ” Hi James, how are you?” I asked. “Fine” he said with his usual enthusiasm. I felt I had to launch in immediately – ” dad and I are going to decorate your room” I said with gusto followed by a suitable pause.. . “cool” he replied. “And” , I said, hurriedly, ” then we’re going to let it… You know, with Airbnb ” I felt a bit guilty. There was a pause and I held my breath before he replied “Go for it mum!” “It’s a good idea – and easy” . and I almost felt disappointed as his response underlined the fact that home to him is no longer permanent.
With the bees, permanency is not something they are used to either. They like to swarm…but for now they are tucked down in their hives in my garden. However with the mild winter they are already flying. This is not good as they are using their energy to fly – for nothing – as there is no pollen or nectar – they should be reserving for their emergence in Spring…

Observations on trees and bees in Wales, Ireland and beyond

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An explosion of Spring!

Shortest day over..

Observations on trees and bees in Wales, Ireland and beyond