Friday 6 July 2012

An Amazing Discovery

A couple of days ago, a discovery was made.
More about that later.


This is Linaria purpurea, commonly known as the purple toadflax. It is a short-lived perennial plant, much loved by bees, as you can see. I purchased some seed many years ago, and it has self-seeded ever since. Although the individual plants don't live very long, there are always plenty of youngsters to replace them. They grow to about 2ft. and are self-supporting.

And now about that discovery. For all of you who have been eagerly waiting to read about the Higgs boson, er sorry, not that discovery. No, this is what I was talking about:


Yippee, a ladybird larvae. Yes, despite the horrendous weather, the ladybirds have had babies. Found this one on a bin lid. The bin contained some hedge prunings; branches of elder coated in blackfly. The ladybirds must have laid their eggs on the elder knowing that their young would have plenty of food. I lifted this larvae off the bin and placed it in the greenhouse, on an orchid that was covered in greenfly. I also recovered two more larvae from the bin and placed them on suitable plants.

And finally, the weather. Despite June being the wettest month in over a hundred years nationally, here in Sheffield it was the wettest for only five years. But now it's July, and there are new records to be broken. Last night I attended an open air concert in Sheffield Botanical Gardens. I know, fancy attending an open air concert in the summer. Anyway, despite a thunderstorm that came uncomfortably close, we didn't get too wet. Memo to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain: next time you come to Sheffield, can you pick a venue with a roof, please ?

23 comments:

  1. I love Lunaria it self-seeds all over my garden and you are right - the bees love it.As for ladybird larva I have never ever seen any which is a bit of a bummer - or maybe I just haven't recognised it for what it is? Glad you enjoyed your open air concert - I went to see the Olympic Torch Relay in the pouring rain - the poor old runners were soaked - but being British we sort of expect rain whenever something outdoors is going on - especially this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The weather forecast is saying the Olympics will be a bit wet too, but it is British summertime after all.

      Delete
  2. I also have linaria but it must be a different type because mine are fairly long lived. I love how gentle you are with the ladybug larvae.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Linaria don't live long because I have heavy clay soil, and they don't like wet winters either. They seem to be coping with our wet summer though.

      Delete
  3. Now I'm not a fan of anything with more than 4 legs, especially when they lay on their backs & wriggle their wriggly limbs about. Ladybirds come into this category but even worse are their babies. Have seen more this past 2 weeks than in my entire life (21 years...ahem!)...in one garden last week they were everywhere & I confess to accidentally being the cause of a few fatalities. Not the cutest of offspring and I'm sure many have been stomped on for not looking like friendly critters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you know that a ladybird can eat over 5,000 aphids in a year ? I think that figure might be drastically reduced if someone stomps on them though.

      Delete
  4. Linaria is a beautiful perennial.
    I like the purple color.
    And the bees love to Linaria.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bravo for sitting through a concert in the rain. How British!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon though.

      Delete
  6. Hi Crystal,

    I've seen quite a few Ladybird babies recently too! Let's hope they weren't all washed away in the rain today though!

    This morning I set off totally oblivious to the flood warnings and wore my usual ballerina pumps. Yeah, big mistake. Ended up soaked at lunch and all I did in total was probably a round trip of 100metres or so to get a sandwich, then to get a coffee from costa and back to the office. Madness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meadowhall was very lucky last night. The pictures on TV brought back memories of 5 years ago.

      Delete
  7. Ladybird larvae always seem longer than actually ladybirds which interests me. I've seen a few in the garden and ready for them to get to work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Apparently they form pupae, and that must be when the body shrinks.

      Delete
  8. HI Crystal,

    I have seen lots of ladybird larvae. Like you, I am thrilled. I have plenty of blackfly, so they should do well here.

    I love Linaria....grows like a weed here :)

    Hope you had a great time at the concert.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Concert was great, but would have been even better indoors. I will be returning to the Botanical Gardens though, to have a look around the gardens themselves. Will go on a dry day, that'll be autumn then.

      Delete
  9. Your Linaria is really pretty, I must see about getting some of those.

    I have a horrible feeling your ladybird larvae is the dreaded Harlequin variety which are endangering our native species :-(

    So glad you seem not to be flooded out, I thought about you (and Liz) when I saw Sheffield on the news last night!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was thinking it looked like a Harlequin too. Now does that make it a good baddie or a bad goodie ?

      Delete
  10. The ladybug young one must be so happy to be in your greenhouse. We have had very hot temperatures, but there is relief coming...I hope.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our TV news mentioned your high temperatures yesterday, but they also said it was due to end soon. Hope they are right.

      Delete
  11. Don't believe I've ever seen the larvae, That bumble looks like he could take down the bloom. Who does up with horrendous names for these things of beauty. One sick fella I imagine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even worse is when they give them another name that is longer than the original.

      Delete
  12. I don't think I have ever seen the ladybird larvae, despite having lots of ladybirds in the garden, got the first ones in April this year I think. Do they hide perhaps? I also have the harlequin ladybird in my garden, they both seeem to live side by side in peace here in my London garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the larvae in my photo is a Harlequin, but the others that I found were ordinary ones, so hopefully they are living in harmony in my garden too.

      Delete