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 ?