New nature wonders seen from the patio on Saturday evening were the annual flying ant & seagull show. We see this only one day at year when all the flying queen & drone ants appear to take flight to the waiting, hungry seagulls. I am SO amazed at how many ants there are.
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| flying ants covering the Dragon's Bile sedum |
Gorging on the ants, the seagulls then become drunk or high on the sweet acid of the ants. It takes hours for all the ants to appear but less than an hour for the ants to dispatch & then the swooping, diving seagulls are around for about 1-2 hours. Ah nature.
Also new nature news from the patio, it is this time of the year that the plain hostas start blooming. Their tall flower stocks have pure white flowers that the hummingbirds adore as I do. To me, the flowers smell like gardenias & it is for this reason that I grow this type of hosta. The scent seems to release as the sun sets & if there is a slight breeze the scent wafts over the patio - quite divine.
I grow two clumps of this particular hosta, one near the patio & one near the circle patio at the end of the garden.
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| Plantain Hosta in flower |
And continuing on with the natural wonders,
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| Sweet Lass Cherry Tomatoes |
And my last new is that I am feeling total disgust with the behaviour of F1 fans; what is with the booing of the podium finishers. This has happened at quite a few of the races this year. It is rude & quite un-sportsperson like. I do not like it.
Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead, one that abounds with joy & wonderment.
My thought for the week: At some point you gotta let go & sit still & allow contentment to come to you. Elizabeth Gilbert
fascinating about the ants - I've never seen flying ants. I do love flowers with a lovely scent. Have a good week
ReplyDeleteAnts flying, ants on the ground, can be most annoying at times. Oriental lilies are some of the best scented flowers in my garden, I just need more.
DeleteI'm not a massive fan of hostas but your flowering ones are lovely. It's filed in the memory bank! I don't follow F1 but one of the things I loved about the Olympics was seeing the respect and cameraderie between participants, medalwinners and non-medalwinners alike. At times there were also examples of the opposite too though, and like you I was disgusted.
ReplyDeleteHostas can look SO ugly if the slugs get to them. I did not watch alot of the Olympics but those events that I did watch, support was seen/heard for all competitors. I did read about some events where the support was not there - sad. Athletes works SO hard to get there, I cheer them all.
DeleteNow I have seen the ants all gathering and flying and a it does appear to happen once a year but the seagulls? That sounds hilarious. So are you saying you will only eat a tomato with mayo? I adore them straight off the plant.
ReplyDeleteDrunk like Seagulls are not pretty. I eat tomatoes only between toast & mao. I like tomato soup, I like tomato sauce, it is just straight up tomatoes I get the tummy flip on. Weird, I know.
DeleteI didn't know that about the ants. We don't see ants here round here.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of the booing either. I didn't like it at the Olympics and I don't like it in F1
Wishing you a good week ahead
Lucky you, no ants. Some types of ants give nasty bites & some like Carpenter ants are quite destructive.
DeleteWe have a large variety of hostas, and I love these with the white flowers. We've never seen our hummingbirds near them, but that doesn't mean anything. I'm going out tonight to see if I can smell the scent. They're a bit far away from our table for the breeze to get it to us. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteI will be interested to know how you like the scent. I have seen a reduction overall with hummingbirds in my garden this year, but all my hostas have been the key flower they visit (this year).
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ReplyDeleteYour season seems to be behind mine, the ants flew several weeks ago and my hosta has now flowered and is now fading away.
ReplyDeleteIt is neat to share experiences even when the time shift is a little different.
DeleteWait. Ants can fly? That must be quite the scene. Your hostas are so pretty - I have never seen them before. So interesting how your patio and mine are oh-so-different. Hope your week is off to a lovely start, Mary-Lou! xo
ReplyDeleteOh yes Deb ants fly & it is not just in this country, from what I know (so little) this is a world wide event annually, although in Britain their ant fly day was several weeks ago. Yes I enjoyed seeing your patio photos - sharing a love of being out there, but with different plants & wildlife. The same but different.
DeleteI hate flying ant day! It was a few weeks ago here, and you could see them all rising up from our lawn. We don't have the sea gulls in this area to eat them though!
ReplyDeleteI am always surprised to see seagulls so far inland but I guess the drive to eat ants is strong. My fear is that the multitude of birds will poop on me so I stay indoors while this happens, although I hear tell in some countries a bird pooping on you is considered good luck - I will say no more.
DeleteI had never heard of such a day before!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had the white Hostas, my purple Hostas look like giant lettuce for months and the give a couple of purple flowers for five days and game over!
I hear you about fans' behavior!
Thanks for this Memorandum and visiting my blog ;)
Normally my hostas look like lace after the snails & slugs have had their feed on them, but this year it has been too dry too hot for the snails to be much of a problem.
DeleteNice snaps, but I could have done without the flying ants - don't care for creepy crawlies.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susanne. I am not good with insects or any kind. You will really dislike my SNAP post today, so do not look. These photos today make me glad to have a telephoto lense.
DeleteI had no idea about the ants and the seagulls - how fascinating! And my host as sport only insignificant lilac unscripted flowers, so I so intrigued by yours. Learning new things myself :).
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