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Post by rowanberry on Jun 8, 2020 18:59:52 GMT
A water figwort decided it was going to grow out of a crack in a paving slab this year... I suppose being near a rainwater drain caused a seed to sprout. It has struggled over the past few weeks while the weather has been dry, and I was going to pull it out except I noticed that the bees do like it- very much so. Every morning there will be one or two busy collecting from it, which did surprise me because the flowers are so small; not showy at all. It still has quite a few buds that haven't opened yet, so I'm going to leave it until it's finished flowering. I try to keep the slabs around it damp, and when it's gone to seed I'll pull it up and put it around the birdbath- I think it would do better there, since the ground is constantly wet from the starlings tossing out all their bathwater! Bee Water Figwort May 2020 by Wabi Gallery, on Flickr
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Post by aeshna5 on Jun 11, 2020 5:01:18 GMT
I've got a few plants of Water Figwort by my pond & it's quite good at seeding around as I often find plenty of seedlings coming up in some of my many flower pots on the patio along with other prolific seeders like Red Campion, Purple Toadflax, Fennel & Red Valerian.
It certainly seems popular with bumblebees; also social wasps, though I seem to get far fewer of the latter in my garden these days.
There's plenty of other insects that use including the distinctive Figwort Weevil & the wasp-like Figwort Sawfly.
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