Parsnip flowers

Chrome yellow, and very attractive.

Unwittingly I have aped in a very minor way Cleve West at Chelsea. I missed some parsnips and have let them go on to flower. As many other umbellifers (Apiaceae), they attract hoverflies.  Hoverflies are invaluable predators of aphids in the garden. They lay their eggs in them and the larvae then eat up. I was pleased to get these close ups as the 120cm stems were more than swaying in today's winds. Ladybirds seem to like to be on the flowerheads, be they in flower or set seed.

umbel

 

seed head

nectar feeding

Poached Egg Plant

'Do you grow it for joy of it?', asked my new friend on visiting my allotment. Yes! The yellow and the white make a shining, joyful carpet at the moment.

I grow it for lots of other reasons too. Hoverflies and bees love to visit and they pollinate the nearby raspberries and the pixie Bramley apple they grow under. The plants make a green mulch overwinter, protecting the soil from battering, nutrient draining rain. The faded leaves add organic matter. They self-seed one year to the next and look after themselves. Lastly, it's one of the many plants that reminds me of my granny.

Limanthes douglasii. 15 x 15cm. Full sun in most soils. Poached Egg plant is a hardy annual that you can grow from seed in Spring or early Autumn direct into the ground. The seeds are readily available at garden centres or catalogues.

My new friend is the neighbouring street rep from Food Up Front, http://www.foodupfront.org/