MORE PHOTOS FROM MEADOWLARK GARDENS - SATURDAY 2-10-24

I found these cabbage plants very interesting. You can read about them on this website. I am curious whether they are actually edible and this is what the website had to say about them. "While Ornamental Kale and Cabbage are technically edible, they’re not very palatable. Their main purpose is to serve as decoration in the cooler months of Winter and Spring, especially in decorative pots. While one wouldn’t usually think of vegetables as being particularly decorative, these plants come in beautiful shades of pinks, greens, purples, and whites." I also read on my plant app that "Native peoples selectively cultivated the wild cabbage over centuries to produce broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and more."

The name cabbage comes from the word caboche, from the middle English language meaning 'head'. Coincidentally, its circle-shaped appearance looks like the shape of a head, hence its name. Also, its botanical name is Brassica cleracea." 

The Johnny Jump-ups above were growing nearby also. I mentioned them in this post from November 2020.

Did you know that there are 20,000 known bee species worldwide and 4,000 of them are native to the United States? They range from the tiny (2 mm) and solitary Perdita minima, known as the world’s smallest bee, to kumquat-sized species of carpenter bees. The link to the tiny bee takes you to a great illustration on Facebook, showing the comparison in size of each bee.

Honeybees are not native to North America. They were originally imported from Europe in the 17th century. Honeybees now help pollinate many U.S. crops like fruits and nuts. In a single year, one honeybee colony can gather about 40 pounds of pollen and 265 pounds of nectar.  This information came from here. As we know, every colony has a queen. She controls it with a special pheromone, which unifies the bees in her care. A Queen bee can lay up to 3,000 eggs in just one day. Worker bees feed her and cater to her every need. 

I have seen bee hotels at the garden for a while now.   I found a website that gives instructions on how to make one. You can see it here and more info here.

Ginny, our dear blogging friend over at Let Your Light Shine, asked a great question via her husband Phil. It made me even more curious to make a further search for their answer.  I found this at the forum Quora.  I didn't provide a link to that because you have to join up so if you are interested, I thought you could just put it in your search engine.  Anyhow, the answer I found to Ginny and Phil's question was this: "Before the introduction of the honeybee, North America (USA and Canada) was home to a variety of native pollinators, including bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and hummingbirds. These native pollinators played a crucial role in pollinating native plants and crops before the arrival of the honeybee." Thank you Ginny and Phil for such a great question about how did things get pollinated beforehand. This is how I learn, and I always love learning something new each day, especially in my favorite topic, all about nature.

It was lovely seeing the crocus growing all over the garden, and the snowdrops among a tangle of fallen branches.    

A favorite focus of mine is the gazebo, this time with branches of witch hazel in the foreground.  

Gregg caught a small flock of geese as they flew in and these two were perfectly in frame. Always happy to see them.  It was very overcast that day.

That's the last photo for now. Still plenty more but it's time for me to put the computer to sleep. Gregg was over in Bethesda with our son today. They had some great father-son time. My day went quickly as I did a few chores; tidy-up time, fresh linens on the beds and I even got round to making a batch of cookies. If they turn out I'll post them sometime.  I had to use up ripe bananas and I wanted a change from banana bread.  (Added note: I was a wee bit disappointed in the recipe I found, so I will not be sharing.  Onwards and Upwards :))