Old boots and blossom

We have a Cherry tree in our garden. It’s a ‘Non Fruiting Cherry’ tree. Yes, such a thing can exist and I don’t get it either. It’s a strange old thing, and in fact has a preservation order on it, much to the chagrin of the neighbour whose garden backs on to our, and who would love to see it gone. He prunes diligently any branches that over hang his garden.

It’s gnarly and has big leaves, that over the course of the summer become splotchy and not that pretty. But, we love the tree, and in fact when we moved in, our little girl who was two years old at the time, called it ‘Lizzie tree’.  However, for about two weeks out of the year during my favourite time of the year, it is in blossom, and  GLORIOUS. Big fat white Sakura blossom, and the Bees love it. When it is in full blossom, if you stand underneath it, the buzzing is intense, as there are probably about thirty bees in there, I kid you not.  We have been in the house for nearly three years now, seen three Springs, and every Spring I take pictures of the blossom, and try very hard to get a decent picture of a Bee. Have I ever succeeded in getting a good capture of one of these wonderful mini beasts?  Have I bugger! You  would think with the amount of bees in this tree at any one time I would, but no.

Suffice to say I shall keep trying, and while we are on the subject of Bees, there are some things I should mention. The British Bee is in decline. Three species are extinct already, and more are under threat. This is due to pesticides, and the erosion of their natural habitat. But there are things we can do to help. Because Bees are CRUCIAL. No Bees, no food. Check out this website about how to help Bees. It’s excellent. It’s not overlong, over wordy or too heavy, but carries some very pertinent and important content.

Now for some blossom pics from this years batch.