A Blooming Defense

At Sanctuary Community gardens we use flowers instead of chemical warfare on unwanted pests in our vegetable plots.  By providing food, habitat and shelter for beneficial bugs we create an army of predators able to keep those unwanted bugs under control.

Poppy (Sept 2015)

To keep our beneficial army in good numbers we have to provide enough flowers to have something blooming every month of the year.

Calendula officinalis with small endemic Hoverfly Melanostoma fasciatum  (Sept 2015)

I was lucky enough to photograph one of the most desirable biological helpers in the veggie patch the Hoverfly as it landed on a calendula. Calendulas are one of the best flowers to have in your garden because they will flower for most months of the year, and have been especially noticeable over the winter months in our gardens when there is little else flowering.

Dombeya

There was some diversity of flowers over the winter around the margins of our gardens. Dombeya originates in Africa and in its homeland it flowers in autumn, but here it blooms over winter.

Buttercup Tree -Senna corymbosa  (May 2015)

The Buttercup tree also features in our tree surround and is not only a handy legume but it flowers from late summer and over winter.  Bees really enjoy this large shrub and while bees aren't predators they are the top pollinators.

This gardeners plot is producing chilis alongside flowers (April 2015)

We do boost the number of the flowers in the gardens by having areas that we plant out just in flowers

This is good for bees - a one stop shop - but most of the beneficial insects are not as good flyers and do not fly the distances a bee does, so we encourage everyone to plant flowers in their own plots to have the best chance of protection against bugs that will devour vegetables. 

Cosmos growing beside bulb fennel allowed to go to seed

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Predator bugs like some of the many parasitic wasp species in New Zealand are tiny and the most important flowers to offer them are those with umbel heads like the fennel, wild carrot, wild parsnip, yarrow, bishops flower, and alyssum. These heads are excellent landing pads for not such good flyers and they contain small flowers small bugs can easily collect nectar from.

Amaranthus (April 2015)

Red amaranth produces towers of crimson throughout the garden from late summer until autumn. The small flowers are ideal for predator bugs.

Chrysanthemum

This stunning show of pink flowers of a chrysanthemum were making a show at the end of April on the edge of a gardeners plot. Asters, Golden Rod and chrysanthemums are good for late autumn flowering.

This stunning sunflower was still in bloom in June believe it or not!

Mexican Marigold Tagetes

These small yellow dots of sunshine bloom from late summer and are still flowering and we have plants of this shrub in the herb garden and in the carpark.  A good flower to have near your vegetable garden.

Pineapple Sage Salvia elegans

Pineapple Sage is a herb that not only provides a sweet flower to add to salads but will flower over winter and is in full show in early spring. 

Rocket Eruca sativa in flower 

 Early spring in the garden is a similar situation to the Auckland housing market, demand outstripping supply, so valuable extra flowers can be utilised by increased numbers of beneficial bugs if gardeners just delay taking out their winter brassicas like this patch of rocket in a gardeners plot.

Cavil Nero (Tuscan kale) when left to flower looks a little like a xmas tree.

The gardens are changing from a colour pallet of mainly yellow of the calendulas to include the colours of summer...a lovely time to be in the garden.

Ice plant daisies in Jan's plot

This is a super flower for bees and we have Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) growing in our plots.

Abutilon is flowering now in our tree margins in orange and red. You can eat the blooms.

Kowhai

Tui and Kowhai (Oct 2015)

Tui's can be heard and seen around our garden margin feasting on the kowhai that is blooming really well this year

Just had to include Liz's beautiful tulips (Oct 2015)

Poppies among the Cavolo Nero in Rosie's plot (Sept 2015)

Damson plum is one of the later fruiting plums and has now just come out in blossom.  It's always good to see blossom on fruit trees as a promise of summer fruits ahead and fruit trees really benefit from having an army of beneficial predator bugs living near by.

On a recent posting on my Jeannie's Kitchen blog featured the gardens when I made a salad in the garden including flowers and weeds in the mix.