We’d been meaning to visit Bluebell Cottage for a while and weren’t disappointed. There were some signs of flowers going to seed earlier than usual due to the long hot and dry spell, but the overall effect was glorious and the pollinators were having a field day – literally. I can hardly believe I managed to take this picture of the garden without a butterfly or bee in the foreground (there is a blurry bee a few rows back).Â
Shared for Cee’s Flower of the Day. This is Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ – such a staple in gardens here and seemingly unaffected by the drought. Bluebell Cottage Gardens is one of Cheshire’s Gardens of Distinction.
Susan Rushton 
Wow!
Oh to be a bee in a garden like this one! đŸ™‚
The garden is ablaze with those glorious flowers. What a wonderful sight.
I’d seen a few pictures of the garden beforehand but it still came as quite a surprise to actually be there. It isn’t a particularly large garden, but it is one I’ll go back to.
Never seen those flowers before and I really like them. You did a wonderful job capturing them with a really nice composition.
Thanks David. They are brilliant for attracting bees and butterflies – the garden was alive with them.
So beautiful!
It really was a sea of colour.
Lovely
Thanks, Derrick.
Very pretty and exquisite. Reminds me of royal colors and detail.
There’s a richness to the colours, isn’t there?
Such cheerful color – perfect for late summer!
A great plant to compose with!
Great photo, such warm colours!
It’s surprising how quickly things are turning autumnal – I don’t think I’m ready for that yet!
…me either!
These seem to be popular in most other regions, but I do not believe I have ever seen them here. I only saw the still blooming but tired remnants of a previous season’s plants while in Oklahoma in late autumn.
I don’t remember seeing them in a garden in Mississippi either. They are often kept as seed heads in gardens here over winter and cut back in the spring.
Are they left for the finches, or just to throw seed?
They’re left to help wildlife over the winter and the foliage provides a modicum of winter protection for the plants.
Oh, of course. We do not worry about frost protection much here.
Do they turn from one color to the other, or do they grow willy-nilly in different colors?
They’re not willy-nillies (couldn’t resist taking your prompt), although you can get different varieties in yellows, browns, oranges and a kind of dull red. By dull I don’t mean boring – I can’t think of a better way to describe it.