Some Kind of Mysterious Fleabane?

Dear Readers, I am gradually learning to be less agitated about the jungle-like state of my garden, and am becoming more accepting instead – this has been the lost summer, when all I’ve really been able to do is to watch and wonder at what pops up when nobody does anything about it. How about the rather elegant plant in the first photo, for a start – I suspect that it’s Canadian Fleabane, but won’t really know until it flowers. In its current state it could make a fine pot plant, but once it blooms it will be a rather raggedy, untidy member of the Asteraceae or daisy family.

And, someone warned me that once you’ve grown a Teasel you never will be without one, and so it’s proved. This one is making itself very at home in a pot that once held some Sicilian Honey Garlic bulbs. And in the pot next door there’s what I suspect is American Willowherb.

Then there’s the Greater Willowherb, which has been magnificent this year, though it’s grown rather taller than I expected, and in a lot of places where I technically didn’t want it. Oh well, all control is something of an illusion, as I’ve learned this year.

And I am absolutely delighted about what’s popped up in a random bucket. Unless I’m much mistaken, this is woody nightshade, or bittersweet – I thought I’d lost it from the garden, but clearly one of the berries has made itself at home. I loved it because it was buzz-pollinated by the bumblebees, and I miss the distinctive sound of the ‘buzz’ while I’m having my morning coffee.

And talking of bees, how about this little insect, nectaring away on my Sedum?  This is what’s known as a Base-banded Furrow Bee, from a genus called the Lasioglossum – in other parts of the world these bees are known as sweat bees, but they tend not to live up to their name in the UK. There are 34 species of Lasioglossum here, and they vary in size from tiny to the size of a honeybee – this bee was about half the size of a honeybee.  This genus can be very difficult to identify to species level without a microscope and a dead bee, so I shall simply admire this one as she goes about her business. Furrow bees are considered to be very underrated as pollinators – although many species are solitary bees they often nest in aggregations (collections of nest tunnels in the same area of usually sandy soil), and so they can often be seen visiting all kinds of crops.  Confusingly, some species of Furrow Bee are social, with a queen and worker bees. Every time I find a new insect in the garden, a whole new can of invertebrates opens up for investigation!