Virgo days, like these last two, are busy and full of details, fortunately backed with a lot of energy, usually, to do the many tasks at hand. A growing, waxing, Virgo moon heading toward full in spring adds to the momentum trifold. Even if it snows again this week, there is no stopping that momentum now!
About noon, as I headed over toward the area of the garden I intended to clean up, our dog, Percy, was acting strangely, as though seeing something that wasn’t there. Then I heard it, too. The HUM. As I turned the corner to where the winter heaths were in full bloom in full sun, there they were - a hundred newly awakened honey bees frenetically blazing from flower to flower as fast as they could go. SO fast that they couldn’t be seen or photographed as much more than a blur. Time was of the essence as the sun wouldn't be on the heaths very much longer and there was still chill in the air. And the heaths were at their peak of freshly opened, just at the same time as the arrival of the bees for this somewhat late first feeding of the new year. Phew…we are all so ready for spring.
Our honey bees rule our house, for they were living here in a corner of the attic before our family bought the house nearly 50 years ago. They don’t bother us and we don’t bother them. I learned many years ago that they need food immediately when they emerge in late winter or early spring, so I planted the heaths near their hives. In winter some of the heaths get beaten up by the winds, but these are well protected by hedges and thrive better than any others I have grown. They are Erica carnea ‘Rosalie’ and if she likes where she is, Rosalie will spread happily over a large area making a great many bees and people happy.
And there is nothing quite like a big HUM after the silence of a long winter.
