What's Blooming

Close-Up of a Jump-Up

Push, little seed,
push, push, little seed,
till your head pops out of the ground.
This is the air,
and now you are there
you can have a look round.
You'll see God's sky,
you'll see God's sun,
you'll feel his raindrops one by one,
as you grow, grow, grow, grow,
grow to be wheat for bread.
So push, little seed,
push, push, little seed,
that the world may be fed.

I found this poem on a fantastic UK web site. Our amber waves of grain happen to be wind-pollinated, but the site focuses on plants that aren't – the ones we need to bees to pollinate so the Earth doesn't starve – and shows their importance to bees as a nectar and/or pollen source. While the list is directed toward gardeners in Northern Europe, it has a lot of What's Blooming in our garden:

purple sage – just coming into bloom and has been visited by scouts; the girls that have just emerged should find it in full bloom when they finally venture from the hive in a couple of weeks. BB said he's seen orientation flights already! And a great big beard yesterday... SO bummed I missed it.

gooseberry (Ribes 'pixwell') – should be a good crop this year
currant (Ribes 'red lake') – ditto
strawberries
phlox subulata – the girls are not interested in this stuff at all – and it's not on the list
veronica 'blue reflection'
soapwort (Saponaria oxcymoides)
ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
common chives (Allium schoenoprasum) – the bumbles especially love these
bearded iris

Elsewhere in the 'hood:
European Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
pinks (Dianthus plumarius)
tulips
candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)