Six weeks ago, Kim (aka blackswampgirl) over at A Study in Contrasts was curious what would happen to the verbascum that I topped for one of my June bloom day scans.
It didn’t take Tracy DiSabato-Aust to predict this one: It threw out some side flower stalks from just below the cut, bloomed later and stayed shorter.
The image below also shows off one of the other features I like about this verbascum. After a good rain, the petals scatter like confetti and collect on the lower leaves.
And of course, I can’t shoot a verbascum without shooting the honeybees:
And this one with another pollinator:
How beautiful that looks with the succulents/cacti around it. (And even better, it apparently attracts lots of pollinators, too. I can’t wait.)
Great closeups of the bees and the flowers. I think I like the sideshoots better than just the one flower stalk. What do you think?
The actual inflorescence doesn’t look all that much different from the unclipped. See here: http://www.remarc.com/craig/?p=194 It just keeps the plant shorter.
Boy, I agree with the folks above – those images are beautiful (especially the yellow petals falling down on the leaves – you’re right, those are perfect).
Thanks for the kind words. But I can’t take much credit. These are freakin’ weeds.
Very lovely-plant, flowers,bees. Verbascum is another one of those flowers I want to try this fall-i already ordered the seeds.