Most of you who come here often will know that over our garden fence beside the field path we have been encouraging a wilderness garden to flourish. Most of it is not on our land, and so we call it ‘the guerrilla garden’, referencing a movement that began some years back and involved certain UK citizens going around, often under the cover of darkness, establishing gardens in derelict and unsightly corners of public spaces.
Our version was aimed at encouraging bio-diversity, mostly of the insect kind. It is wholly unplanned and includes some cultivated herbaceous species i.e. those that had grown too uncontainable in our small garden and had to be set free, the crab apple that had to be moved when the garden steps were being rebuilt, wild flowers sown and invaded, and quite a few weeds. I don’t do much to it beyond a big tidy up in the autumn, though I do have to tackle the fieldside margins now and then to stop the thistles and brambles from taking over.
Anyway, the ensuing floral jungle is a great source of pleasure for six months of the year, and once you start peering over the fence to study it whole hours can pass. So here’s a glimpse of some of what goes on there . I should perhaps warn you before you set off, the photo of the Mullein Moth caterpillar is very much larger than life. Also, who can spot the crab spider in the close-up of the Giant Mullein flowers? And anyone who has more accurate identifications of the ‘?beetles’ and hoverflies (Pete?) please shout up.
Lens-Artists: Detail This week Patti sets the challenge.
For more about the Lens-Artists photo challenge go HERE
Tish Farrell 
What larks! A giant caterpillar!
It does look a bit of a monster. Something that might feature in a Roald Dahl yarn maybe.
Gorgeous details, Tish. Glorious images. I truly enjoyed this!!
Many thanks, Patti. So good to hear you enjoyed this 🙂
I definitely did, Tish. 🙂
This is a marvelous selection. Colour galore and great insect shots.
As this is your home patch I’ll let Pete offer his take on the entomology. Although I will take a stab at the overfly on the Valerian.
Eristalis Tenax?
Thanks, Ark. All input v. welcome.
But did you spot the crab spider on the Giant Mullein flower detail pic?
LOl … no, I didn’t see it.
Okay … found it after so me serious squinting!
I only noticed it when I was posting the pic.
Beautiful shots Tish.You done real good on the insect ids.
The hairy bug is: Hairy Shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum).
The hoverfly with the dark stripe is most likely the Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) as our dear Ark has acurately stated.
The hoverly in mid-flight and the one on the Ox-Eye is the Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).
The last hoverlfy is hard to tell but is Syrphus sp.
I knew I could rely on you. Thanks, Pete. And for your nice comment.
Really good photos. I like your wild garden over the fence.
Thank you, Beverly.
This sounds such a good idea – planting things where there aren’t any and doing it secretly? Love it. Beautiful details all over, and thanks for the entomology!
So happy to introduce my bugs, Ann-Christine – even if I’m not always sure who they are 🙂
Haha – always someone who does – and kindly shares the knowledge!
How wonderful to have a wild garden next to your fence. I love these image of the bugs, beetles, and the caterpillar. Thank you for sharing the beauty of nature with us. 🙂
Glad you could come and look over the fence with me, Amy 🙂
Beautiful images Tish – I absolutely love the idea of the secret rogue gardeners! Looks like a very success project!
Many thanks, Tina. Have also encouraged similar ‘planting’ along our neighbours’ back fence – with the landowner’s permission – so our guerrilla enterprise is only a tad roguish. But this year a neighbour across the road has put flowering plants all round our local post box because she was fed up with the weeds due to the Council neglecting the space. We like her style, and posting a letter is now something of an event – checking on how the post box garden is faring.
I love the wild garden and its inhabitants and the idea of surreptitiously planting gardens. Thanks for showing several shots of the “whole” as opposed to only the lovely details.
janet
When you think about it, there are so many spaces that could be turned into gardens. When we lived in Nairobi, there were unofficial gardens everywhere – road reserves, traffic islands – the urban poor farming wherever they could find a corner.
This is just the kind of garden I love.
Alison
We love it.
What a wonderful insect haven you have created. We need places like this across the globe.
It’s heartening that the younger generations seem to be pretty aware of the need. Lots of making of ‘bug hotels’ at our local girl guide and scout HQ
Yes my grandkids have made them too but the bugs are yet to move in. You’ve inspired me to get out and prepare a garden bed for spring flowers. I’ll do it on a scrap of land out the back of this place. 🙂
Go, go, go. That sounds a lovely project!
A feast of beautiful images Tish, and a joy to know another tiny bit of the planet is flourishing.
The thing is, it doesn’t really take very much to change a little spot for the better. The hedge that was there originally was mostly made up of Snowberry, a thug of a tangly alien shrub, doubtless imported originally for its white autumn berries, but pretty sterile most of the year. Don’t even remember the birds using it for cover. We felt we’d been let out of confinement when it was dug out, though bits of it still pop up.
That’s so true.
I spent years seeing our property as an undifferentiated mass that was too big to do imagine now I’d change. It was my mum, when she was still able to visit us, who started making small changes.
The wisdom of our mothers!
Indeed. And amazing what a pair of fresh eyes can conjure.
🙂
How very lovely. I like the corn cockle and the pink toadflax. I might have to invest in some wild flower seeds to populate my Cornish hedge!
The purple toadflax grows like a weed around our garden and was here when we came – along with the columbines. I let them both do their thing. The pink toadflax, though, appeared last year in the front garden by the road, so I’m encouraging it a bit.
What is that purple flower with the thread thin petals?
Not sure which one you mean. There’s purple toadflax with thin spires of tiny snap dragon types flowers – also a pink version. The flat out coronet of spiky blue-mauve leaves is sea holly.
Sea Holly! Never have seen it before. Somewhat thistle in appearance but much nicer.
It is rather thistly – all set up for being battered by sand and sea winds rather than the comforts of an inland flower bed.
This is so pretty – what a lovely idea you had of putting your ‘spares’ over the fence!
Well I hated parting with them altogether 🙂
Lovely set of pictures.
Thank you, Sherry.
What a fabulous caterpillar! I could ride on his back and pretend I was ‘Alice’ 🙂 🙂
Now that would make a whole new blog – the adventures of Jo and the big stripey caterpillar 🙂
I’ve half a mind to do it, Tish! Half a mind -that’s about right 😍🐛💕
Ha! Half a mind indeed. And who let that caterpillar loose!
😆😆
Great post and images of the little kind.
Thanks a lot, Pete.
As I scrolled down across the caterpillar it seemed to be moving! … the wonders of optical illusions. 😀
… gorgeous photos all. 😀
… P.S. I finally got around to trying your cracker recipe, with an extra cup full of chopped up dates,raisins, and pecans,and 2 tablesp of maple syrup … made them a bit thicker than your recipe … baked as long as you said … and they are delicious!!!
For some odd reason I cannot comment on your Knitting post. Weird.
Anywho … here’s wot I wrote
What a fabulous idea and some truly excellent creations.
”Knit one pearl one ….”
That’s v. odd, Ark, but thanks for coming to comment on previous post. I gather from Becky there have been lots WP hiccups lately.
As Forest Gump once remarked, It happens … with or without the sh!
Flipping heck! Took me 10 minutes to fathom this. (I did laugh though). More coffee definitely required.
What a delight – the garden and the photos. This is my type of garden.
So happy you like my/its own jungly effort, Carol
Many thanks for the link.
Even your ‘wild space’ looks pretty.
Thank you.