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the flowers are starting to open in the garden, and as it happens the evening flowers have been the earliest risers, so to speak. above, is our evening primrose, which i planted in front of the house last year. it did nothing at all last year, but is erupting now. its flowers open in the evening, hence the name, and they smell great. but the thing i like best about the plant is that the flowers turn a lovely salmon color when they fade. our night scented stocks are also in full bloom when the sun goes down, and they have the most outrageous scent. it is yummy enough to eat, i swear. i pick a few stalks on my way down to the bedroom (we are sleeping in the guest house at the bottom of the hill these days) and we smell them as we sleep. they aren’t much to look at, so i didn’t photograph them.
no swarming yet in beeland, but they sure are busy. lately, we have noticed that they have been “fanning.” they stand at the entrance to the hive and just flap their wings really quickly. they have to anchor themselves because if they didn’t they would just fly straight into the hive. we are trying to figure out why they are doing it, but my guess is that it is because it is hotter now, both because of the weather, and, i hope, because the hive is getting crowded so they will swarm. in the photo you can see them all standing there: 
Garden Correspondent 