Deutzia

Having posted butterflies for the past three days I felt that I was on a roll, and got up this morning with a plan to track down another one - but on discovering that it was overcast, windy, and cold, I knew that my chances of seeing any butterflies today were on the low side of slim. I searched the garden for other invertebrates, but couldn't even find a beetle. Also, if you read yesterday's post and took a small bet with yourself that I'd be out with a magnifying glass, scouring the holly tree for Holly Blue eggs, you owe yourself a new lens - but my prediction was right, and I didn't manage to find any of those either.

So I was reduced to looking for a nice flower to photograph. At this time of year I should be spoiled for choice, but the rotten early spring we had has left much of the garden still looking quite drab (a friend of mine who is committed to opening her garden for charity in a couple of weeks' time is in despair about the situation), and two circuits only netted me half a dozen reasonable shots. Two of those are of this Deutzia x kalmiiflora, a shrub which struggled to establish when I planted it about fifteen years ago, but which is now happy enough to put on a lovely display each spring. I like the fact that the buds are pink, and open to pinky-white flowers, which fade to white as they age. Usually it's also a good attractor of bees and hoverflies - though not today, as you can see.