Our Wysteria Is Blooming

Wysteria blooming rampantly.  It is still a couple of days from maximum bloom. Even so it is a beautiful cover over our patio. 

Every spring, one of the delightful scenes around our hilltop is the blooming of our Wysteria on the arbor over the patio.

As was the habit around many older homes there was always a grape arbor.  The grape vine spread over the surface of the arbor, providing both shade, and later a tasty grape or two.  Our arbor started life supporting two older grape vines. One died of old age, and the other held on valiantly for a few years, but it too succumbed to time.

The arbor was not the cool shady spot it had been under a spreading umbrella of grape leaves, so one year shortly after we moved here, my parents gave us a Wysteria.  Dad told me to let it wrap itself around the pipe then train it over the top of the arbor.

The only "training" it needed was a couple of twists of the searching tendrils around the pipe, and it was off and running. Today, the whole surface of our patio is covered by beautiful purple blossoms.

Of course, these blooms will soon fall and cover the ground with their petals. In the meantime, the blooms are beautiful.

This patio is constructed of pipe, with wooden slats on top. The pipe arbor replaced one I remember from my childhood made of redwood posts. Somewhere around the area, there is a nest of what my dad used to call, "Wood Bees" that burrowed into the soft redwood.

I remember him telling me to put my ear near one of the holes in the post. I'd seen a big black bumblebee enter so knew he was inside somewhere. When I listened, I could hear the big bee gnawing on the wood.

This afternoon, I spied a big black "bubbly-bee" busily going to every blossom, checking for pollen. I tried several times to get a good shot, and finally settled for this one

A big black bumblebee is looking in every bloom he can find for pollen. If you look carefully you can see his antennae an the top of his head.