Hi guys, we’re back from our travels! We had very mixed weather again, just like our June trip. This year has turned out to be pretty rubbish weather-wise, apart from July and August. Our housesitter didn't even get in the pool, yet she was in it most of October last year! We had a good time anyway.
So, back to home ground. We haven't been to this orchid festival before as we were away in October the last two years, so this year's dates coincided perfectly. The festival is basically a grouping of mostly French orchid growers bringing their best wares for sale in a beautiful historical setting, where we, the public, get a chance to look around the Abbey and its gardens as well as drool over the orchids, and put our hands (deeply😀) into our pockets.
There were two halls this size with stalls selling mostly orchids. There was such an amazing display of colours and shapes and sizes of flowers, from big and blowsy to the tiniest little blooms which you wouldn't even have realised were orchids if you hadn't been told.
I bought a couple of new plants which I'll show you at the end of the post. I have been reading up a bit more about the orchids that I own, as some flower repeatedly and others not at all, so I know now a bit more about what I should be doing with them. I made sure to buy two new genuses as I don't want any more Phalaenopsises!
The unusual slipper orchid above is Paphiopedilum 'Pinocchio' - I couldn't fit it all in the space.
There was also this stall selling carnivorous plants, some of which were quite beautiful. I wasn't tempted though as I have had a few in the past which didn't thrive (probably because I didn't really know what I was doing!).
The abbey which dates back to 1093 is now privately owned. It affiliated itself with the Cistercian movement in 1144 and stood firm with the Catholic church against the Cathars. The abbey, once rich and powerful, declined from the 15th century and was dissolved during the French revolution. Refounded in 1858 but abandoned by 1901, the property was bought by French artist Gustave Fayet and his wife, to keep the abbey from falling into American hands. Thanks to them the abbey was restored and used for artistic projects.
Nowadays as well as being open to the public and having a restaurant and gift store, the abbey produces wine and has a small working farm. It also hosts cultural events such as musical concerts and exhibitions.
A rather interesting sculpture made out out many pieces of metal; I'm not sure what the metal bits are - any ideas, anyone? Click on the picture to see it larger.
The trees on either side are Strawberry Trees (Arbutus unedo) with edible fruit, and whose leaves host the caterpillar of the glorious Two Tailed Pasha butterfly.
Below are the cloisters.
We didn't have a map of the buildings and grounds which was a bit frustrating as we had no idea what there was to see here! That was the problem with pre-buying our tickets so getting to bypass the ticket office - not such a good thing after all. I did find out later that we saw most of what there was to see which was a relief.
We then found ourselves inside the church, which had a stunning display of ... guess what.... orchids!
There wasn't really a lot to see inside so I'm glad we had another reason to go there. If we went again, we would do one or two of the walks that one can do from the Abbey.
Below we are up one floor and looking down over the roofs of the cloisters.
There was a covered walkway with lots of these interesting doors - possibly monks' cells?
The front facade of the church.
Beside the church in the rose garden There were still a few roses flowering but the best time is May and June. Never mind, it was still very colourful here with sages and perovskia all flowering.
We then walked up the terraced gardens where there were a few herb, vegetable and medicinal herb gardens as well as a garden with flowers and bee hives.
Neptune's fountain.
From the terraces we had lovely views over the roofs of the abbey.
Here are the two orchids that I bought. I already have several Phalaenopsises which often repeat flower, a Dendrobium which repeat flowers, and a Cymbidium which I inherited from Mum and which has never flowered though I remember it flowering prolifically for Mum who had amazingly green fingers with houseplants (I need to put it outside during summer - apparently the difference between day and night temps stimulate flowering).
The following is from the Odontoglossum genus, which are known as Butterfly Orchids and come from the high Andes.
I hadn't realised that there was a bloom that had gone over on the left!
This is Ludisia discolor which is a terrestrial orchid, meaning it grows in the ground rather than up in the tree tops and therefore needs ordinary potting mix with added drainage and not the bark type orchid mix. We saw one in full flower and it has little white and yellow flowers. These orchids are known as Jewel Orchids and are mostly grown for their attractive leaves. These orchids come from south-east Asia. I'll take another photo to share when it's in bloom.
Anyone noticed that I seem to have become somewhat smitten by orchids since moving down here? 😀😁😀
Bee activity has slowed down in the bee hotel but there are still a few bees preparing their nest chambers. Some bees like below, have closed the chamber with a strange saliva like substance that looks like bubbly plastic!
With all these pictures, it is much better to click on them to see them much sharper and clearer, not to mention larger.
Below were the first six nests of my yellow and black bee that I mentioned in a previous post - well I have now discovered that it is a Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium species), who don’t use leaves or mud to line their nests, but plant hairs! I don't have any obvious furry leaved plants but there is furry stuff on the spent flowers/seed pods of Perovskia, so it might have come from that. If you look at the two pictures below, you'll see one chamber in preparation, lined with cotton wool like stuff. The other five chambers below have been sealed off; I'm guessing from the colours that four are with some kind of chewed up plant material and the brown one with chewed woody stuff or soil.
This bee eventually made nine nest chambers! She was one busy bee. 😀 I have also seen one again in my herb bed, displaying a rather strange behaviour of buzzing and hovering around a couple of my herbs that are in bloom, occasionally stopping on a flower for a nano second only to buzz off again and continue this strange patrolling. The males of Anthidium manicatum display territorial behaviour, patrolling around their favoured plants and chasing off other pollinators, whilst waiting for females to appear, so it's possible other Anthidium bees do the same. I have no idea how long their nesting season goes on for, so cross fingers there may be more nests in the bee hotel from this species!
There are 11 species of Anthidium in France whilst only A. manicatum in the UK, so I can't be sure which exact species is my bee, though I don't believe they all collect plant hairs. I really don't have the time right now to research this further.
Other solitary bees have chosen the cut pieces of bamboo for their nest chambers, although what has struck me since these chambers were sealed off, is that some of them have been broken into. I know there are parasitic wasps, and also other bees who lay their eggs in the nest chambers of other bees (they are known as Cuckoo Bees), but what has surprised me is that they haven't resealed the chamber. It's not just this one below (top right bamboo), but other different sized holes from other bees have also shown this breaking in....
.... like these tiny holes here - some on the bottom row have been broken into.
So you can see, so much to study and research and keep me occupied! It's all so fascinating and I look forward to seeing a whole year in the life of my bee hotel next year. And I must remember to take my camera out more often and take photos of the bees!
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Now back to my Wasp Spiders. Below is a young one.
And this is a freshly made web (when the spider wasn't around). The zigzag stabilimentum is quite clear here with a furry mass of web where the spider tends to hang around.
Here we have a very slightly older spider with a male very close to her. Males are very small in comparison to the adult spiders, which you'll see a bit further down. I saw many males this year though I never saw them doing the actual business nor being eaten! Note also in this photo is a moult, known as an exoskeleton. Like many insects, as they grow they shed their outer shell. I tried to take one to keep when the spider wasn't there any more, but it fell apart in my fingers, it was so delicate.
A more mature spider with its wrapped up dinner.
This is part of our ditch between us and the neighbours where many of the spiders could be found, especially around the Oregano which is abundant in the ditch area. This ditch is a passageway for butterflies and other insects, so a good place for spiders to find food.
Underside view of a male spider on its own - I found that after some of the females disappeared that the males would hang around alone for a few days until they presumably went off to find another female.
Now here's a mature female from the under side, with two males. Lucky lady - she had a choice!
You can really see the difference in size now.
This is part of my Nectar Bar and in this patch there were eventually seven mature Wasp Spiders!
The most I counted at one time was 23, but sadly, one by one they disappeared, whether they have been predated or what, I don't know. I'm very disappointed as I think I had some around until September last year, and I have only found one egg sac so far, in the Valerian. Hopefully there will be more in the ditch.
I read that Wasp Spiders can be predated by birds, praying mantises, lizards and wasps, that's not all wasps but probably one of the spider hunting wasps.
We are off in the Moho next week to Provence again, but further to the north of the region in some of the regional parks in the mountains that we haven't visited before, though we'll finish off at our favourite beachside campsite for a few days as usual!
I'll then write about some of our travels during the winter like I did last year. See you in a few weeks! 😀
We then drove to the village of Laurac, which is on my side of the plain and only 15 mins from home. Laurac was an important village in medieval times and was the capital of the Lauragais region (much of the plain south of Toulouse), but it was also a Cathar village, subjected to the horrors of Simon de Montfort and the crusade against them, which I explained in my last but one post.
We didn't have time to look around the village but it looks really pretty. Look at those Valerians growing out of the walls! Next time we come here to see the orchids, we will have a wander around the village.
Ian had discovered a field near the village full of Military Orchids, so we walked up a very steep hill with many orchids growing in the verges on the way up, including these Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera).
Man Orchids (Orchis anthropophora) - the one on the right was exceptionally yellow - they can be dark pinky red through to a beigey yellow colour. There are also some Bee Orchids in the first photo for scale - Man Orchids can be very tall.
In the field full of Military Orchids (Orchis militaris). There were some Military x Lady Orchid crosses in this field too, but I am not sure if I have a photo of one as they are not that easy to tell which is which without an expert! There were various different colours as you can see in this photo.
Click on the image to enlarge it then look inside the flower of the white Military Orchid - can you see a little alien face? I think it's delightful! Both these are the same species (I think), just different colours.
Looking across the plain to the Montagne Noire.
Clockwise from top: Laurac from the Military Orchid field; Owly Sulphur Owlfly (Libelloides coccajus); Tassel Hyacinth (Leopoldia comosa), a species found in the Med region.
We then went up to the highest point in Laurac, to a hillside we visited last year which was full of orchids. At first glance, it seemed disappointing as the hundreds of Long-lipped Tongue Orchids were not in abundance like the previous year, as it seemed the top of the hill had been recently grazed. However, the hillside proved to have a lot of goodies!
Clockwise from top left: Narbonne Flax (Linum narbonense); Pheasant's Eye (Adonis annua); Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera); Six-spot Burnet Moth (Zygaena filipendulae).
View to Laurac top, and distant view of my village, Fanjeaux, bottom.
We discovered quite a few of these beautiful Pink Butterfly Orchids (Anacamptis papilionacea) growing on the hillside.
And some more of the gorgeous Ophrys bertolonii subsp. magniflora.
Niall and one of our group taking photos of the Pink Butterfly Orchids.
Another amazing day out and I'm still enjoying learning about the orchids and other wildflowers found in this region. Writing this blog helps me with learning about them as I look them all up once they have been identified. Whether I retain that knowledge or not is another matter!
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