The Himalayan balsam flower trembles: a bumblebee is struggling to escape its floral chamber. As it stumbles out through a portal barely broad enough to accommodate its rotund body, the furry visitor is smeared with white pollen, forcing it to clean its eyes before plunging into the next bloom: another successful pollination.
There has been a dearth of bees this summer, but these balsams are humming with honeybees and bumblebees, addicted to the rich nectar flow that Impatiens glandulifera delivers, five times greater than native wildflowers. They’re also a rich food source for far longer than our native flora, still producing flowers until the first frosts.
