No, I haven't struck it rich, not in monetary terms anyway, but I have noticed these gorgeous shiny beetles fossicking around on the wax flowers. I am calling them jewel beetles, though I'm not totally sure that is right. After some research on the matter, I was not able to find anything the same pictured. There are 1200 species of jewel beetles so perhaps it's not surprising that 'my' beetles were not pictured in my insect identification book or on a number of internet sites I visited. If anyone knows any different, I'd love to know, but for me, for now, they are jewel beetles glowing in the sun among the white flowers.
Much more prolific are the bees buzzing around the same bushes. They don't look like jewels, but they are worth their weight in precious gems for the invaluable pollination job they do. Did you know that about a third of all the food we eat is pollinated by bees? How can you put a value on that? I'm very happy to see so many around my garden because they pollinate my fruit and vegetable crops while collecting pollen and nectar for their own purposes.
As I trawled the internet finding out about jewel beetles, I was amazed at the diversity and beauty to be found in the beetle world and astonished to find that you can buy earrings made from beetles and framed beetles to hang on your wall. I think I'll stick with admiring them where they belong, in the garden.
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