The Iris and the Bee

"If you have two loaves of bread, sell one and buy a lily"
- Chinese proverb

I'm not sure that I've seen these before, in the little pond at the front of our house, but they're gorgeous: Iris xiphium var. lusitanica

Little bees (I think) like this were buzzing around, as were a couple of bigger honeybees

More pics on my Flickr. I particularly like the ones with the honeybee actually inside the lily getting pollen deposited on it 8)

Edit - damn fool I am; this is an Iris. I knew that - see the proper name I mentioned above, but for some reason I typed Lily instead - and even found a quote about lilies. Poo. ;-)