Wool Carder Bees settled in for the summer
The wool carder bees Anthidium manicatum are back in full force, now that the lambs ears are blooming. Although they forage for nectar...
The friendly Umber Skipper
Another cheerful Umber Skipper Poanes melane in the garden, this time perched on the top of a Chiapas flower stem. There are many of...
Ivory Banded Digger Bee - first featured star of Pollinator Week
All hail the mighty little Ivory Banded Digger Bee Anthophora urbana ! These solitary bees nest i the soil, often in flat, bare ground....
Cabbage White on the Red Valerian
Cabbage Whites Pieris rapae are always a joy to observe as they flit through the garden, seemingly weightless. They were introduced to...
Beautiful monarch butterfly
The first of the season to eclose! She started as an egg laid by her mother on one of our potted narrow-leaf milkweed plants. She then...
Sleeping Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee
The first sleeping bee observed in our garden this year! It was very breezy, cool and overcast most of the day, and this yellow-faced...
Lovely California Natives for the Pollinators
Aren't these Ella Nelson buckwheat Eriogonum nudum 'Ella Nelson's Yellow' blossoms lovely? This particular strain of California nude...
Here come the bees
Oh, how I love this time of year when many native and other bees arrive and find nectar sources in the garden! Now that the blackberry...
First Echo Blue Butterfly Sighting
ever! I had never seen an Echo Blue butterfly before, but look who visited our garden yesterday afternoon and lingered for about half an...
Lovely Painted Ladies
Painted ladies Vanessa cardui spend a lot of time in our native garden. This one is sipping nectar from Siskiyou Wooly Sunflowers...
