The mostly native garden in August

As we all know, gardens don't necessarily look their best in the month of August, when most plants are no longer producing blossoms, and everything is getting dry.

I think our garden still looks pretty good right now, especially the native plants.

The plants get a decent soaking of water with the hose once a week, and I give some water to the non-native plants once or twice during the week.

Some strategic planning helps, at least I try to plan to have plants that bloom at different times of the year to always provide nourishment and habitat for the pollinators.

Lambs' ears plants are in the foreground. Most of the whorls are drying up, but some still have blossoms and there are new whorls developing. Behind the lambs' ears are Cosmic Evolution coreopsis, California poppies, California fescue, Sapphire salvia, borage and Sonoma Coast yarrow.

On the other side of the same garden area are Berzerkeley salvia, Sea Cliff buckwheat, and California fuchsia. The dried up stems are a yellow yarrow plant that bloomed then dried up.

In the foreground are Mexican cosmos and agastache "Forever Summer".

Behind them are more lambs' ears plants and to the right a California Delta sunflower.

And further back are the Sea Cliff buckwheat, Berzerkeley salvia, red buckwheat, California fuchsia and a Ray Hartman ceanothus shrub to the far right.

There are pollinator visitors in the garden all day including Anna's hummingbirds, many kinds of bees, butterflies, birds, damselflies and ladybugs.

And I hear crickets at night.