White four-petaled flowers tinged with pink - Milk Maids (Cardamine californica)

Small burgundy five-petaled flowers with shiny evergreen leaves - Catalina Currant (Ribes viburnifolium)

Right on time. Feels hopeful.

#NativePlants #CaliforniaNativePlants #SuburbanLandscape #HomegrownNationalPark #ifyouplantittheywillcome #bloomscrolling

A corner of a CA native garden in winter, freshly mulched with salvaged coast live oak leaves (Quercus agrifolia). Center: multi-trunked Ceanothus 'Cliff Schmidt' small tree in bloom. Pink CA honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula v. vacillans) grows on a wire trellis on the right. The understory is a set of three manzanitas (Arctostaphylos bakeri 'Louis Edmunds'), and the groundcover includes many clumps of hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea) and a large clump of Sonoma sage (Salvia sonomensis x mellifera)

Satisfying day in the garden. I scooped up oak leaves from neighbors' sidewalks, and distributed them around my garden as mulch. Fluffy, insulating, no doubt packed with insects for the birds.

#NativePlants #CaliforniaNativePlants #SuburbanLandscape #HomegrownNationalPark #ifyouplantittheywillcome

A male goldfinch perched on a stalk of wild bergamot/bee balm, eating from a seedhead.

#PollinatorGarden update. A goldfinch!
#plantnative #ifyouplantittheywillcome

#NativePlants #CaliforniaNativePlants #SuburbanLandscape #HomegrownNationalPark #ifyouplantittheywillcome

A wasp feeding from mountain mint flowers. Bonus firefly in the background.

A honeybee feeding on mountain mint blossoms.

Little brown ants on a Queen Anne's Lace flowerhead.

Update from my #PollinatorGarden now that the mountain mint is in bloom!
Today we got a wasp, a firefly, and a honeybee getting breakfast from the mint, as well as some cute lil ants on Queen Anne's lace.
#plantnative #nativeplants #gardening #bugs #bugsky #ifyouplantittheywillcome #bees #entomology

Wish I could get a decent pic of all these fireflies for you folks. It's so fucking lovely.
#fireflies #summer #PollinatorGarden #ifyouplantittheywillcome #bugs #entomology

A skipper moth (?) on an M. Fistulosa blossom

A bumblebee on an M. Fistulosa blossom

Pink hybrid tickseed (coreopsis) flowers

Pollinator garden update!

More sexy bee balm pics, now with pollinators! Got a bumblebee and what I think is a kind of skipper moth.
Also a pink hybrid tickseed. Nice blooms this year!
#PollinatorGarden #bee #moth #entomology #ifyouplantittheywillcome #nativeplants #plantnative #garden #gardening

A bumblebee feeding on common milkweed flowers. Dunno what kind of bumble, Seek couldn't identify if and I'm not that good at bugs. 🥲

Very important news! A bumblebee was on the milkweed in my garden this morning!
Thank you for your attention to this important buggy matter.
#bees #bugs #entomology #nativeplants #ifyouplantittheywillcome

CA Red buckwheat, Eriogonum grande var. rubescens (especially vibrant this year), playing with English lavender, Lavandula anguvstifolia 'Hidcote'.

It's believed, based on science, that it's most beneficial to the local food chain (pollinators, birds, etc.) to have at least 70% native plants in your garden. There is room to play.

#NativePlants #CaliforniaNativePlants #SuburbanLandscape #HomegrownNationalPark #ifyouplantittheywillcome

Salvia 'Celestial Blue' combined with CA Poppy (Eschscholzia californica 'Carmine King').

Clarkia concinna (Red Ribbons) is holding its own in a bed previously planted with non-native Nigella sativa.

Monardella villosa ssp. franciscana 'Russian River' flower coming up through hybrid Sphaeralcea 'Newleaze Coral'.

Zooming out on the bed of Clarkia and non-native Nigella. Growing against the fence is CA native honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula), now done blooming.

Happy Summer Solstice! Plants are crossing boundaries and entangling themselves with each other in my garden at this time of year. And the CA native pollinators are in heaven!
#NativePlants #CaliforniaNativePlants #SuburbanLandscape #HomegrownNationalPark #ifyouplantittheywillcome

Bumblebee with big pollen sacs on wild hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens.

Check out the pollen sac on this busy bee on my wild hydrangea, Hydrangea arborescens!!! 👀
#beeporn #nativeplants #ifyouplantittheywillcome

#monarch #monarchbutterfly #monarchbutterflies #summervibes #milkweed #ifyouplantittheywillcome

A yellow moth with horizontal stripe across the bottom of it's wings, resting on a burgundy clay pot rim.

Pinkish-red California poppies (Carmine King) in full bloom, with purple blooming Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina' in the background.

Reddish-pink California poppies (Carmine King) blooming, along with Blue Flax (Linum lewisii). Three spikes of flowers from Hesperaloe parvifola [not CA-native but hummingbird favorite] rise up in the middle.

A new visitor has found my garden, thanks to the CA poppy super bloom: a moth called Neoterpes edwardsata. CA poppies are its main larval host plant. If you plant it, they will come!
#NativePlants #CaliforniaNativePlants #SuburbanLandscape #HomegrownNationalPark #ifyouplantittheywillcome

It’s #InsectThursday
A few photos of insects in my garden for all you nature lovers 🐝 #pollinators #bees #butterflies #nativebees #amazingnature #gardens
#biodiversity #flowers
#insects #ifyouplantittheywillcome
#CertifiedMonarchWaystation