Busy pollinators and some of their favorite plants

Cabbage moth on nasturtium leaves

There is a bustle of activity in the garden, with pollinators such as cabbage moths, hummingbirds and bees flitting from plant to plant, sometimes just resting in the sunshine, like the cabbage moth in the above photo.

This is my favorite time of year, when new growth on all the plants are shooting up, and leaves are very soft and fresh. And the air is filled with bird songs.

Ceanothus blossom cluster

As I wrote in a post earlier this week about the Ceanothus shrub, it is a native plant to California, therefore drought tolerant and very easy care. Basically, once it is established, which can take a couple of years, this shrub requires no care or watering whatsoever. And every spring it will reward you with hundreds (if not thousands) of beautiful purplish blue clusters of blossoms that attract bees and butterflies. Ours is a Ray Hartman ceanothus, and it grew into a wide tree, about 8 feet tall.

I just can't resist posting more photos of honeybees feasting on the nectar of the Ray Hartman ceanothus blossoms!

A group of some of the pollinators' favorite food plants: in the foreground bottom are fuzzy lambs ears that will shoot up purple flower clusters during the summer months. From the left side toward the middle, a borage plant with large leaves will produce lovely midnight blue flowers. On the lower right are nasturtium plants that will soon have orange and yellow blossoms. And from the upper right side to the center you see the Chiapas salvia shrub with its bright magenta tubular flowers.