Mining Bee and the Tricolored Gilia

Just as I hoped, the Tricolored, or Birds Eye Gilia reseeded throughout our native plant patch, and now there is a lovely mini-meadow.

The blossoms of this California native are such a lovely sight to see, with their lavender and white petals and yellow throat. But the best part of them, I think, is the beautiful blue pollen they produce, and the bees attracted to that pollen.

This is the first mining bee I observed in the garden, and it was very determined to collect as much of that pollen as possible to take back to its brood. Here it is backing out of the blossom.

Here is the same mining bee when it entered the blossom...

... diving in.

These are some of the Tricolored Gilia in our mini-meadow.

Don't you love that blue pollen...