Bees enjoying the native patch

Bees visit the native patch in our garden all day.

I'm so glad that I purchased these seedlings in August!

The honey bee in the photo above is on a blossom of the California Aster Asclepias fascicularis.

This aster is a host plant for Northern Checkerspot butterflies.

This red buckwheat plant, planted the same day as the California aster, much to our delight, has been in full bloom for over a month, now. It is providing bees and butterflies with nectar and pollen.

Here a digger bee visits, foraging for nectar.

The cuckoo bee here, a female Coelioxys rufitarsis, visits a California Aster blossom.

Cuckoo bees are parasites, stealing provisions as well as nests from other bee species.

Since they prey on provisions of other bee species, they have no need to collect nectar or pollen for their young.

A flower fly, an Allograpta obliqua, is crawling down into a California Delta sunflower.