Gray Hairstreak Butterfly

Skippers and other little native butterflies like to lay their eggs on our Seacliff Eriogonum parvifolium and Ella Nelson's Yellow Eriogonum nudum ‘Ella Nelson’s Yellow’ buckwheat plants.

Here, a Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus is laying eggs on a flowerhead of the Seacliff buckwheat.

This buckwheat plant is a very lovely shrub that grows in a mound, blooms throughout the year, and so far has spread to more than 3 feet across.

Fortunately, it is thriving in our hard pan clay soil, and needs no maintenance whatsoever.

The same skipper from behind.