Still busy in the garden

Trying to provide all of the plants moisture, I spot water using water we save from for example: water used rinsing produce such as spinach, water that pasta was boiled in, and rain barrel water.

As long as the plants somehow thrive and blossom, the pollinators visit.

The Summer Long-Horned bees Melissodes robustior (Apidae) such as the male above in a California Delta sunflower, are zooming through the garden all day, sometimes battling over the same sunflower.

Their peak flight season is from late June through early August, but can still be seen in the garden through September.

I think they will be around as long as the Delta sunflowers bloom and provide pollen, which could be for a few weeks more.

I will truly miss seeing these summer friends, and plan to plant even more native sunflowers in a larger patch next year.

You can almost hear the buzzzzzzzzzzzz as this hoverfly approaches a Pacific Aster Symphyotrichum ascendens. We now have several of these plants growing with varied success. The first year in the garden, these transplanted seedlings don't seem to grow, sometimes seeming on the verge of drying up. Then the second year some grow to the height of three or four feet. Asters provide sustenance for the pollinators in the autumn and sometimes through the winter months.

Dandelions are frequently visited by all kinds of pollinators, such as this honey bee.

We have some areas of the garden where we leave the dandelions alone.

Once the blossoms go to seed, it's the birds turn to feast.