It’s sea dahlia time, both in our garden and what’s been preserved of San Diego’s coastal strand and coastal sage scrub. Once these perennials finish flowering for the year, they’ll enter summer dormancy and receive very little garden water. I trim the leaves once they’re brown and accept that having some “dead” sticks in the yard is worth it for the show they put on in the spring. They reseed easily if you let them—I’ve even got some popping up in my giant pot of spare coastal cholla pieces which is somehow a thing I have.
Leptosyne maritima
A flying jewel
I spent some time today appreciating the peridot sweat bees (Augochlorella pomoniella) and other pollinators moving between plants blooming in our garden. There are over 20,000 different species of known bees in the world. They’re all of intrinsic value and important to humanity’s survival as well.