Some other things flowering in the garden

Grand collomia (Collomia grandiflora)

The garden is both nearing its peak of blooms and drying our from the hot weather that is normal for this time of year.  As I've mentioned, we don't water anything in our garden- except our vegetables (we only water food), so as a result, the garden is ever changing and always seems appropriate and in-line with what is going on around us.  That is, as the hills around Missoula dry up and turn a beautiful golden, so do parts of our garden, and it is nice. It feels and looks natural and appropriate for our climate and sense of place.

A sweat bee (Agopstemon sp.) gathers pollen from a three-veined fleabane (Erigeron subtrinervous)

Nevertheless, between March and October, there is always something flowering, and a lot of interesting things going on in the garden.  And certainly a lot more interesting and natural than an emerald green lawn in the middle of July.

Blue harebell (Campanula rotundafolia)

Here I try to document a few of the things in flower now- but this changes pretty quickly, too.  All too often I have tried to write posts about what is flowering now, but I abandon them when I realize they are quickly out of date!  So, here is a look at what is flowering now in the garden, or at least a few days ago!

Blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulea)

Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)

The grand collomia and the back of the potting bench match

Grand collomia and a fleabane

Evidence of leaf cutter bees (Megachiladae)- they are stealing our Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii)

Leaf cutter bees are busy taking parts of our leaves for their nests.  This is not truly herbivory, since they are not eating it per se, my wife calls it Herbo-kleptocism.

Blue harebells, Erigeron and nodding onion

Nodding onion (Allium cernuum)

A sweat bee (Augochlora sp.) pollinates a fleabane.

A mason bee (Osmia spp) in one of the waning Wilcox's penstemon (Penstemon wilcoxii)

Happy 4th of July!  A two tailed swallowtail enjoys a  rest on a goldenrod in our garden (Photo credit: wife of Wildlife Gardener)