This hymenopteran (tiny bee? wasp?) was DOA, discovered while I was weeding.
It is SO TINY I had to carry it on a saucer
with a glass over it to keep it from blowing away.
The irises are blooming, now. Not all of 'em, but this one is going at it. =)
See the TEENY tiny thrip?
An extremely small insect
living in an impossibly beautiful place.
Western fence lizard watching me photograph irises.
I'm not sure that's an approving gaze...
The "beard" in bearded irises reminds me SO strongly of nudibranchs.
I'm JUST in love with irises. And the ones I have smell amazing, too. That's a requirement. =)
A local native, golden brodiaea. Beautiful buttery yellow faces beaming up at you.
Even with the drought, they're making a good showing.
They're just shorter than usual, if I remember correctly.
Yay, natives!
An extremely tiny spider (crab spider) atop a pale owl's clover flower.
For a sense of how tiny thrips are, look at the pale part of the bloom,
center left edge.
Zooming WAY in, there's a few thrips.
Can you find this tiny section in the previous photo?
One last moody gaze from a still-unfurling iris, this year's very first.
A great thing about irises, since I am clearly deeply in love with them,
is that they love OUR climate.
They don't need summer water.
They just sit there, high and dry, through the drought,
waiting for the rainy season to return.
Lovely, since my standards for the drought tolerance
of plants I'll allow in our garden is rising every year.
I hope your spring (or fall) is progressing beautifully.
xoxobb
