It's not spring until you see honey bees, carpenter bees and butterflies on Tidy Tips.
That would be Layia platyglossa, a wildflower native to southern California. Its common name is "Tidy Tips" or "Coastal Tidy Tips." It's a daisylike flower with yellow petals tipped in white, thus the name. It's a member of the aster family.
A flower bed in the center of the UC Davis campus (near the Science LaboratoriesBuilding) boasts an intermingling of the yellow-and-white Tidy Tips and sky-blue Desert Blue Bells (Phacelia campanularia).
Gorgeous!
Insects think so, too. On any given day you'll see honey bees, carpenter bees, butterflies and lacewings holding family reunions.
Attached Images:
HONEY BEE visits Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) a native California wildflower. This photo was taken April 2 on the UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
CARPENTER BEE visits Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) on the UC Davis campus. The insect is so heavy it pulled down the flower stem. The blue flower at right is Desert Blue Bells (Phacelia campanularia).(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLY (Vanessa cardui) visits Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa) on the UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)