By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Monday I wrote about my visit to the Arlington Garden in Pasadena, California and about how appropriate that demonstration garden felt for the season in our arid Mediterranean climate.  Suitably dry and quiet.

  This weekend a friend and I went to the Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach, California, an 18-acre demonstration garden and nature preserve.  And I was expecting a similar experience.  But there was a lot more life there than I expected.

This green fruit beetle (Cotinus mutabilis) was frolicking on one of the remaining Matilija poppy, for instance.  (As their name suggests these beetle feed on fruit so I don't think this guy was was doing any damage to the flower.  A dance in tribute to its beauty, perhaps?)

Photo by Nancy Malone

Then we came across this huge field of pink flowers.  Marsh fleabane (Pluchea odorata), I'm told.  Normally it just rings the lake.  But when the lake dries up in summer, it takes over the whole basin.  Skipper butterflies were loving it.

Marsh fleabane is obviously a big hit with bees as well.

Photo by Nancy Malone

The blooms on most of the Cleveland sage were gone.  But the few blue tubes that remained attracted tons of Gulf fritillaries.

Photo by Nancy Malone

And finally there was this wonderfully creepy stuff that made us feel like we'd walked into the Blair Witch Project. Anyone know what it is?

So go put on some sunscreen and walk on the wild side.  Obviously the show doesn't end just because it's summer.