The Smallflower Blue-Eyed-Mary (Collinsia parviflora) is a charming, minute annual that ranges from California to British Columbia. It thrives in diverse habitats such as open slopes, meadows, coastal bluffs, and open woodlands. Known for its delicate and charming blue and white blossoms, dense colonies of this species ephemerally grace rocky coastal landscapes from early to mid-spring. Growth is typically dense and low in full sun, while plants in partial shade are much leggier with fewer flowers.
 
Attractive to native early-season bees, particularly small bumblebees and solitary bees, Collinsia also has a fascinating ecological relationship known as myrmecophily, forming a mutually beneficial partnership with ants. The flowers produce specialized structures called extrafloral nectaries that secrete sweet nectar, attracting ants that assist with pollination while also providing protection against pest insects. This also helps ensure that pollination is successful in places where flowering occurs before bees have come out of hibernation.
 
Smallflower Blue-Eyed-Mary typically prefers a period of partial shade in the day, with sandy soils that stay damp through spring. The best approach is to surface sow seeds in place in late winter, or during the fall and overwinter the cold-hardy seedlings.