Thanks for all the thorough replies and the warm welcome! I went back out before there were replies, and the fly was gone and there was no damage on the leaf he was on, so I'm pretty sure it's fine, as most of you said. I saw another one on the bush while I was out there. We walked over to the community garden and saw several more on various plants, so I guess they are a common bug in this area that I've just never noticed before; or they've only been around for a short while. I was most perplexed by the color-- they are very metallic in sheen, which reminded me of sweat bees, but sweat bees only seem to come in iridescent shades of blue and green. I haven't seen any pictures with a fly this color-- they are so metallic that they are extremely visible even from a few feet away. Thank you for the picture compliments fruitnut and charina! It's just an iphone picture, but I have had a few hobbies that encouraged the development of macro-photography skills. :) I appreciate the thorough "bug expert" replies that taught me more about insects, charina and gator_rider! I've noticed there's not a lot of pictures on here of the brazelberry bushes (perhaps because they are so recently introduced and are expensive and patented), so here's a top-down picture of the peach sorbet that had the fly. It's been recently put in the new planter, it was in a 1 gallon nursery pot. (The grass is terrible, I know. The yard was neglected for over a year and we haven't had time to do a lot yet. I'm a gardening enthusiast, I don't care about grass so it's hard for me to get excited about growing new grass).

The designer for the Houzz photo says, "I bought this bench a few years ago from Mitchell & Gold and had it covered in this black and white Moroccan tile fabric." So.... M&G?

Without a better photo, it will be hard to pin down. The beetles in your image do appear to have a black head and rusty thorax and that would eliminate a known beetle pest of daylilies, the Red-headed Flea Beetle that has a red head and black thorax. rhizo's ID is a possibility, but the Spinach Flea Beetle is more vibrantly colored. Neither of these flea beetles range includes near-Los Angeles although pest insects expand their range all the time. See if you can round up a specimen, chill it, and get a good still photo. The main problem is that there are a lot of reddish-marked small beetles, but control of them on your lilies may be the same regardless of the exact ID.

Hi Writersblock Those videos have been around for a while, they are entertaining and dreamy, but she already has a copycat.:) The tomatoes look like the bumblebee series and if that is what they are , they are good for cooking but not fresh eating since the skins are too tough. I grew the purple bumblebee one year and they were very productive, I could not give them away fast enough. There are other artisan series that look similar also. I am growing now pink and red boar a saladette type that we like and looks pretty on a plate. I was envious today at the vegetable area at the Leu Gardens, they had ripe tomatoes! and mine are not even fruiting yet. I got close to see the variety and it was a Roma from Johnny's.