Posts Tagged: Anisodontea

Beauty at Its Best

Beauty at its best.   If see the perennial shrub, Anisodontea sp. ‘Strybing Beauty,' a member of the family Malvaceae (mallows), chances are you'll see bees pollinating the rosy pink blossoms.  It's an early bloomer, a mid-bloomer and late bloomer. Yes, it blooms year-around....

Is there anything more beautiful than a golden honey bee tucked inside the spectacular rosy pink blossom of Anisodontea sp. ‘Strybing Beauty'? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Is there anything more beautiful than a golden honey bee tucked inside the spectacular rosy pink blossom of Anisodontea sp. ‘Strybing Beauty'? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee heads for the Anisodontea sp. ‘Strybing Beauty.' (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee heads for the Anisodontea sp. ‘Strybing Beauty.' (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sorry, We're Closed? Not the California Master Beekeeper Program!

Sorry, we're closed! What's a honey bee to do when one of her favorite flowers, cape mallow (Anisodontea sp. "Strybing Beauty") is not open for bees-ness. Well, leave it to the bee to find a way. We recently witnessed a honey bee encountering a yet-to-open flower in the early morning. No entry!...

An energetic honey bee heads for a cape mallow (Anisodontea sp. "Strybing Beauty"), only to find it closed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An energetic honey bee heads for a cape mallow (Anisodontea sp. "Strybing Beauty"), only to find it closed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Are you really closed for bees-ness? The honey bee peers inside the cape mallow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Are you really closed for bees-ness? The honey bee peers inside the cape mallow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

I'm going in! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

I'm going in! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ah, sweet nectar! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ah, sweet nectar! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Rebecca Irwin: Role of Floral Traits in Pollination and Bee Disease Transmission

You've seen honey bees buzzing past you to reach a good nectar or pollen source. But there's much more to it than that. What's in that floral nectar and pollen? Think plant-pollinator-pathogen webs. Rebecca Irwin, professor of applied ecology at North California State University, Raleigh, is...

What's in store for this honey bee? It is heading for an Anisodontea sp.'Strybing Beauty.' Image taken in pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's in store for this honey bee? It is heading for an Anisodontea sp.'Strybing Beauty.' Image taken in pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Around the Cape

It's not just honey bees that forage among the cape mallows in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis. The brilliant magenta flowers also draw assorted other insects. Such as flies...hover flies. Last...

Hover Fly on Cape Mallow

HOVER FLY foraging on cape mallow at the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis. The haven is known as a half-acre "bee friendly garden," but it's also a "pollinator-friendly garden." Located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus, it is open year-around from dawn to dusk. Admission is free.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up

CLOSE-UP of hover fly, aka flower fly, on cape mallow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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