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Posts Tagged: garden
The Art of the Bee
Thought for the day... Every time we see a honey bee "posing perfectly" on a Gaillardia, commonly known as blanket flower, we think of a quote by internationally known honey bee geneticist, Robert E. Page Jr., a UC Davis doctoral alumnus and professor and chair emeritus of the UC Davis Department...
A honey bee on a blanketflower, Gaillardia, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Behold: the Banded Alder Borer
So there it was, an exotic-looking bug resting against a freshly painted red bollard at a Vacaville supermarket. It was not there to shop. Or to stop vehicles from crashing into the store or colliding with shoppers. It was there, I suspect, because of the pheromone-like scent of the fresh...
The banded alder borer is attracted to fresh paint, probably because of the phermone-like scent. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris, crawls on a leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view of the banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris. It's a longhorned beetle in the family Cerambycidae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Eye to eye with a banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Bee and a Butterfly: Sharing a Lavender Blossom
Ever seen a honey bee and a butterfly sharing a lavender blossom? Just in time for National Pollinator Week, June 17-23, we saw this today. What could be more pollinator friendly than that? The honey bee, Apis mellifera, and the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, meet on many a...
A Gulf Fritillary and a honey bee sharing the same lavender blossom in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Applause for the Pollinators
Bees, butterflies, beetles, birds and bats. What do they have in common? Skipping the alliteration for a moment, they're all pollinators. Honey bees grab the most attention, of course, and they do the bulk of the work. But so do bumble bees and other native bees. But other pollinators include...
A Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, touches down on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The soldier beetle (family Cantharida) is also a pollinator. This insect resembles the uniforms of the British soldiers of the American Revolution. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, Apis mellifera, and a Western yellowjacket, Vespula penslvanica, sharing a rose. Both are pollinators. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, Apis mellifera, and a bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, sharing a purple cone flower, Echinacea purpurea. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Battle Over the Lavender: Mine, All Mine!
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is foraging on lavender in a Vacaville garden. Abruptly, the bumble bee senses a fast-approaching honey bee, Apis mellifera. Bombus: "Hey, bee, this is my territory, my lavender, my food." Honey Bee: "Sorry, I'm...
A yellow-face bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is interrupted by a fast-approaching honey bee as it's nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)