Backyard Orchard News
The Monarch Butterflies Arrive!
A little haggard, a little worn, a little ragged, a little torn. But there she was on Monday, Aug....
A male monarch visits the Mexican sunflower patch in the Garvey pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oops! Time to leave. This male monarch was spooked by longhorn bees targeting him as he nectared on the Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A female monarch stops at the tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female monarch spreads its wings. She ended up laying eggs on the tropical milkweed and showy milkweed. Note how tattered she is--the predators missed!(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Buzz Behind the Bee
What's the buzz behind the bee? The Western Apicultural Society, headed by president Eric Mussen...
Eric Mussen, WAS president, and his wife, Helen, who is assisting him in his presidency, sit next to Miss Bee Haven, a sculpture that anchors the Häagen Dazs Bee Haven at UC Davis. The sculpture is the work of Donna Billick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
If Happiness Is a Butterfly...Check Out the Solano County Fair Exhibits
If happiness is seeing a butterfly, then a visit to McCormack Hall during the annual Solano County...
Colorful butterflies adorn this quilt made by LaQuita Tummings of Rodeo. She enters the Solano County Fair's quilt division every year. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Front: Gloria Gonzalez, superintendent of McCormack Hall, Solano County Fair, and her assistant Ian Mayhew, 12, of American Canyon, display the front of LaQuita Tummings' quilt. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Back: Gloria Gonzalez, superintendent of McCormack Hall, Solano County Fair, and her assistant Ian Mayhew, 12, of American Canyon, display the back of LaQuita Tummings' quilt. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hand embroidered needlework, intricate work by Laura Ryan, Vallejo, is displayed at McCormack Hall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Linda Douthit of Fairfield created and sewed this blossom-butterfly vest. A veteran 4-H leader, she was active in the Suisun Valley 4-H Club, Solano County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Turn Linda Douthit's vest over, and you see this: more butterflies and blossoms. She a regular exhibitor in the Solano County Fair. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tina Waycie of Vallejo entered this quilling (paper arts) in the adult division. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Meet the Bugs at the California State Fair
A sign at the California State Fair's Insect Pavilion, aka "Bug Barn," screams "Bugs, Stay...
Visitors wander in and out of the California State Fair's Insect Pavilion. The 2017 fair ends July 30. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug enthusiasts get a closer look at the specimens shown by the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A California State Fair educational display in the Insect Pavilion about cockroaches and beetles. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee forages on a sunflower just outside the Insect Pavilion. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The honey bee stops and eyes the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Show Me the Honey: From Your Bees!
Imagine watching your honey bees gathering nectar from star thistle--which some beekeepers claim...
A honey bee foraging on star thistle, Centaurea solstitialis. It's an invasive weed but makes great honey, beekeepers and honey connoisseurs say. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey comb being processed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The colors of honey sparkle in the sunlight. This photo, taken in 2009, shows former UC Davis bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey (now of Washington State University) and her then assistant, Elizabeth Frost (now of New South Wales) at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)