Posts Tagged: pollinator garden
A Tiff on the Tithonia
It was July 3, 2020. The male bees, Melissodes agilis, were getting quite...
A territorial bee, a male Melissodes agilis, confronts a monarch butterfly in a Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden. The prize relinquished: a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Monarch Paradise in July
Monarchs, bless their little hearts, souls and wings, deposited 16 eggs on our milkweed plants in...
A monarch caterpillar molting. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch caterpillar j'ing; soon it will be a chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
From left, a chrysalis about to release a monarch; an empty chrysalis or empty pupal exoskeleton, exuvia; a chrysalis; and an newly eclosed adult monarch. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly eclosed female monarch on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A female monarch nectaring on a tropical milkweed. This milkweed yielded five caterpillars. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Portraits of a Monarch Just Stopping By
Welcome, Danaus plexippus! A monarch butterfly, the first of the year, fluttered...
A male monarch, Danaus plexippus, spreads its wings on a tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) in Vacaville, Calif. on Sunday, May 23. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch lands on a mallow, Althaea officinalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch took a liking to a yellow rose, "Sparkle and Shine," related to the Julia Child rose. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch touched down on a succulent, hens-and-chicks (when it blooms, it's known as a "rooster." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch stayed on the ear of a cat (garden sculpture) for about five minutes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Quiet Veterans' Day
It's Veterans' Day, and after paying tribute to the military veterans (my ancestors have fought in...
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, ecloses in Vacaville, Calif., on Nov. 11, Veterans' Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Gulf Fritillary caterpillars have nearly skeletonized their host plant, Passiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gulf Frillary caterpillar crawls along on a passionflower vine stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Assassins in The Garden
A pollinator garden is a study in diversity--and of inclusion and exclusion. The residents, the...
Lying in Wait--An assassin bug, Zelus renardii, lies in wait on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gotcha! An assassin bug, Zelus renardii, sucking the juices from prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Caught in the act! An assassin bug, Zelus renardii, stabbing a lady beetle, aka lady bug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Who's next? The assassin bug, Zelus renardii, appears to be looking at the camera after killing a lady beetle, aka ladybug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)