Backyard Orchard News
Find the Green Darner
Find the green darner. Trying to spot the green darner dragonfly, Anax junius--so named because of...
Green darner dragonfly, Anax junius, in Benicia State Historical Park. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Buy a Plant and the Pollinators Are Free!
When you head over to a nursery, and see bees and butterflies and other pollinators foraging on the...
An anise swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon, sets the scene in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Targeting the Tsetse Fly
He targets the tsetse fly. Tsetse flies, large biting flies that inhabit much of Africa, feed on...
Medical entomologist Geoffrey Attardo in his office. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Watching It Like a Hawk
Watching it like a hawk... A variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum, that...
A variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum,in flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Touchdown! The variegated meadow hawk perches on a spent salvia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, a strong wind drooping its wings, nevetheless kept returning to this perch, a spent salvia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Eye to eye with a variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Red Passionflower Vine: Pretty But Poisonous?
If want to plant a passionflower vine (Passiflora)--the host plant of Gulf Fritillary butterflies...
A Gulf Fritillary foraging on a lavender passionflower vine, genus Passiflora. This is the Gulf Frits' host plant, they lay their eggs only on Passiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillaries avoided this species of red passsionflower vine, Passiflora jamesonii, planted in the Garvey yard. Honey bees, however, did not. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)