Backyard Orchard News
Ooh, an Ootheca!
Hide and seek. She hides 'em and we seek 'em. We've spotted as many as seven adult praying...
Ms. Mantis, on a redwood stake in a milkweed planter in Vacaville, Calif., is trying to find a place to lay her egg mass, an ootheca. This image was taken Sunday night, Sept. 23. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This looks like a good spot. This praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, is native to North America. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ms. Mantis begins to work. Note the frothy cream-colored substance. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of the process. This Stagmomantis limbata did so in the open. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
At dawn the next morning, we found her still on the stake with her hardening ootheca. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Enemy of the Gardener
Aphids, don't you just hate them? Especially those oleander aphids that suck the very lifeblood...
Oleander aphids clustering on a milkweed stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Aphids magnified on a Leica DVM6 microscope, operated by Lynn Epstein, UC Davis emeritus professor of plant pathology.
Visiting Growers from Tunisia
We had the pleasure of hosting citrus growers from Tunisia at the Lindcove REC. Director Beth...
Bee Garden Open House Draws Not Only People, But Resident Bees and Butterflies
It was not just people who attended the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven open house at the...
Visitors check out the flowers at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Flowers and bees drew the attention of these visitors in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sedum, a bee attractant, is abloom in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photographer Allan Jones (right) talks about the bees he's photographed in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A visitor checks out a table at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A catch-and-release bee activity highlighted the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Crafty Time at the Bohart Museum of Entomology
Five quilted dragonflies skimming the wall. Eager hands cradling an orchid mantis. Eyes darting...
This quilted wall hanging of dragonflies is the work of quiltmaker and seamstress Ann Babicky of Schofield, Wis. Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the butterfly and moth specimens in the Bohart, loaned it for the open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hands cradle an orchid mantis, orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus, from the collection of Lohit Garikipati. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the butterfly and moth specimens at the Bohart, shows a tray to sisters Lily Edmonds of Davis, 7, and Chloe Edmonds, 6, of Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lily Edmonds of Davis, 7, reacts to the colorful butterflies. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bohart associate and UC Davis student Emma Cluff (back) talks about a hornet's nest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Visitors learned about the fascinating world of insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Places where we've collected" drew the attention of these Bohart guests. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)