Backyard Orchard News
Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer
You've heard the expression, "On a wing and a prayer." It apparently originated during World War...
A tattered monarch makes a refueling stop on a Tithonia in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Wings are shredded and scales slashed, but this male monarch still flies. Here it pauses to soak up some sunshine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A predator missed--but a miss is as good as a mile. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A migratory monarch, after sipping some flight fuel in Vacaville, Calif. takes off "on a wing and a prayer," heading for an overwintering site along the coast. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Monarch and the Mantis
If you're rearing monarchs or offering them a “way station” of nectar-producing flowers...
A gravid praying mantis, her abdomen bloated, grabs a migrating monarch nectaring on a butterfly bush. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The praying mantis, perfectly camouflaged, resembles a leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A spiked foreleg circles the monarch's thorax. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The spiked foreleg pierces a wing. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Sometimes The Unexpected Happens
Sometimes the unexpected happens. Take the case of the female praying mantis delivered to the...
UC Davis entomology student Wade Spencer holds the female praying mantis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female praying mantis exploring. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Marek Borowiec Drawn to Ants, Especially Army Ants
Marek Borowiec's world revolves around myrmecology, the scientific study of ants. Borowiec, who...
This is Lioponera princeps, one of the ants that Marek Borowiec studies. (Image by Marek Borowiec)
Arboretum Plant Sale on Oct. 22: Yes, There's Life After Lawn
Is there life after lawn? Yes. If you're looking for plants to attract pollinators, including bees...
Monarch butterfly nectaring on Buddleia 'Purple Haze.' This will be one of the plants offered at the UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale on Oct. 22. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) will be available at the UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale on Oct. 22. The milkweed plant is the host plant of monarchs; it's the only food that monarch caterpillars eat. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)