Backyard Orchard News
Wash Their Mouths Out With Soap
We're not the only ones "celebrating" the first week of spring. The oleander aphids are doing a...
Oleander aphids absolutely love tender milkweed plants. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of an army of aphids on milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
When Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries (Cherry Laurels)
It's definitely a bee friendly plant, packed with nectar and pollen. The cherry laurel, Prunus...
A backlit honey bee, its tongue or proboscis extended, heads for cherry laurel blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The anticipation of nectar and pollen is intense. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Touchdown! Pollen and nectar on the cherry laurel. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Very Tiny Bee
At first glance, it appeared to be a gnat circling our head. Then it landed on our passionflower...
A tiny sweat bee, Lasioglossum, subgenus Evylaeus, on a passionflower vine (Passiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a tiny sweat bee, genus Lasioglossum, subgenus Evylaeus, on a passionflower vine (Passiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Congratulations, Bruce Hammock! McGiff Memorial Award
What an honor! And so deserving. He's an entomologist, trained to find ways to control insect...
Bruce Hammock (center) with colleagues Dipak Panigrahy (left) of Harvard Medical School and Guodong Zhang of the University of Massachusetts. This photo was taken at the International Winder Eicosanoid (WEC) Conference in Baltimore, where Hammock received the first-ever John C. McGiff Award.
The Bad News About the Monarch Population
Good news: The first day of spring. Bad news: The future of the Eastern, migratory population of...
A monarch butterfly nectaring on a butterfly bush in Sacramento. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly feeding on a lantana in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)