Backyard Orchard News
Sheridan Miller: A Tireless Worker Bee
Her name is Sheridan Miller. If there's a human equivalent of a honey bee, she's it. She's a worker...
Beekeeper Brian Fishback helping Sheridan Miller with her hive. (Photo by Craig Miller)
Sheridan Miller, then 11, was honored by Neal Van Alfen, then dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, at the opening of the Department of Entomology's bee garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
University interns tour Lindcove REC
Four interns from Monrovia Nursery recently toured the research plots and greenhouses at...
Monrovia tour group
Guess What Other Insects Like Milkweed!
Monarch butterflies aren't the only insects that like milkweed. Honey bees, lady beetles and...
Labor Day activity: A honey bee and a lady beetle (see center of blossoms) forage on a scarlet milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oleander aphids also like the scarlet milkweed (along with honey bees and monarch butterflies). The milkweed is the host plant of the monarch butterfly but this plant "hosts" other insects, too. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly laying eggs on a scarlet milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Know Your Dragonflies!
You're walking through a park and suddenly spot a dragonfly perched on a stick. "What's that?" you...
A red flameskimmer dragonfly, (Libellula saturata) perches on a bamboo stake. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Variegated meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Red-veined meadowhawk (Sympetrium madidum). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Find the Praying Mantis!
Whether you call them "praying" mantis or "preying" mantis, one thing is for sure: they are...
Late afternoon sun gives away the location of this praying mantis hidden in a bed of lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Dead Tithonia leaves camouflage this praying mantis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A very gravid female hanging out in the lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
These are all green leaves, right? No, there's a green praying mantis here, too. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)