Posts Tagged: milkweed
The Red Invaders: Those Colorful Milkweed Bugs
If you've been finding more milkweed bugs than monarchs on your milkweed, join the crowd. Monarchs...
A small milkweed bug Lygaeus kalmii) stands peers over the leaf of a milkweed plant, Asclepias speciosa, in Sonoma County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Small milkweed bugs mingling on a showy milkeed, Asclepias speciosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A mass of small milkweed bugs, red invaders! The blood red color sharply contrasts with the green milkweed pod. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Assassins in The Garden
A pollinator garden is a study in diversity--and of inclusion and exclusion. The residents, the...
Lying in Wait--An assassin bug, Zelus renardii, lies in wait on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gotcha! An assassin bug, Zelus renardii, sucking the juices from prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Caught in the act! An assassin bug, Zelus renardii, stabbing a lady beetle, aka lady bug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Who's next? The assassin bug, Zelus renardii, appears to be looking at the camera after killing a lady beetle, aka ladybug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Welcome, First Monarch of the Year!
We never thought we'd see one this year. And then it arrived. The first monarch sighting of the...
Yes, that's a monarch! A monarch touched down in a Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden at 5 p.m. Aug 9. It's nectaring on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hey, I'm Eating as Fast as I Can!
Have you ever seen the larva of a lady beetle (aka ladybug) dining on an aphid? Lights! Camera!...
An immature lady beetle (larvae) chowing down on an oleander aphid. This photo was taken on a milkweed plant in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A well-fed adult lady beetle (aka ladybug) ignores a fat Oleander aphid. (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.