Posts Tagged: lavender
What's for Dinner? How About a Green Bottle Fly?

What's for dinner? A crab spider, camouflaged in our lavender patch, didn't catch a honey bee, a...
A crab spider dines on a green bottle fly in a lavender patch in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The crab spider is camouflaged, but its prey, a green bottle fly with its familiar metallic blue-green coloring, isn't. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bee and the Butterfly

So here's this Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) clinging to a lavender stem in our pollinator...
A Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) clinging to a lavender stem in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, seeking nectar from a lavender, buzzes a Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's up and over and away for the honey bee. Can't you see as big a thing as me? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary heads for the nearby catmint patch. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
I'm Just a Little Ol' Honey Bee Foraging on Lavender

I'm just a little ol' honey bee foraging on lavender. I left my warm colony in Vacaville, Calif....
Peek-a-bee! Hi, it's just me, a honey bee foraging on lavender in mid-December in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ahh, nectar! See my tongue (proboscis)? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
I think I'll crawl over to the next blossom. Nobody around to stop me! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bye, bye! That's it for me. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale: Think Pollinators!

Think bees. Think butterflies. Think plants that will attract them. The UC Davis Arboretum and...
A black-faced bumble bee, Bombus californicus, forages on Purple Ginny salvia (sage). Sages are popular at the UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sales.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, sips nectars from a butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A pollen-packing honey bee heads for rock purslane, Calandrinia grandiflora. This is one of the plants available at the UC Davis Arboretum Plant Sale on Oct. 7. The plant yields red pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Three's a Crowd: The Saga of Two Stink Bugs and a Bee

So, here we are, a couple of stink bugs hidden in the lavender. Unnoticed. Undetected....
Find the redshouldered stink bugs in the lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee seeking nectar buzzes by the stink bugs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The honey bee ignores the stink bugs and sips nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)