Bug Squad

Honey bees just can't get enough of our tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. We plant three species of milkweed (the host plant for the monarchs), but both the monarchs and the honey bees gravitate toward A. curassavica, a non-native.

It's heartbreaking. Beyond heartbreaking. Caroline Yelle, 28, owner of Pope Canyon Queens (PCQ) at 8307 Quail Canyon Road, Vacaville, lost her business when the lightning-sparked Hennessey Fire, part of the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, swept through rural Vacaville on Aug. 19 from Napa County.

Honey is the soul of a field of flowers. It's also been called "the nectar of the gods." "The bee hive is the ultimate home sweet home," says Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute.

The bees, they're gone. Beekeeper Clay Ford, who owns the Pleasants Valley Honey Company, also known as "Clay's Bees," is devastated. The fast-moving Vacaville Fire, part of the LNU Lightning Complex fires, claimed 73 of his 81 beehives. Gone, millions of bees.

When you observe a monarch butterfly laying eggs on your milkweed--and see the predators and parasitoids circling in anticipation--act fast if you want those eggs to develop into adults. Only about 10 percent of monarch eggs make it to adults, scientists estimate.