Bug Squad

Mark your calendars if you want to hear about bees, honey laundering, sex and the single parsnip! All in a two-day period...

Whenever you look at the Matilija poppy, you think of a fried egg. White, crepelike flowers (the egg whites) circle a cluster of gold stamens (the yolk).

What a perfect match when a Gulf Fritillary butterfly touches down on a blanket flower. They're both reddish-orange and showy. Last weekend we spotted a Gulf Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) land momentarily on a blanket flower (Gaillardia), in our bee garden.

Did you count pollinators on Thursday, May 8? That was "Be a Scientist Day," sponsored by the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Day of Science and Service to commemorate 100 years of Cooperative Extension.

There are bugs galore at the Dixon May Fair, which opened today (Thursday, May 8) and continues through Sunday, May 11. The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is showcasing insects in the Floriculture Building, where displays include a bee observation hive from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.