Bug Squad

When it ought to be raining, it's raining pink. They say you can't fool Mother Nature or outsmart Father Time but that's not the case in the UC Davis Arboretum. A red Japanese apricot, Prunus mume "Matsubara red" glows with absolute radiance in the Storer Garden.

It all began with bugs. That's where it usually begins when your father is an entomologist. Tom Hammock, son of distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, learned about insects early in life.

If you're wondering which bug won "Bug of the Year" in Emmet Brady's Insect News Network (INN) radio poll, it's not the honey bee. But there is a "bee" in its name. It's the "long-nosed bee fly.

Apparently they're not parasitized. The three queen bumble bees (Bombus melanopygus) we found circling our porch lights the night on Jan. 9 appear to be fine.

If you have a passionflower vine (Passiflora), check to see what insects or stages of insects are making this plant their home.