Bug Squad

if it's a streak of gray, you don't wash it away. You welcome it. The gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) is common on our sedum, a good fall plant for pollinators, including butterflies, honey bees, sweat bees and syrphid flies, aka hover flies or flower flies.

Call it serendipity. Call it a prize from the sky. Frankly, it's not every day that a newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae, lands at your feet.

As summer nears its end, the honey bees are hungry. That's why Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology advocates that we plant flowers for late summer and fall to help the bees.

Today (Labor Day) began just like any other day. And it ended just like any other day, except for the Labor Day celebrations that we humans plan. For Nature's predators and prey that frequent our garden, however, it was an intertwining of life and death.

Ever seen honey bees foraging for water on your outdoor clothesline? When Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the University of California, Davis, addresses beekeeping associations, he tells them to "always provide water for your bees on your property.