Bug Squad

You never know what you'll see on a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Honey bees. Check. Sweat bees. Check. Hummingbirds. Check. But sometimes these rough-and-tumble blossoms are graced with a Western tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio rutulus).

They're ambush predators. Here you are, a bee, touching down on a flower and little do you know there's a patient and persistent crab spider lying in wait.

First the lantana, and then the passion flower vine. The Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) flutter daily around our backyard. They stop for a little nectar from lantana (family Verbenaceae), and then head over to the passion flower vines (genus Passiflora) to breed or lay their eggs.

You've probably seen a blue moon, which happens every two to three years. That's when a second full moon occurs in a single calendar month. You've also probably seen blueprints, blue books and blue-plate specials. You've sung the blues and you've been blue.

You can tell it's summer along Yolo County roads by the acres and acres of sunflower fields. Looking like real-life Van Gogh paintings (Van Gogh painted them in vases, Mother Nature paints them in rows), the sunflower fields are nothing short of spectacular.