Bug Squad

Some folks enjoy a doughnut, bagel, muffin or fruit for breakfast--and maybe some cream cheese on the bagel and honey on the muffin. Not so the praying mantis. If he were in a restaurant, he'd tell the waiter "I'd like a bee for breakfast, please.

You may have noticed this little floral visitor in your garden. It might appear to be a bee, a common mistake to the untrained eye or those who think that all floral visitors are bees.

If you want to learn more about bees, honey and pollination, then you'll want to attend the debut event of the newly formed Honey and Pollination Center at the University of California, Davis. Themed "Bounty of Pollination: More Than Just Honey," the event is set from 1 to 5:30 p.m.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be Whisper words of wisdom, let it be --Paul McCartney When Paul McCartney of The Beatles wrote "Let It Be," released in 1970, he wasn't writing about honey bees. No, he was actually recounting what his mother (who died when he was 14) told him in a dream.

It's a honey of a garden and a honey of a fence. So agreed the visitors attending the open house and recognition ceremony last Saturday, Sept. 15 at the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre pollinator garden next to the UC Davis Department of Entomology's Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.