Bug Squad

It's a bug-eat-bug world out there. Today we watched a syrphid fly, aka "hover fly" and "flower fly," circling a blanket flower (Gaillardia) and then touching down to sip a little nectar. Syrphids are called "hover flies" for good reason. They "hover" over a blossom, helicoperlike.

At first they appeared on our pomegranate tree, our 85-year-old pomegranate tree. Then they migrated over to our passion flower vine, Passiflora, where we're trying to rear Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae). They're leaffooted bug nymphs, Leptoglossus clypealis.

One thing's for certain--a praying mantis does not like to get wet. If it were human, it would not dip a toe in the water and yell to its friends: "C'mon in, the water's fine!" Water is not fine--not to a praying mantis.

If you've never been to a UC Davis Arboretum plant sale, you should. The last plant sale of the year will take place Sunday, Oct. 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive.

What's that caterpillar? This little fellow (or gal) was munching--quite contentedly, thank you--on the leaves of an aspen tree. The homeowner didn't take too kindly to the critter defoliating his prized tree, newly purchased in Oregon and newly planted in Vacaville, Calif.