Bug Squad

"How are the bees doing?" That's the question beekeepers are asked all year. Well, today the annual survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) answered that question. The response? Roughly the same.

He died too soon, a life cut short by a disease he never knew he had. It happened 14 years ago tomorrow.

A touch of Brazil and a desire to exchange science and technology... That's what will happen on the UC Davis campus Monday, May 23 when a distinguished Brazilian scientist meets with UC Davis officials and the Brazilian consulate of San Francisco.

They're definitely attracted to it. Honey bees forage furiously on the California buckeye (Aesculus californica). It's not a good bee plant, though. It's poisonous.

Gotta love those soldier beetles. They're among the good guys in the garden because they eat aphids and other soft-bodied insects. We've seen them on the lavender, on our nectarine tree and on our plum tree.