- (Focus Area) Yard & Garden
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Thought for the day...
Every time we see a honey bee "posing perfectly" on a Gaillardia, commonly known as blanket flower, we think of a quote by internationally known honey bee geneticist, Robert E. Page Jr., a UC Davis doctoral alumnus and professor and chair emeritus of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology):
"The impact of bees on our world is immeasurable. Bees are responsible for the evolution of the vast array of brightly-colored flowers and for engineering the niches of multitudes of plants, animals, and microbes. They've painted our landscapes with flowers through their pollination activities and have evolved the most complex societies to aid their exploitation of the environment."
That's a passage from his book, The Art of the Bee.It's also featured on his YouTube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/@artofthebee.
Rob obtained his doctorate in entomology in 1980 from UC Davis; joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989; and chaired the Department of Entomology from 1999 to 2004. After retiring from UC Davis in 2004, he accepted an appointment at Arizona State University (ASU) as founding director of the School of Life Sciences. He served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2011-2013, and provost of ASU from 2013-2015. He is now emeritus. He was recently featured in Legends, American Entomologist. (See UC Davis Department of Entomology website)
Why did Page create the free and accessible-to-all YouTube Channel? Because that's what Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), known as a German geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science, would have done.
It's about making science understandable.
Check out Page's YouTube channel, including:
- Landscape Artists
- Environmental Engineers
- The Social Contract
- Superorganisms
- How to Make a Superorganism
- Song of the Queen
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So there it was, an exotic-looking bug resting against a freshly painted red bollard at a Vacaville supermarket.
It was not there to shop. Or to stop vehicles from crashing into the store or colliding with shoppers.
It was there, I suspect, because of the pheromone-like scent of the fresh paint.
What was it? A banded alder borer, Rosalia funebris, in the family Cerambycidae. It's a longhorned beetle with spectacular black, white and blue coloration.
Look closely and you'll see the dark elytra (wing covers) with white bands and a white thorax with a large black spot. What's really striking, though, are the long, black-and-white banded antennae. The male antennae are longer than its body.
The beetle "feeds during its larval stage in declining or dead branches of broadleaf trees, including alder, ash, California bay, oak, and willow," according to the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program. "Longhorned beetles develop though four life stages—egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Adult banded alder borers emerge and mate from April through August. Adult females lay eggs individually on small- to medium-sized, dying or recently dead branches. The eggs hatch within 2 weeks and the larvae bore in and feed for 6 to 7 months under the bark. Mature larvae then bore in more deeply to overwinter as pupae. In the spring, pupae develop into adults, each of which chews an exit hole and emerges from the branch."
"The banded alder borer is the only species of this genus in North America, occurring from Alaska to southern California and in the Rocky Mountains from Idaho to New Mexico," according to Washington State University Extension.
However, scientists say it's not a significant pest because the females lay their eggs in downed, damaged or dead branches. The damage is not theirs. They're not the culprits!
You may never see a banded alder borer, but if you're painting a bollard (not going to happen!), your house, or some other structure, you might. Just enjoy its striking beauty!
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
As vacation season begins, people will be traveling much more in the coming months. Whether you'll be staying at a hotel, hostel, motel, rental home, or summer camp, you should always be on the lookout for bed bugs. A bed bug check takes only a few minutes to complete and can give you and your family peace of mind when staying at new places.
Bed bugs are small insects, but big enough to see with the naked eye. They are oval shaped, wingless, and reddish brown. Bed bugs feed only on human blood, usually at nighttime while we are sleeping.
It's important to remember that bed bugs can occur anywhere and are not always an indication of poor hygiene or care. Bed bugs can be moved to new places on furniture, luggage, clothing, and bedding.
Follow these steps to do a simple bed bug check:
- Leave luggage in the lobby, hallway, outside the door, or bathtub while you inspect the room.
- Check the bed. Look for signs of live bed bugs, shed skins, blood stains, or eggs.
- If staying in a pre-made bed, pull back the sheets and look around mattress seams, the boxspring and headboard, and behind the nightstand. A flashlight can be helpful when doing this. If there is just a mattress, such as at camps and hostels, inspect the seams of the mattress pad and lift it up to also look underneath.
- Check other areas of the room. Inspect any upholstered furniture, behind picture frames, and along baseboards. Most bed bugs will be around the bed if they are present.
When you return home from your stay, inspect any luggage for bed bugs that may have hitched a ride. People can pick up bed bugs while traveling on buses, trains, airplanes or other locations with upholstered seats. Clothing from your trip can be laundered on the hottest setting to kill any bed bugs that may have gone unnoticed.
Don't let bed bugs ruin your summer fun!
- Watch this short video to learn how to do a bed bug inspection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWCc3Mngo7E&t=2s.
- Learn more about bed bug identification and control in UC IPM's Pest Notes: Bed Bugs https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7454.html.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever seen a honey bee and a butterfly sharing a lavender blossom?
Just in time for National Pollinator Week, June 17-23, we saw this today.
What could be more pollinator friendly than that?
The honey bee, Apis mellifera, and the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, meet on many a blossom. The butterfly usually flutters away, departing first.
This time the bee left first.
As Pollinator Partnership says on its website:
"Pollinator Week 2024 is a celebration of the vital role that pollinators play in our ecosystems, economies, and agriculture. Under the inspiring theme Vision 2040: Thriving Ecosystems, Economies, and Agriculture, this year's event urges us to envision a future where pollinators not only survive but thrive. These essential creatures, including bees, butterflies, moths, bats, beetles, and hummingbirds, are the unsung heroes behind the food we enjoy and the beauty that surrounds us. As we reflect on the interconnectedness of our world, let's unite in a collective effort to protect and preserve these crucial pollinators. By understanding the impact of our actions on their habitats and embracing sustainable practices, we can pave the way for a flourishing future..."
The bee and the butterfly would agree--if they could agree.
Redbuds in bloom are a most welcome harbinger of spring. Their dense clusters of magenta flowers bloom early, providing splashes of color against a winter landscape of browns and grays. Is the name redbud really the best our ancestors could come up with for this beautiful tree? How could they call that color “red”? Even Wikipedia manages a more accurate “pink to purple.” Other sources are more specific, identifying the brilliant flora as bright pink, rosy pink, magenta, or reddish purple.
Cercis occidentalis is native to the arid western states. It is commonly known asWestern or California redbud, and sometimes Arizona redbud. Occidentem is Latin for “western sky” or “part of the sky in which the sun sets,” derived from the Latin verb occido – “go down, set.” The Occident is the longitudinal opposite of the Orient, and many species from China and other eastern regions are termed orientalis. Somewhere along the line, C. occidentalis acquired the second or synonymous binomial C. orbiculatum. Orbiculate translates naturally enough as round or circular in shape (in this case, in reference to the redbud's leaves). And if you are thinking now of Judas Tree as a common name, that belongs to the Eastern redbud. (Interestingly, the Latin name of the Eastern redbud is C. canadensis. And yes, you guessed it: canadensis is used in taxonomy to denote species indigenous to or strongly associated with Canada).
A hardy plant, the redbud is drought tolerant, sun-loving, and successful in a variety of soils. Typically, it prefers rather harsh environments with marginal, well-drained soils. It grows best in chaparral ecosystems below 4,000 feet in elevation, and prefers canyon walls and other steep slopes. It can also be found in gravely and rocky soils along streams above their flood zone. Western redbud tolerates some seasonal water and will grow in the bottom of ephemeral streambeds in little pockets, as well as on foothill benches, or tucked into crannies created by boulder outcroppings.
Western redbud is a popular landscape tree on the valley floor precisely because of its impressive beauty, which isn't restricted to eye-catching floral displays. The rounded, heart-shaped leaves are a silky combination of copper and green when they first emerge, darkening to various shades of green, gray-green, or blue-green. According to the USDA, the Western redbud's “autumn display of yellow turning to red and brown rival that of some eastern hardwoods.” This plant sets its fruit in the form of thin dry seed pods in autumn. Each pod contains about seven hard, bean-like seeds. As they ripen, the pods change in color from purple to russet brown. (On some redbuds, the mature pods hang on the branches into the next winter.) Once the redbud has shed itself of leaves and pods, the bare branches provide winter beauty as a silver-gray silhouette.
The straight, pliable, burgundy-colored young shoots of the California redbud were prized by native basket weavers. Designs were woven into baskets with redbud shoots, and a faint reddish dye derived from the bark was used to tint finished baskets. To ensure a reliable supply of this valued material, California tribes regularly burned hillsides in the fall, after the redbuds had shed their leaves. Prior to European settlement, the western Mono, foothill Yokuts, and Miwok Native Americans of the central and southern Sierra Nevada foothills set autumn fires at intervals of one to several years to encourage sprouting. Today's basket artists prune the shrubs to encourage the new growth.
This beautiful and hardy native shrub is nowhere near as dull and plodding as its common name implies. While the redbud makes year-round contributions to the landscape, the Arbor Day Foundation correctly notes that “the sheer springtime beauty of the redbud may be its greatest hold on the American spirit.”
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.