- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Enter John Hargrove, director emeritus of the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis.
He will present a UC Davis Entomology and Nematology seminar on "Tsetse, Trypanosomiasis, and Climate Change: What Can We Learn from Field Data Collected in the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe?" at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, May 3 in 122 Briggs Hall.
His seminar also will be on Zoom:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
Host is UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Hargrove, associated with the International Clinics on Infectious Disease Dynamics and Data Program (ICI3D), is a faculty member with the Clinic on Meaningful Modeling of Epidemiological Data (MMED) and the Clinic on Dynamical Approaches to Infectious Disease Data (DAIDD). He is a senior research fellow for the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, and a professor emeritus of mathematical sciences at Stellenbosch University.
Hargrove served as the inaugural director of the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA). The precursors for MMED and DAIDD were launched in 2006 at the beginning of his directorship; he has been involved continuously as an instructor in the program since, according to his biography on ICI3D. Over the past nearly 50 years, Hargrove has combined fieldwork and mathematical epidemiology to understand the population dynamics and control of tsetse flies, the vectors of human African Trypanosomiasis.
He focuses his current research on the modelling population dynamics, with a particular focus on how increasing temperatures in Africa will affect tsetse distribution. This work involves improving estimation of mortality in adult and immature stages of the fly. Since 1999, he has also focused on the analysis and modelling of data in the world of HIV. Current interest are in improving the use of biomarkers for the accurate estimation of HIV incidence.
He holds a bachelor's degree in zoology (1968) from the University of Oxford; a master's degree in biomathematics (1981) from UCLA, and a doctorate in insect physiology (1973) from the University of London.
Department seminar coordinator is urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor. For technical issues regarding Zoom connections, she may be reached at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu. (See complete list of spring seminars.)
Resources:
SERVIR--From Space to Tsetse Fly
World Health Organization: Trypanosomiasis (Human African Sleeping Sickness)
![John Hargrove in South Africa providing expertise on the tsetse fly. (Photo by Pietro Ceccato of the SERVIR Applied Sciences Team) John Hargrove in South Africa providing expertise on the tsetse fly. (Photo by Pietro Ceccato of the SERVIR Applied Sciences Team)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/99117.jpg)
- Author: Ben Faber
A recent auction in South Africa was selling 'Maluma' variety of avocado for $92 a tree. That is more than the average price of avocado nursery trees in that country and a lot more than what is paid in California or Florida. That variety has suddenly gotten a huge demand because of its sales characteristics accounting for 13% of the tree sales from one nursery there.
This is a phenomenon that is going on world-wide not just for 'Maluma'. According to a CA nursery producer, the 'Maluma' sale is really a reflection of the world-wide demand for avocado trees and not necessarily this South African variety. Avocado acreage is expanding world-wide. So far 'Maluma' has a US import license, but has not been grown in CA, so we don't know its performance characteristics. That should change soon according to the nurseryman.
Related story: South Africa: Maluma Day to challenge avocado sector's “convenient position”:
http://www.freshfruitportal.com/news/2017/03/08/south-africa-avocado-auction-shows-exorbitant-demand-maluma-trees/
![avocado in bloom avocado in bloom](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/42234.jpg)
- Author: Karen Metz
I have always been impressed with the drama of hot pokers, Kniphofia. However several things held me back from purchasing them. First I don't like buying plants whose names I can't pronounce and Kniphofia ( knee fof ee a ) has had me stymied for a long time. When I was Googling Kniphofia, one of the first categories that came up was pronunciation, so I don't think I am alone. To me the name sounds like a sneeze; I get this uncontrollable urge to say "Gesundheit " every time I hear someone say it.
Secondly, most of the plants I have admired have been very large, with mounds of foliage reaching three to four feet high and sometimes five to eight feet wide and that's not even counting the blooms. I have a small front yard and a small border area available so I thought I would have to forgo a hot poker. (Note, in researching this article I found the most charming turn of phrase on the Digging Dog Nurserysite. Instead of calling a garden small, they called it space-thrifty.)
But then at Annie's Annuals I found Kniphofia 'Wol's Red Seedling'. This hybrid was carefully bred in England. Kniphofias are originally from South Africa, but were brought to England in the 1800s and are very popular there. This little darling has leaves that top out at a foot and flower spikes to two feet. It has a brilliant red color that is described by several sites as the reddest of all the pokers. They mentioned it could even be grown in a container. You guessed it, I brought one home.
I tucked it in the front yard in the border by the faux dry stream bed, amongst the 'Stella d'Oro' dwarf day-lilies and the lavender. The first summer it had three small blooms and I was a little discouraged. This year I have six blooms already, and the plant looks lovely, especially with the afternoon sun back-lighting it.
Kniphofias are deer resistant.They can handle clay soil, as long as it drains well. They are drought tolerant but do like water when the blooms are forming. If it is too dry at that point they will not bloom.
![Kniphofia 'Wol's Red Seedling'. (photos by Karen Metz) Kniphofia 'Wol's Red Seedling'. (photos by Karen Metz)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/16376.jpg)
![DSCN2663 DSCN2663](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/16377.jpg)
- Author: Karen Metz
After surveying my yard after the string of days of hard frosts, I am so impressed with my Lion's Tail, Leonotis leonurus. Many of my other plants have crumpled, but this plant stands stately and tall and is still in bloom. I had it in a pot for years, but put it in the ground about a year and a half ago.
![orange, fuzzy flowers of Lion's Tail orange, fuzzy flowers of Lion's Tail](http://ucanr.org/blogs/USS/blogfiles/9728.jpg)
It grows in Sunset zones 8-24, takes full sun and little water. It is a member of the mint family and originally from South Africa. It starts blooming in the summer and is still going. The blooms are extremely long lasting and feel almost fuzzy. The flowers make an exciting addition to floral arrangements. The flowers dry beautifully as well.
Sunset says it can freeze if it gets cold enough, but if that happens to just cut it back in the spring. Leonotis can grow four to six feet tall and has toothed leaves that range from two to five inches long. My plant is only about three feet tall now, but then I pick the flowers often.
![tall stems tall stems](http://ucanr.org/blogs/USS/blogfiles/9729.jpg)