Clean-shaven it's not. Yet it's a cut above.

For bees, syrphids and butterflies, the long-blooming Jupiter's Beard make the cut.

Centranthus ruber, also known as Jupiter's Beard, Red Valerian, Kiss-Me-Quick, and Keys to Heaven, is a popular drought-tolerant plant that attracts insects like a picnic draws people.

A native of the Mediterranean region, Jupiter's Beard grows wild in California and in several other states, including Arizona, Hawaii, Oregon and Utah.

Cozy up to a Jupiter's Beard, and you're likely to see foraging honey bees, native bees, syrphid flies and butterflies. (And assorted other critters like leafhoppers, lady beetles and spiders.)

The plant was one of the first residents of the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. The garden, installed in the fall of 2009 and operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will be the site of a spring open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 9. The event, free and open to the public, will feature a noon tour, and other activities, including how to catch, observe and release bees; how to identify bees; and what to plant to attract bees and other pollinators.  A bee observation hive is also planned where visitors can see the queen bee, workers and drones.

Then don't forget the campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 16. What's a picnic without bugs?

In addition to the scores of the other fun and educational activities on campus, remember the two B's: Briggs and Bohart. You can enjoy entomological events at Briggs Hall, located on Kleiber Hall Drive, and the Bohart Museum of Entomology, located on Crocker Lane.

Among the activities at Briggs:  cockroach races, pollinator pavilion, a honey tasting, fly-tying, facepainting, Bug Doctor (The Doctor Is In!), maggot art, medical entomology exhibits,  and displays of ants, mosquitoes, aquatic insects and forest insects. The UC Integrated Pest Management Program will give away lady beetles (aka ladybugs) to kids, and hand out information about pests and beneficial insects.

At the Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens, you can get up close and personal with the live "petting zoo," including the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and a rose-haired tarantula named "Peaches." In keeping with the UC Davis Picnic Day's overall theme, "Cultivating Our Authenticity," the Bohart theme is "Real Insects and Their Mimics." Think bees. Think flies. Think about how to tell the difference. Syrphids, especially drone flies, are commonly mistaken for honey bees. Not all floral visitors are bees...

A buprestid jewel beetle. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

David Verity of Los Angeles has just gifted the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, with his personal collection of buprestid jewel beetles.

He is the former collection manager at the UCLA herbarium.

The jewel beetles, widely acclaimed for their iridescent colors, belong to the family Buprestidae. "The family is among the largest of the beetles, with some 15,000 species known in 450 genera," according to Wikipedia.

"We have half of David's collection and will be getting the rest in a couple of weeks," said a grateful Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis.

The Bohart Museum, which houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens, will be growing rapidly with this addition. "I don't have a count yet of how many specimens but it's a lot," she said.

Kimsey, highly esteemed for her public service, teaching and research, was just named the recipient of the 2016 UC Davis Academic Senate's Distinguished Public Service Award for her outstanding contributions to public service and education.

Kimsey consults with international, national and state agencies; identifies thousands of insects every year for scientific collaborators, public agencies and the general public; answers scores of news media calls and insect questions; and encourages a greater appreciation of insects through the Bohart Museum open houses, workshops and lectures.

It's a service much valued and widely appreciated--but the future is of great concern now with National Science Foundation's recently announced funding cut.

Nature spotlighted the issue in its March 21st edition: "Biological Specimen Troves Threatened by Funding Pause." The subhead: "Decision by U.S. National Science Foundation could hamper research on conservation biology, climate change and invasive species."

"The NSF is one of the only public providers of funds to maintain specimen collections," wrote Anna Nowogrodszki. "It awards between US $3 million and $5 million a year in grants for such collections, equivalent to roughly 0.06% of the agency's $7.5-billion budget for fiscal year 2016."

Meanwhile, mark your calendar for Saturday, April 16. That's the date of the 102nd annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day.  The theme: "Cultivating Our Authenticity." In keeping with the theme, the Bohart Museum will be focusing on "Real Insects and Their Mimics." Visitors will  learn to tell the difference between flies and bees; handle live insects, such as Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and a rose-haired tarantula named Peaches; and chat with scientists.

You're likely to see many species of bees at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 9 on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis.

The half-acre bee garden, operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and primarily funded by the premier ice cream brand, was planted in the fall of 2009. It's located west of the central campus, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.

The garden contains scores of bee friendly plants, visited by honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, sweat bees, European wool carder bees and other pollinators.

Two of the bees you'll see Saturday are the Valley carpenter bees. The male and females are clear examples of sexual dimorphism. The male, often called "a teddy bear bee," is blond with green eyes, while the female is a solid black.

Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, collected a couple of the male Valley carpenter bees today for the spring open house.  If you're apprehensive about touching them, don't bee. "Boy bees don't sting," he says.

A six-foot-long sculpture of a worker bee, "Miss Bee Haven," the work of Donna Billick of Davis, anchors the haven. Throughout the garden, you'll see the ceramic mosaic work of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, co-founded and co-directed by Diane Ullman, professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Billick, a self-described "rock artist."

The garden took shape under then interim department chair Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Scores of professionals and volunteers made it all possible. (See History of the Haven.)

Today it is managed by entomologists Christine Casey, staff program representative, and Extension apiculturist Elina Niño, faculty director of the haven.

The open house will include a tour of the garden at noon. Other activities:

• Learn to catch and observe bees up close
• See honey bees at work in an observation beehive
• Learn about bee diversity and identification
• Learn about what and how to plant for bees

It's a predatory world out there.

Newly emerged Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) are fluttering around the yard--nectaring on lantana, finding mates, mating, and trying to avoid predators. The females are laying tiny yellow eggs on their host plant (Passiflora). Soon we'll see caterpillars and chrysalids and more Gulf Frits.

Every stage may be the end. A Western scrub jay may snatch a Gulf Frit adult in flight; wasps, lady beetles and spiders will devour the caterpillar eggs; and parasitoids and wasps will attack the caterpillars and chrysalids. Over the years we've watched scores of Western scrub jays dining on the caterpillars (ah, worms!) and feed them to their young, and European paper wasps and praying mantids targeting caterpillars and butterflies.

The predator-prey episodes usually involve six steps: encounter, detection, interaction, attack, capture and kill.

Nature's way.

If you look closely, the wings of the survivors tell the story. Pristine? Newly emerged and untouched. Ripped and torn? A predator encounter.