- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
No thanks to the recent storms, almond orchards are encountering Nature's Extreme Makeover--from fluffy popcorn blossoms to tattered petals reminiscent of bottom-of-the-bag kernels.
Still, there's something spectacular about driving down a rural road in Dixon, Calif., and encountering rows and rows of almond trees.
Look a little closer and you'll see the bee hives. (It takes two hives per acre to pollinate California's 750,000 acres of almonds.)
Look a little closer and you'll catch a bee in the act of pollinating.
Today the cold temperature, plodding rain and incessant wind kept the bees clustered inside their hives.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So you want to attract native pollinators to your garden.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, based in Portland, Ore., has just published a 380-page book, Attracting Native Pollinators, that encourages you to do just that.
It offers a wealth of information, from identifying common bees of North America to helping you decide the best nectar-and-pollen plants for your garden.
The non-profit Xerces Society earlier announced that its Bumble Bee Garden Kit is available. The kit tells you how to attract bumble bees to your garden.
First the garden kit, then the book.
Bring on the pollinators!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You never know who's coming to dinner...er...reception.
When the UC Davis Department of Entomology hosted an open house today for prospective graduate students, the Bohart Museum of Entomology brought along some thorny walking sticks.
Graduate student Matan Shelomi, who studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, showed the thorny stick insect to various individuals: faculty members, staff, students and prospective students.
The thorny walking stick (Aretaon asperrimus), native to Borneo, is covered with...guess what?... thornlike spikes. The female "stick" reaches three inches long and the males, two inches long. Their diet: bramble, oak, ivy and rose. No human beings; these little walking sticks are harmless.
If you'd like to hold walking sticks or Madagascar hissing cockroaches, be sure to attend the Bohart Museum's upcoming open house, set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 26. Admission is free. The Bohart is located at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive.
The insect museum houses more than seven million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo," which includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks.
During the weekdays, you can visit the Bohart Museum Monday through Thursday from 8:30 to 5 p.m. (closed during the lunch hour). Group tours can be arranged with Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator, at (530) 752-9464 or tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
Be sure to check out the thorny walking sticks!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Presidents' Day and far too early for nectarines to burst into bloom.
The unseasonable weather, however, fooled 'em.
Didn't fool the honey bees. Despite the relatively low temperatures--50 degrees--they buzzed into our yard to greet the blossoms and carry the nectar and pollen back to their hives.
A touch of blue sky, some silky pink blossoms and golden honey bees.
Life is good.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Think what it would be like if you increased your weight by 1000 times in six days.
But that's exactly what worker bee larvae do in the honey bee colony. "They increase in weight 1000 times during the six days that they feed," said Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty.
"Worker bees," Mussen said, "will deposit food in their cells 10,000 times during those six days."
In peak season, the queen bee can lay up to 2000 eggs a day. No wonder she's called an "egg-laying machine."
From egg to larva to pupa to adult, that's the cycle of the honey bee.