- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you venture into your pollinator garden, look for the beauty, color, diversity and the intensity that surrounds you. You will be astounded.
- A honey bee nectaring on lavender in a soft-pastel scenario.
- A katydid nymph crawling (backlit) on a blanketflower, Gaillardia.
- A Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae, nectaring on Lantana
- A praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a Cosmo
- A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, exiting a lavender patch.
You're the gardener, and you'll be using your garden tools...pruning shears, spade, trowel, garden fork, hoe, hand rake...
But another good garden tool--and an indispensable one--is the camera. You just never know when a buddy shows up in the garden...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The katydid nymph did.
It did appear in May.
The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) tells us that katydid nymphs appear in our gardens in April or May.
This little nymph was right on time, barely, as it surfaced in our Vacaville garden on May 28.
The nymph, a leafeater, is usually so camouflaged in the vegetation that we don't see it--unless it's hanging out on a California golden poppy blossom or a neon pink rock purslane. The adult katydid can be an economic pest when it feeds on such crops as mandarins.
Frankly, it can look quite comical as it "walks the walk," its long threadlike antennae probing the way as it descends a stem in the early evening.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In the blink of an eye...
There it was, nestled inside a baby blue eyes blossom, Nemophila menziesii, which is a spring-blooming plant native to California, Oregon and Baja California.
"It?" A katydid nymph, a wingless critter with long black-and-white banded antennae.
The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) tells us that "nymphs appear in April and May and take 2 to 3 months to mature through 6 to 8 instars."
"At least 74 species of katydids (family Tettigoniidae) are present in California," according to UC IPM. "Most are not pests because they chew only a small amount of foliage before moving to another plant. Forktailed bush katydid (Scudderia furcata) can be a pest because it chews young fruit in addition to leaves. Angularwinged katydid (Microcentrum retinerve) and broadwinged katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium) are other common species.--UC IPM post on katydids.
This nymph crawled around the blossom, stretched to reach the next one, and then, up and over it went.
Just a day in the life of katydid nymph on baby blue eyes.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So here's this crab spider stalking a katydid nymph foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola.
Dinner awaits!
Suddenly a native bee, Melissodes agilis, lands next to the katydid and begins to sip some nectar.
Decisions, decisions! Do I want a juice katydid nymph or a tasty long-horned bee? Do I have a choice in the matter or does it matter if I have a choice?
A moment in time. Time in a moment. The bee, unaware of danger, continues to forage. Then, abruptly, the bee takes flight.
One menu choice remains.
It was a good day for the crab spider.
It was not a good day for the katydid.