Archive Nut, Prune and Olive Programs

A recent trip to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, Fort Bragg, yielded spectacular views of the ocean, but something else also proved spectacular--the honey bees and bumble bees foraging on borage.

Reposting of an announcement for a Field School sponsored by the Western Society of Weed Science. This is not a UC Field School but may be of broad interest to western landmanagers fighting invasive weeds. The informational flyer can be found here: http://sfc.smallfarmcentral.

There are marathons, read-a-thons, dance-a-thons, quilt-a-thons, paint-a-thons, geek-a-thons and sleep-a-thons. So why not a bee-a-thon? YourGardenShow.com is teaming with The Great Sunflower Project to sponsor a worldwide bee-a-thon, a free online town-hall event to be broadcast from 9 a.m. to 9 p.

You can't miss the flame skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata). You especially can't miss the male, which is firecracker red. We watched a male flame skimmer hunt for prey over our fish pond Saturday afternoon.

I kill weeds, I must admit. I was talking to my daughter about writing a weed blog for UC Cooperative Extension and asked her what I should say I do (kindergarteners have the best ideas). She replied, bluntly, you kill weeds, daddy.

All that glitters is not gold. The gold coin flowers (Asteriscus maritimus) planted in our yard attract a goodly number of leafcutter bees and hover flies (aka flower flies and syrphid flies). But if you look closely, gold coins attract something else--arachnids.

If the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis Department of Entomology, seemed like a lonely place in 1994, 2004 and 2005, that's because four professors retired. Now the bee biology program is gaining new strength.

Being named a Fellow of the 6000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) is like winning the Pulitzer Prize in the bug world. So many talented entomologists out there. So few awards. And even fewer prestigious awards.

The female black widow spider stood guard. She clutched her two teardrop-shaped egg sacs, suspended from the web she'd earlier woven on the lip of the swimming pool. She spent the day crawling up, over and around them. Two sacs, about 300 eggs inside each one. Her future offspring. Proud Mama.

This week we are finalizing plans for the 55th Annual UC Davis Weed Day on July 14th. It's not too late to register if you are interested in a sampling of the current weed science research at UCD! More info and registration information on Weed Day can be found here: http://wric.ucdavis.