Archive Nut, Prune and Olive Programs

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HONEY BEE nectaring lavender at the Mostly Natives Nursery, Tomales. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Where the Bees Are

September 17, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty, emphasizes that if you're planting flowers to attract bees--and you should--be sure to remember them in the fall--not just the spring and summer. In the fall, food is scarce.
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BEE GONE--A webweaving spider with "breakfast," a honey bee in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

She Didn't Come Home Last Night

September 16, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
She didn't come home last night. The little honey bee at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis, wound up in a spider's stomach.
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'The Human Bee Hive'

September 15, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Many beekeepers keep bees, but Norman Gary wears them. Gary, who received his doctorate in entomology (apiculture) from Cornell University, served as a professor at the University of California, Davis for 32 years, retiring in 1994.
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BEEKEEPER Frank Pendell of Pendell Apiaries, Stonyford, Calif., vice president of the California State Beekeepers' Association, chats with Dori Sera Bailey, director of consumer communications, Häagen-Dazs and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. In the back are visitors touring the garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Honey of a Garden Celebration

September 14, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Some 1300 people, including beekeepers, entomologists, gardeners, nature lovers, and children--plus millions of bees in the vicinity--helped celebrate the grand opening of the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven last Saturday, Sept. 11. The haven, a bee friendly garden planted last fall next to the Harry H.
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UC DAVIS bioanalytical chemist Jun-Yan Liu, the senior author of the paper, at work in the Hammock laboratory. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Pursuing Relief from Pain

September 13, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Pest management. Pain management. Early in his career, entomologist Bruce Hammock, now a distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis and a newly selected fellow of the Entomological Society of America, probed regulating the development of insect larvae.
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THIS BEE, a Svastra obliqua expurgata, forages on a purple coneflower in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology, is monitoring the many species of bees in the garden. To date: more than 50 over the last two years. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Glory Bee

September 10, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Glory bee. There are more than just honey bees in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. Think butterflies, dragonflies, sweat bees, metallic sweat bees, carpenter bees, hover flies, tachinid flies, wasps, praying mantids and what not.
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Thinking Outside the Box

September 9, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Diane Ullman, Donna Billick and Sarah Dalrymple (Sarah is shown at right) are used to thinking outside the box. Now they are thinking inside and outside the hive. Visitors to the grand opening celebration of the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, set from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept.
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EUROPEAN PAPER WASP rests on a leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Capitalizing on the Colors

September 8, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever notice how the coloring of the wool carder bee resembles a yellowjacket and European paper wasp? Talk about capitalizing on the colors. Carder bees, so named because they card the fuzz or down from leaves to make their nests, are black and yellow.
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A BEE FLY nectars on sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Not Bees--They're Flies

September 7, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There are "bees" and there are "flies." And then there are "bee flies." Bee flies? They're so named because they look somewhat like bees. Order: Diptera. Family: Bombyliidae. We spotted a single bee fly, as identified by UC Davis forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey, foraging on our sedum yesterday.
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