Ongoing research

The places to "bee" for beekeepers in September and November are the Big Island of Hawaii and the not-so-little-city of Rohnert Park, Calif. The Western Apicultural Society, founded by UC Davis scientists in 1978, has scheduled its annual conference for Sept.

Up close and personal, those blue damselflies (suborder Zygoptera, order Odonata) look prehistoric. Fact is, they were here before the dinosaurs. These needlelike insects add an iridescent presence as they fly awkwardy over our fish pond, catching prey.

The Beekeeper's Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America should be required reading for anyone interested in honey bees, crop pollination and migratory beekeepers. Award-winning journalist Hannah Nordhaus tells the story of migratory beekeeper John Miller of Gackle, N.D.

The nursery industry has introduced thousands of ornamental plants, but only a small percentage (~1%) has escaped to become invasive and cause economic or ecological damage. Thus, the removal of these known invasives should not present a major economic hardship on the industry.

There's nothing quite like a cone--no, not an ice cream cone. A purple coneflower. The purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea, family Asteraceae), looks like royalty in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the University of California, Davis.

Released August 8, 2011, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

If you want to attract honey bees in your garden, you can't go wrong by planting catmint (genus Nepeta). Honey bees like the mints. So do cabbage white butterflies, wool carder bees, carpenter bees and hover flies, among other insects. Nepeta is easy to grow.

Lower limit 55 F, upper limit 100 F May 1 to August 1 Nicolaus 2009 1513 2010 1335 2011 1278 Durham 2009 1469 2010 1350 2011 1236 Colusa 2009 1600 2010 1413 2011 1344 To date 2011 is about 4-6 days behind 2010 and about 10-12 days behind 2009, depending the average number of degree units accumulated...

When you install bee condos--those wooden blocks with holes drilled in them to attract nesting native bees--sometimes you get the unexpected. Like earwigs! Home invasion! Home invasion! We installed two bee condos, each about the size of a brick, in our yard.

Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) The late spring rains that fell in Northern California seemed to benefit some plants more than others. One weed that appears to be doing very well this year is Field bindweed.