UC Master Gardeners of San Joaquin County

 Her cup runneth over.Only a select group of people win the Franklin's Bumble Bee coffee cup, and UC Davis alumna  Lesley Hamamoto of Sacramento recently received hers for being named the  winner of the 2026 Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest, sponsored by the…

Constance Starner, UC Master Gardener When you see leaves shriveling and turning black after a freeze, the plant is obviously damaged, but you may wonder exactly how that damage occurs. With a freeze, it’s the ice that forms in the plant cells when temperatures fall to 32°F or less, making water…

 News flash/update: Professor Louie Yang, a community ecologist in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will be the speaker at the Pacific Coast Entomological Society (PCES) meeting at 1 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 24 in Room 122 of Briggs Hall, University of California, Davis.Yang, whose…

 If you're interested in joining the Pacific Coast Entomological Society (PCES), the first meeting of the year will be Saturday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall, University of California, Davis. Following the meeting, the group will gather at the Bohart Museum of Entomology to learn…

You might be surprised to learn that a few of your favorite ornamental plants are invasive to California and can “escape” your yard causing big problems in the wild. When plants escape landscape and garden boundaries, it is often due to seed distribution or aggressive roots. An invasive plant species can…

 It's an early sign of spring on the University of California, Davis, when a solo Japanese apricot tree, located north central of Wickson Hall, bursts into full bloom.A plaque reads "Japanese Apricot, Prune mume dawn, planted in honor of Dr. William Tufts, March 7, 1963 by the Landscape Horticulture…

 You won't want to miss this UC Davis seminar on arthropods in landscapes by Stacy Philpott, professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz.Philpott will speak on "Social, Local, and Landscape Drivers of Arthropod Diversity, Traits, and Networks in Urban Agroecosystems" at a seminar hosted by the…

 Ever seen the wooly bear caterpillars at Bodega Head, Sonoma County?UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus Richard “Rick” Karban of the Department of Entomology and Nematology has studied the population dynamics of these caterpillars at the University of California Bodega Marine…

Agriculture officials have expanded the areas quarantined for citrus greening disease (known as huanglongbing or HLB) in California. The quarantined area in the Corona area of Riverside County was expanded by 37 square miles. The San Juan Capistrano quarantined area of Orange County was expanded by 18 square…

 "Biologists have always been fascinated by strife and conflict, but cooperative exchanges, involving all species and networking large numbers of them into complex communities, are ubiquitous in the natural world. This talk will describe our current understanding of mutualism as well as the questions…

 Want to help with migratory monarch research? Entomologist David James, an associate professor at Washington State University (my alma mater), has launched an "E-tag" funding project to determine where monarchs from Idaho migrate--do they head for the California coast to overwinter or to Mexico?…

UC Cooperative Extension in Ventura County will host the Climate and Agriculture: Farming in a Changing Climate workshop on Tuesday, Jan. 20, from 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

 The 2026 "Beer-for-a-Butterfly" contest, aka "Suds for a Bug," is still underway. No one has come forth.UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus Art Shapiro, who has sponsored the contest since 1972, will trade your live cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, for a pitcher of beer, or its equivalent…

Don’t miss the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists Annual Conference, February 5–6 in Modesto, CA. Join IPM professionals, researchers, and pest control advisors for two days of engaging presentations and discussions focused on today’s most pressing pest management challenges. The program features…