Posts Tagged: Agraulis vanillae

Gulf Frit and Tithonia: Showstoppers

The Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, and the Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, seem made for one another. Both are a showy orange. Both are show-stoppers. And both attract a photographer's eye. Especially when a Gulf Frit flutters...

A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, fluttering over a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, fluttering over a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Lawn-pocalypse! Surviving Drought

Ah, summer! The season of sunburns, pool parties, and… lawn droughts. If your once lush, green carpet now looks like a crunchy brown doormat, you're not alone. Let's dive into why your yard is staging a dramatic death scene and what you can do to...

Bermuda grass and weeds overtaking drought stressed turf grass.

A patch of former lawn, mostly dead, with a few green weeds and Bermudagrass

A Bee and a Butterfly: Sharing a Lavender Blossom

Ever seen a honey bee and a butterfly sharing a lavender blossom? Just in time for National Pollinator Week, June 17-23, we saw this today. What could be more pollinator friendly than that? The honey bee, Apis mellifera, and the Gulf...

A Gulf Fritillary and a honey bee sharing the same lavender blossom in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Gulf Fritillary and a honey bee sharing the same lavender blossom in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Gulf Fritillaries Doing Well

The Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, is definitely back from a comeback, at least in the Sacramento, Davis and Vacaville-Fairfield areas. In September of 2009, butterfly guru Art Shapiro, now a UC Davis distinguished professor...

Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, foraging on a zinnia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, foraging on a zinnia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Shadow Knows, But What Does It Know?

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.---JunichiroTanizaki (1886-1965), Japanese author. The shadow knows, but what does it know? It knows to follow. It follows...

The Gulf Fritillary, a brightly colored orange and black butterfly, casts a distinctive shadow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Gulf Fritillary, a brightly colored orange and black butterfly, casts a distinctive shadow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Up and away...the butterfly and the shadow begin to vanish. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Up and away...the butterfly and the shadow begin to vanish. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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