Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of California
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Posts Tagged: Washington State University

Not Good News on the Monarch Front

The dwindling number of monarchs overwintering along the California coast is of great concern.  This just in from entomologist and migratory monarch researcher David James, an associate professor at Washington State University, who maintains a...

Overwintering monarchs clustering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park butterfly sanctuary, Santa Cruz on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Overwintering monarchs clustering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park butterfly sanctuary, Santa Cruz on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Overwintering monarchs clustering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park butterfly sanctuary, Santa Cruz on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at 4:50 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

On Sept. 6, 2016, It Happened

On Sept. 6, 2016, it happened. A monarch fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville and touched down on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. It wasn't just "any ol' monarch"--if there's ever such a thing as "any ol'...

This monarch, tagged and released in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 28, 2016, touched down in a Vacaville garden on Sept. 6, 2016. It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day, according to WSU entomologist David James. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This monarch, tagged and released in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 28, 2016, touched down in a Vacaville garden on Sept. 6, 2016. It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day, according to WSU entomologist David James. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This monarch, tagged and released in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 28, 2016, touched down in a Vacaville garden on Sept. 6, 2016. It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day, according to WSU entomologist David James. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Friday, September 6, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

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.
Bermuda grass and weeds overtaking drought stressed turf grass.

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

Posted on Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 3:30 PM
Tags: drought, turf
Focus Area Tags: Yard & Garden

A Fascinating, Must-Read Book: 'The Lives of Butterflies'

“Butterflies are treasures, like great works of art. Should we not value them as much as the beauty of Picasso's art or the music of Mozart or the Beatles?—Lincoln Brower (1931-2018), renowned Lepidopterist educated at Princeton and Yale...

In the field: David James, an entomologist and associate professor at Washington State University.
In the field: David James, an entomologist and associate professor at Washington State University.

In the field: David James, an entomologist and associate professor at Washington State University.

A monarch butterfly on Tithonia rotundifola in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly on Tithonia rotundifola in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch butterfly on Tithonia rotundifola in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Monday, January 8, 2024 at 5:03 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

Monarch 'Cats Sleeping with the Aphids

Sleeping with the aphids...that's what this monarch caterpillar was doing. It lived--and quite hidden at that--through the freezing cold, the rain, and the wind. It surfaced today on a milkweed in our Vacaville pollinator garden. Surprise,...

A monarch caterpillar sharing a milkweed leaf with oleander aphids on Dec. 8, 2023 in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch caterpillar sharing a milkweed leaf with oleander aphids on Dec. 8, 2023 in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch caterpillar sharing a milkweed leaf with oleander aphids on Dec. 8, 2023 in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Milkweed going to seed on Dec. 8, 2023 in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Milkweed going to seed on Dec. 8, 2023 in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Milkweed going to seed on Dec. 8, 2023 in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Friday, December 8, 2023 at 5:14 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

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