Facebook
X (Twitter)
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
Delicious
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Posts Tagged: milkweed
A Halloween Surprise: A Migratory Monarch
It's beginning to look a lot like...Halloween. If you haven't noticed, stores are gearing up for Halloween with assorted ghosts, goblins and ghouls for you. We remember Halloween 2023 when a female migratory monarch fluttered into our pollinator...
A migrating monarch butterfly stops on Halloween, Oct. 31 to sip nectar from a milkweed in a Vacaville garden. She was on her way to an overwintering site in coastal California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female monarch spreads her wings. She stopped in Vacaville on Halloween 2023 for some flight fuel while on her way to an overwintering site in coastal California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Welcome, Little 'Cat; 'Bye, Little 'Cat!
Monarch butterflies seem to be as scarce as hen's teeth around here. And since hens have no teeth, that's pretty scarce. And then it happened. A late in-star monarch caterpillar appeared on our milkweed in our Vacaville pollinator-predator garden...
A visitor! A late in-star monarch caterpillar munches on wilting milkweed in a Vacaville garden in triple-temperature conditions. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch caterpillar keeps on munching the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a monarch caterpillar munching milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Let Us Prey
So here's this female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, camouflaged on a narrow-leaf milkweed, Asclepias fasciculari, in a Vacaville garden. If she thinks she's going to ambush a monarch, she has another think coming. No monarchs in the...
A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, moves up a narrow-leafed milkweed in a search for prey. (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 Mantis on the Milkweed
So here's this immature praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a narrow-leafed milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. She's camouflaged quite well. She's as green and thin as the leaves. Me: "Hey, Ms....
A camouflaged praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a narrow-leafed milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Praying mantis perched on a milkweed, the host plant for monarchs. She seems to be saying: "Sure, I'm occupying a milkweed, but I promise I'll never even LOOK at a monarch. I'll close my eyes should one flutter by." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The mantis keeps an eye out for prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The mantis assumes the prayerful position--let us prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
