Master Gardeners of Ventura County
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Master Gardeners of Ventura County

Posts Tagged: butterfly

A Monarch Kind of Day

What we've been waiting for all season... A migratory monarch butterfly fluttered into our Vacaville garden at noon today (Tuesday, Sept. 17) and nectared on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. Then she treated us to a...

A female monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotunifola, in a Vacaville garden at noon, Sept. 17, 2024. At left is a territorial male longhorned bee, probably Melissodes agilis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A female monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotunifola, in a Vacaville garden at noon, Sept. 17, 2024. At left is a territorial male longhorned bee, probably Melissodes agilis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotunifola, in a Vacaville garden at noon, Sept. 17, 2024. At left is a territorial male longhorned bee, probably Melissodes agilis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female monarch butterfly lifts off the Tithonia. This image was taken with a Nikon D500 with a 200mm macro lens. Settings: 1/4000 of a second; f-stop, 5.6; ISO 640.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female monarch butterfly lifts off the Tithonia. This image was taken with a Nikon D500 with a 200mm macro lens. Settings: 1/4000 of a second; f-stop, 5.6; ISO 640.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The female monarch butterfly lifts off the Tithonia. This image was taken with a Nikon D500 with a 200mm macro lens. Settings: 1/4000 of a second; f-stop, 5.6; ISO 640.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The monarch descends, ready to head to another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch descends, ready to head to another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The monarch descends, ready to head to another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

She lifts up and away she goes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
She lifts up and away she goes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

She lifts up and away she goes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 8:24 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

Buds, Butterflies and Books...

It's delightful to see a child browsing through an insect book. And it's double delightful with twins! Such was the case at the Vacaville Museum Guild's recent Children's Party when two-year-old twins Ford and Wyatt Devine were thumbing...

A children's book on the California state insect, the dogface butterfly, draws the interest of twins Ford and Wyatt Devine, 2, of Vacaville.The book was displayed at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A children's book on the California state insect, the dogface butterfly, draws the interest of twins Ford and Wyatt Devine, 2, of Vacaville.The book was displayed at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A children's book on the California state insect, the dogface butterfly, draws the interest of twins Ford and Wyatt Devine, 2, of Vacaville.The book was displayed at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 4:49 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Family, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

A Little Cinderella

In its larval stage, it's a pest of cole crops. As an adult, it's like a little Cinderella. That would be the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. In the fairy tale, a ragged Cinderella lives with her selfish stepmother and two mean...

A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Tuesday, August 13, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Yard & Garden

Can You Name California's State Insect?

Can you name California's state insect? Did you know that California has a state insect? It does. Is it the honey bee? No. Is it the lady beetle (ladybug)? No. Bumble bee? No.  It's the California dogface butterfly (Zerene...

Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, holds a drawer of California dogface butterfly specimens. The butterfly is California's state insect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, holds a drawer of California dogface butterfly specimens. The butterfly is California's state insect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, holds a drawer of California dogface butterfly specimens. The butterfly is California's state insect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A 35-page children's book,
A 35-page children's book, "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly," is authored by UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a Bohart research scientist.

A 35-page children's book, "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly," is authored by UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a Bohart research scientist.

Posted on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 at 4:19 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources

Children's Party at the Vacaville Museum: A Honey of an Event

The Vacaville Museum Guild's annual children's party--for Vacaville children ages 3 to 9--promises to be a honey of a party. Themed "Fun on the Farm," it's an entertaining and educational event set for 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 8...

This is the bee observation hive that Ettamarie Peterson, known as the
This is the bee observation hive that Ettamarie Peterson, known as the "Queen Bee of Sonoma County," will display at the children's party.

This is the bee observation hive that Ettamarie Peterson, known as the "Queen Bee of Sonoma County," will display at the children's party.

Ettamarie Peterson stands by
Ettamarie Peterson stands by "Miss Bee Haven," a six-foot ceramic-mosaic sculpture at the UC Davis Bee Haven. The sculpture is the work of Davis artist Donna Billick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ettamarie Peterson stands by "Miss Bee Haven," a six-foot ceramic-mosaic sculpture at the UC Davis Bee Haven. The sculpture is the work of Davis artist Donna Billick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Amina Harris, founding director and emerita of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, stands inside her family's business, The Hive, a community gathering place in Woodland that offers honey and mead tasting.
Amina Harris, founding director and emerita of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, stands inside her family's business, The Hive, a community gathering place in Woodland that offers honey and mead tasting.

Amina Harris, founding director and emerita of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, stands inside her family's business, The Hive, a community gathering place in Woodland that offers honey and mead tasting.

Be a butterfly! Professor Fran Keller of Folsom Lake College, a UC Davis doctoral alumna and Bohart Museum scientist, poses as a butterfly. She wrote a children's book on the California dogface butterfly that is available in the Bohart Museum gift shop. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Be a butterfly! Professor Fran Keller of Folsom Lake College, a UC Davis doctoral alumna and Bohart Museum scientist, poses as a butterfly. She wrote a children's book on the California dogface butterfly that is available in the Bohart Museum gift shop. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Be a butterfly! Professor Fran Keller of Folsom Lake College, a UC Davis doctoral alumna and Bohart Museum scientist, poses as a butterfly. She wrote a children's book on the California dogface butterfly that is available in the Bohart Museum gift shop. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Monday, July 29, 2024 at 3:40 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Family, Innovation, Natural Resources

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