Posts Tagged: native plants

Citizen Scientists Invited to Join the Seed Pile Project

Want to join the 2022-23 Seed Pile Project, a community science initiative by Miridae Living Labs of West Sacramento and UC Davis faculty that aims to better understand the dynamics of native plant seed dispersal in human-dominated landscapes?  If...

A honey bee foraging on a California golden poppy, the state flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee foraging on a California golden poppy, the state flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Tropical Milkweed Doesn't Deserve the Bad Rap

Fact: Milkweed is the host plant of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. Fact: Without milkweed, no monarchs. Yet a milkweed species that's been thriving in California for more than a century is getting a bad rap. The California Department of...

A monarch nectaring on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch nectaring on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch caterpillar foraging on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch caterpillar foraging on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of a monarch caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of a monarch caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch laying an egg on a tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch laying an egg on a tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Big 43: The California Native Plants, Plus One, Studied in UC Davis Research

When pollination ecologists from the Neal Williams lab at the University of California Davis--Ola Lundin, Kimiora Ward and Professor Williams--recently published their research in the Journal of Applied Ecology on "Identifying Native Plants for...

A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heading toward California poppy,Eschscholzia californica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, heading toward California poppy,Eschscholzia californica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Andrena (mining bee) on meadowfoam, Limnanthes alba. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Andrena (mining bee) on meadowfoam, Limnanthes alba. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee, Apis mellifera, on fiddleneck, Amsinckia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A honey bee, Apis mellifera, on fiddleneck, Amsinckia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Native plant species (Photos by Ola Lundin)

Native plant species (Photos by Ola Lundin)

Going Native

It's good to see so much interest in native bees and native plants. At the UC Davis Department of Entomology, we're frequently contacted by folks throughout the country asking what to plant to attract pollinators--native bees, honey bees (honey bees not...

Pollinator

FEMALE SWEAT BEE, Halictus ligatus, on a seaside daisy, Erigeron glaucus x Wayne Roderick, in the Storer Garden, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee

YELLOW-FACED bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) on a purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, at the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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