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Posts Tagged: sunflowers
What's a Group of Butterflies Called?
What's a group of butterflies called? A kaleidoscope, swarm, or rabble. If you've ever had a kaleidoscope in your childhood and admired the swirling colors and patterns, you know that's an appropriate name. But even one monarch...
Migratory monarchs in a Vacaville pollinator garden filled with Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Migratory monarchs in flight over a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis Professor Stacey Harmer: Why It's Better for Sunflowers to Face East
Have you ever noticed that sunflowers facing east attract more bees? An 11-member team of researchers led by UC Davis scientists reveals insight on "how and why" in a newly published article in the journal New Phytologist. The title, "Flower...
A honey bee heading toward an east-facing sunflower in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Catch of the Day
It's early morning and the spider is hungry. It snares a honey bee foraging for pollen and nectar in a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden. The spider slides down the sticky web, kills...
An orbweaver snares a honey bee in its sticky web in a patch of Mexican sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifola, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tiny freeloader flies (family Milichiidae) grab their share. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
So Bee It...
The honey bees love it. So do the long-horned bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, European paper wasps, syrphid flies, butterflies, blister beetles, spotted cucumber beetles, crab spiders, praying mantids, and assorted other insects. The Mexican...
A honey bee heads toward a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ah, this Mexican sunflower is all mine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It pays to keep a lookout while you're foraging on the ever-popular Mexican sunflower, genus Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Joy of Rearing Monarchs Is Releasing Them
Oh, the joy of rearing monarchs...from an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to an adult... However, the ultimate joy is not in rearing them, but releasing them--from their confined and well-protected indoor habitat to that Spectacular Spacious World...
This newly eclosed female monarch just wants to linger. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly released monarch nectaring on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) next to a bird house, a replica of a barn. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly has its choice of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a newly released monarch nectaring on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
