Rangelands

If Barbie had a praying mantis, it would be pretty in pink. Do you think Barbie would fawn over a praying mantis nestled in a bed of pink zinnia petals? We spotted this Stagmomantis limbata in our living laboratory (pollinator garden), and admired her stance. Then Ms.

The Invasive Pest Spotlight focuses on relevant or emerging invasive species in California. In this issue we are covering brooms, a group of invasive shrubs. Invasive Broom facts Brooms are upright shrubs in the legume family that typically produce small, yellow, pea-shaped flowers.

To accelerate adoption of climate-smart farming practices, the University of California Office of the President has awarded nearly $2 million to a team of UC Cooperative Extension scientists and community partners working on a network of farm demonstration sites.

Bring on the praying mantises! An enthusiastic crowd is expected at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 27 in Room 1124 of Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, University of California, Davis. It's free and family friendly. Parking is also free.

How much do you know about praying mantises? The Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house, themed "Praying Mantises," on Sunday, Aug. 27 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It is free and family friendly.

A green bottle fly lands on a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in a Vacaville pollinator garden.

Hear that buzz? National Honey Bee Day is Saturday, Aug. 19 and you're invited to join this oh-so-sweet celebration! Launched in 2009, National Honey Bee Day takes place on the third Saturday of August. The event originated when a small group of beekeepers petitioned the U.S.

They look as if they belong in a circus or in a cartoon. Long dangly legs, elongated body, and long, four-segmented antennae topped with a small club. But there they were, stilt bugs, foraging on evening primrose at dawn in our "living laboratory"--a pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif.

Nazzy Pakpour has a way with kids. At a recent Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, she read passages from her newly published children's book, Please Don't Bite Me: Insects that Buzz, Bite and Sting, and then encouraged questions.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology has scheduled three fall open houses: Sunday, Aug. 27: Praying Mantises Saturday, Sept. 23: Household Vampires Saturday, Nov. 4: Monarchs The open houses, free and family friendly, take place from 1 to 4 p.m.