UC Blogs
Scotch Bonnet Jean
When I first married into my husband's family, I was new to the Capsicum chinense family, but I thought I knew to what Scotch Bonnet was. A “Yank,” in a family ofyardies. For years I would buy Scotch Bonnet plants, and for years, brother-in-law would say “no.”
I did not know of “landraces,” that there were red and yellow Scotch bonnets, I did not know there were named cultivars. Since then, I have learned C. Capsicum can be a bit promiscuous, and as my father-in-law might say, may do some “mingling.”
One year, my mother-in-law harvested and gave me a pepper. We talked about its shape, its size, its color, not just the heat but the flavor, and especially the fragrance.
That year I scraped out the seeds, let the seeds dry, and saved them for the next season. I sprouted it, potted it up, and grew it on. I grow a lot of peppers, and understood it might have “mingled,” but I was excited to see the next generation.
What a beautiful plant! What amazing peppers! I over-wintered that plant through freezes, floods, triple digits, and wildfires. Some years I was not sure it would come back. Especially last year.
But it did!Phew! That was close. But I was not taking chances. I saved seed and grew another generation.
Scotch Bonnet OG 2
An Incredible Salute to Entomologist Lynn Kimsey
When a noted entomologist retires, what do you do? Give them a 21-insect net salute. That's what occurred at a recent retirement celebration...
UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey walks under the archway of a 21-insect net salute. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Back in 1986, Professor Richard "Doc" Bohart was given a 21-insect net salute when the museum he founded became "The Bohart Museum of Entomology." Lynn Kimsey, then a postdoctoral fellow, is in the left foreground.
Noted entomologist Richard "Doc" Bohart walks beneath the archway of a 21-insect net salute in this 1986 image. The museum he founded in 1946 was dedicated to him in 1986.
USC Biologist on 'Trends of Bee Biodiversity in North America'
Bee biodiversity? It promises to be an interesting seminar. Assistant professor Laura "Melissa" Guzman of the University of Southern...
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, sipping nectar from an Amethyst Sea Holly, Eryngium amethystinum, in Sonoma. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Winning PBESA Images: A Damselfly, a Blowfly and a Monarch
An image of a damselfly photographed in Hawaii, and images of a blowfly and a monarch photographed in California won the Photo Salon recently hosted...
Robert Peck, an entomologist with the University of Hawaii won first prize in the PBESA Photo Salon competition with this image of a damselfly. (Copyright, Robert Peck)
Alexander Nguyen, a UC Davis entomology alumnus, and senior agricultural inspector, County of Sonoma, won second place in the PBESA competition with this image of a blowfly. (Copyright, Andrew Nguyen)
Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology won third place for this image of a monarch foraging on milkweed in a Vacaville garden. (Copyright, Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Alfalfa/Grains Field Day to be held May 9, 2024
Please Join us for a Grains/Alfalfa Field Day at UC Davis, coming up soon. Always a great field trip in the morning!!! Join us for a BBQ lunch...