Posts Tagged: milkweed
Welcome, First Monarch of the Year!
We never thought we'd see one this year. And then it arrived. The first monarch sighting of the year. A Danaus plexippus majestically touched down...
Yes, that's a monarch! A monarch touched down in a Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden at 5 p.m. Aug 9. It's nectaring on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hey, I'm Eating as Fast as I Can!
Have you ever seen the larva of a lady beetle (aka ladybug) dining on an aphid? Lights! Camera! Action! So here is this charming little immature...
An immature lady beetle (larvae) chowing down on an oleander aphid. This photo was taken on a milkweed plant in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A well-fed adult lady beetle (aka ladybug) ignores a fat Oleander aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Enemy of the Gardener
Aphids, don't you just hate them? Especially those oleander aphids that suck the very lifeblood out of our milkweed plants that we're struggling to...
Oleander aphids clustering on a milkweed stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Aphids magnified on a Leica DVM6 microscope, operated by Lynn Epstein, UC Davis emeritus professor of plant pathology.
Monarch Madness: Thanks, Monarch Mama!
Thar's gold in them thar hills? Probably not. But thar's definitely gold in that there pollinator garden--our little pollinator garden in Vacaville,...
A hungry monarch caterpillar chewing on a milkweed stem this morning in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch caterpillar swirls to get the best angle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The long and short of it--a monarch caterpillar crawls on a stem to its next dining spot. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Even seed pods are fair game for hungry monarch caterpillars. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a monarch caterpillar, taken with a Canon MPE-65mm lens. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Incredible Aphid-Eating Machines
Just call them the "incredible aphid-eating machines." That would be the lady beetles, commonly known as ladybugs (although they are not bugs;...
Lady beetle larva dining on aphids on milkweed, UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A lady beetle, aka ladybug, tracks down more prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)