St. Patrick's Day is the "wearing of the green," but it's also the "wearing of the yellow." Wild mustard, that is. If you drive through the hills of Napa, around St.

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A honey bee and a yellow-faced bumble bee sharing a purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Do Honey Bees Impact the Native Bees?

March 14, 2014

The European honey bee, also known as the Western honey bee, has been in the United States for s-o-o-o long that we think it's a native. It's not. European colonists brought the honey bee (Apis mellifera) to the Jamestown colony (Virginia) in 1622.

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Male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, is blond with green eyes. This is on a germander bush, azure bush germander Teucrium fruitcans. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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'Teddy Bear' Bees

March 13, 2014

Along about this time of year, the calls come pouring into the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Bohart Museum of Entomology. "I just saw a golden bumble bee.

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A monarch butterfly nectaring on a zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Monarchs 'n Milkweed

March 12, 2014

Monarchs and milkweed are in the news again. As well they should be. The declining monarch population, coupled with the decreasing scarcity of their host plant, the milkweed, is disturbing. The larvae of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) feed exclusively on milkweeds.

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A honey bee heading for wild radish. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Going 'Rad'

March 11, 2014

It may not be the farmer's friend, but it's the beekeeper's friend. Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum), a member of the mustard family, Brassicaceae, is considered a weed, but I consider it a flowering plant for bees when I see it along roadsides and parks and lining orchards and vineyards.

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