Bug Squad

If you're going to the UC Davis Arboretum Member Appreciation Plant Sale, set Saturday, March 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive, you'll be in plant heaven. You'll see drought-tolerant plants, plants perfect for your pollinators, and the Arboretum All-Stars.

If you've ever been around cicadas, you know how loud they can be. How loud are they? They are so loud--up to 120 decibels--that many tender-eared folks would like to cite them for "disturbing the peace.

You've probably seen some of them in your garden, but have you seen them up close? Really close? Have you seen the male Valley carpenter bee, that green-eyed blond fondly nicknamed "the teddy bear bee?" (Well, it does have that fuzzy-wuzzy look, and it being a male, has no stinger.

If you're looking for the newsletter, from the UC apiaries, it has a new home. The new UC California Cooperative Extension apiculturist, Elina Lastro Nio, has moved it to her website now that Eric Mussen has retired.

Family, friends and colleagues are remembering Vernon Burton, 90, known for his 38-year exemplary career with UC Cooperative Extension, including 10 years as a Kern County farm adviser in Bakersfield, and 28 years with UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and...