You make sure there are no pesticides, poisons or toxic substances in your garden. Your vegetables are organic. You’ve created a wonderful oasis of nature… then you look next door. There’s a Poison Man spraying who knows what all over their house. I imagine it’s to kill a spider or two. Impossible to talk toContinue reading “Honey, I saw a spider!”
Category Archives: insects
Jumping, lynxes and crabs? Pouncing spiders!
Sacramento is a great place for spiders that hang out on flowers instead of messing around with webs. We have jumping spiders, lynx spiders and crab spiders. Jumping spiders are the most active and have large eyes for spotting prey. Lynx spiders and crab spiders lie in wait for their prey to come to them.Continue reading “Jumping, lynxes and crabs? Pouncing spiders!”
Swallowtails!
Our first Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) arrived in the garden today. We’ve had Western Tiger Swallowtails flit through from time to time, but the Anise Swallowtail is here to start a family, not just pass by. This species feeds on plants in the carrot family, and is one of the reasons that we planted fennelContinue reading “Swallowtails!”
It’s bug eat bug out there!
As we were eating some strawberries, a ferocious creature crawled out of the bowl, it’s wickedly fanged head moving back and forth as its spiny body moved forward. Luckily, it’s a very small ferocious creature or I’d have been its lunch. The creature, an aphid lion, is the larval form of a lacewing, a fairylikeContinue reading “It’s bug eat bug out there!”
Ladybug, ladybug
A bit of information on ladybugs and ladybug larvae, your allies to control aphids.
Hey! They told me this was a BIRD house!
This birdhouse is one of the finishing touches on the garden. It’s not really placed to attract nesting birds; it’s too low and too close to the path. So, the reasoning was that it would just be another piece of garden art, occupied by spiders. The day after installation, I noticed something fly out ofContinue reading “Hey! They told me this was a BIRD house!”