Friday, April 29, 2011

Come See Me at the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival!


I love the butterfly on Mickey's nose!



The annual EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival is open until May 15th and the Butterfly Garden is bigger and better! This year it is called Bambi's Butterfly House and is located behind Future World. I can't wait to check it out! I will be working in the Master Gardener  Booth in the Garden Town Pavilion tomorrow,  Saturday, April 30th, from 10am - 1:30pm. Come visit us!


At the 2010 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival



Sunday, April 17, 2011

Butterfly Habitat for the Classroom

We found a number of caterpillars and eggs in our Milkweed recently so my daughter and I decided to put together a butterfly habitat for her classroom. We have "hatched" caterpillars numerous times. You might recall the Black Swallowtail from a previous posting. We used a recycled cheeseball container then. Well, this time we had Monarch caterpillars which feed on Milkweed. Milkweed is much taller than the parsley we put in the cheeseball container so we needed something new.

I prefer to put a live plant on our containers. It is much easier to maintain because the caterpillars have a constant supply of food. Then I later add  the host plant to the garden. I have tried putting branches in floral water picks but they seem to wilt quickly and thus need to be replaced quite often. I did a little online research but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.  So I decided to check out the gift shop at the Butterfly Encounter at Luka's Nursery. There I found the perfect indoor habitat for Monarch caterpillars:



It is a rectangular container with mesh on 5 sides. One side is transparent so that the caterpillars' metamorphosis can be viewed easily. The Milkweed plant fits well inside. I lined the bottom of the habitat with paper towels to make cleaning easy. Next, I placed a plastic saucer under the plant to catch any water. Make sure you throw out any excess water so the caterpillars do not drown in it!!




We moved the habitat into the classroom and the children are enjoying it. I spoke to them about the basics of the butterfly life cycle and they were full of questions. They asked "How many butterflies are in the world?" and "Do you know everything about nature?" They are so cute and enthusiastic!

Please let me know if you need help in establishing your butterfly habitat. I'd love to help you out!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Places: JW Marriott Orlando Butterfly Garden

During our recent Spring Break, I took the kids to float in the lazy river at the local JW Marriott (lots of fun by the way!) and I was delighted to stumble upon their petite lakeside butterfly garden.

Although small, this butterfly garden has all of the essential elements: host plants, nectar plants, trellises,  sun and shade, and  a water source. I also like the sign that identifies the garden and describes the butterfly life cycle. The extra lighting is a nice touch too.

Trellis covered with passionflower

The Passionflower and Dutchman's Pipe vines were growing vigorously. Passionflower is the host plant for the Gulf Frittilary (in sun) and Zebra Longwing (in shade). The Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars feed on the Dutchman's Pipe.


Dutchman's Pipevine on the trellis and Mexican Milkweed in the front

There is Mexican Milkweed for the Monarch caterpillars and fennel for the Black Swallowtails.


Fennel surrounding the Oak Tree

Nectar plants included Tropical Sage which hummingbirds love as well.


Tropical Sage on the lower right and Passionflower on the trellis

I really love the pink shade of this Passionflower...

Passionflower

Hope this posting gives you some inspiration for a petite butterfly garden!

 

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