Butterfly Gardening Class

Zebra Longwing by Just chaos via Flickr

Our local extension office is hosting a Butterfly Gardening class this week. Topics include the essential elements of a butterfly garden, common Florida butterflies, plants for adults and caterpillars, and planting design. Class will also include a tour of the extension center's own butterfly garden! This class is on Tuesday, April 16, 3013 from 9a-10:30a at the Orange County Extension Education Center. You can pre-register here.

Flight of the Butterflies

We spent Thanksgiving with some dear friends in the Washington DC area and were able to take the kiddos to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  I jumped at the opportunity to see Flight of the Butterflies at the Johnson IMAX theater there. It was AMAZING! It is a stunning and inspiring film about the discovery of the monarch butterflies' epic migration by Dr. Fred Urquhart. I would definitely check it out in a theater near you!

Landscaping for Wildlife & Butterflies

 Our local extension office is hosting a butterfly gardening class!

My Favorite Plant Sale

My favorite plant sale of the year is this weekend at Leu Gardens. Vendors from all over the state bring their plants and garden accessories. There is so much to choose from: herbs, flowers, orchids, succulents, citrus trees, Florida natives, etc. Admission to the gardens is free both days. The sale is March 17th and 18th from 9am-5pm.

This is a popular event so I have some tips for you:

1) Bring a cart or wagon for your purchases!

2) If you have been thinking about becoming a Leu Gardens member, now is the time. Members  shop first from 8am-9am on Saturday, the 17th.

3) Parking is tight so come early or later in the day. I usually park on one of the neighborhood side streets.

This is also an excellent opportunity to visit Leu Gardens' Butterfly Garden - one of my favorites!

Leu Gardens by Ricymar Fine Art Photography via Flickr

Valentine's Day at the Florida Museum of Natural History

I think this might be my version of a perfect Valentine's Day with my husband- an Italian dinner accompanied by live music followed by a moonlit stroll through the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History! This is one of my all time favorite butterfly gardens. They are hosting a special Valentine's Day event that sounds like so much fun. You can make your reservation here. Here's a glimpse of what you will see...

Photo by fuzzcat on Flickr

Photo by greaterrumbrage on Flickr

Photo by spakattacks on Flickr

Landscaping for Wildlife & Butterflies

Our friends at the local extension office will be hosting a presentation on Landscaping for Wildlife & Butterflies on August 3rd. There is a newly installed Butterfly Garden that you can visit before the lecture AND you will receive a butterfly plant and two books - wow!

Interested in Becoming a Master Gardener?

Local Friends - a new Master Gardener class is forming at the Orange County Extension office. I have loved being a Master Gardener and have made so many plant loving friends because of it. Check out the information below!

Bambi's Butterfly Garden

This year's butterfly garden at the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival WAS bigger and better! I really enjoyed it's scale and scope - such a nice variety of host and nectar plants in a woodland setting. It also included a chrysalis house,  butterfly identification and life cycle signs, and a puddle.  I'd say there was a moderate amount of butterflies. We saw Monarchs, Queens, Gulf Fritillaries, Zebra Longwings, and a Giant Swallowtail.

Entrance to the garden. We were given packets of Zinnia seeds here.

Bambi's Butterfly Garden is this year's theme.

Queen Butterfly on Bambi

I found these stick trellises inspiring. There was passionvine and coral honeysuckle growing on them.

A puddle for the butterflies to sip from.

Chrysalis House

Queen caterpillar on Milkweed

Butterfly Topiary outside of the garden. The topiaries are one of our favorite features of the whole festival.

The festival ends on the 15th so there is only a few days left to visit Bambi's Butterfly Garden!

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

Free Veggie Seeds & Gardening Gloves

My children are fans of Annie's Homegrown macaroni and snacks so I was fortunate to come across this FREE offer. With the purchase of two Annie's products between January 5 and April 30, 2011, you can receive a Gardening Gift pack consisting of Baker Creek Heirloom seeds and gardening gloves (adult or child)! Order yours here.

WInter Park Harvest Festival

I am so excited about the first Winter Park Harvest Festival! It is this Saturday, November 20th at Central Park's West Meadow. It is described as "one part feast, one part farmer's market, and one part gardening seminar" (Orlando Home & Leisure, November 2010) - can it get any better? I will be working with other Orange County Master Gardeners in the Gardening Demonstration tent during the day and attending the Farm to Table dinner in the evening. Hope you'll check out this momentous event!

Local friends: Need a rain barrel or compost bin? Check this out!

Wild about Wildflowers

The Florida Wildflower Foundation's 2010 Symposium was great! I really enjoyed learning about the many native wildflowers that entice butterflies in our area. During his lecture, Dr. Daniels shared some of his favorites like the Sparkleberry, Snow Squarestem, Scorpion-tail, and Narrowleaf Sunflower. He also gave me a large quantity of one of my favorite butterfly brochures, Florida Wildflowers and Butterflies. It describes the butterfly's life cycle, has many pictures of Florida's butterflies and wildflowers, and offers butterfly gardening tips. If you would like one, drop me a line and I'll send one your way!

A new favorite book

The Florida Wildflowers Growers Cooperative was on hand to share advice about growing wildflowers and had a wonderful selection of seeds for sale. I can't wait to grow this Butterfly mix that I purchased!

Florida Wildflower Foundation's 2010 Wildflower Symposium and Plant Sale

The Florida Wildflower Foundation is  having their annual symposium on September 25, 2010 in Winter Park, Florida. This is a great opportunity to learn about (and buy!) native butterfly plants. In addition, the author of one of my favorite butterfly  books, Jaret Daniels (see reading list), is giving a presentation entitled, "Pollinators and Wildflowers." Hope to see you there! You can register here.

Tickseed or Coreopsis is Florida's state wildflower and a great nectar plant.

Florida-Friendly Butterfly Container Gardening Follow-Up

We had a great turn out for my Butterfly Gardening presentation at the Maitland Public Library last Friday. Thank you to all of you who came to hear my talk and to the library for hosting me! There were a lot of questions and I wanted to follow up on one in particular. Someone asked if passion vine attracts one type of butterfly when planted in the shade and another type when planted in the sun. I recalled that this was true but could not remember at the time exactly which butterflies these are. I consulted my references and it is the Zebra Longwing (photo by justchaos) that prefers passion vine in the shade...

and the Gulf Fritillary that prefers it in the sun.

The Zebra Longwing is the state butterfly of Florida and there are several types of passion vine, such as the Maypop (N), that are native to Florida.

This is the container I planted for the presentation. That's Mexican Milkweed in the back. Second row has (L-R) parsley, Black-Eyed Susans (N), and Pentas. In front are Lantana and Indian Blanket (N).

My daughter brought along our Black Swallowtail caterpillar for everyone to see. His container is a recycled plastic cheese ball container!

Come see me!