Garden Scoop UF/IFAS Extension, Lake County Office Master Gardener Volunteers Issue 7 Oct/Nov. 2019 WELCOME UF/IFAS Extension, Lake County Master Gardener Volunteers provide information for your home, lawn, and garden needs. We hope you enjoy the articles! Festival of Flight & Flowers INSIDE THIS ISSUE Don’t miss the Festival of Flight and Flowers on Saturday, October 12, at the Plant Profile, Fertilizer myth ........ 2 Eustis Community Center, 601 Northshore Drive, Eustis, FL 32726 from 10 am -3 pm. The UF/IFAS Lake County Master Gardener Volunteers will host a live Featured Garden .................... 3-4 butterfly exhibit during Saturday’s festival activities. The butterfly release Feature MGV .............................. 5 begins at 10:00 am. Admission is Free. Plant Profile, FL Fable .................. 6 As part of the festival and offered throughout Lake County, field trips and bird-watching walks occur Friday, October 11th through Sunday, October Bug Bytes ...................................... 7 13th. For further information visit the festival website at https:// FL Friendly Landscape ............... 8 festivalofflightandflowers.org/ . Scorpion Tail ................................ 9 FL Bulbs ....................................... 10 Master Gardener Volunteer, Lorraine Garden Calendar .................... 11 Hubbard, releases butterflies with DSA Award, New Termite ....... 12 guests at the 2018 Festival of Flight and Flowers. Invasive, Sat. in Garden .......... 13 Events ......................................... 14 Lake County MG Mission Statement The mission of UF/IFAS Lake County Master Gardener Volunteers is to assist extension agents by providing horticultural education programs and current research-based information to the public through plant clinics, community outreach and Discovery Gardens. For more information contact: UF/IFAS Extension, Lake County Office [email protected] ▪ (352) 343-4101▪ FAX (352) 343-2767, http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/lake/ PLANT PROFILES: Monarch butterfly. The Monarch will lay its white egg on the plant leaf so the caterpillar will have a source of food when it Asclepias AKA Milkweed hatches. By Karen Kennen, Master Gardener Volunteer (MGV) There are two milkweeds most often sold as butterfly garden plants: Asclepiss tuberosa (butterfly-weed) and Asclepias currassavica (Scarlet or tropical milkweed). Tropical milkweed is a non-native with red, orange, and yellow blooms. Research has found a possible correlation between this milkweed and ophryocystis elktroscirrha (OE), a parasite causing deformed wings. Another problem with this milkweed is that year round blooming may keep monarchs from mi- grating. The University of FL recommends cutting it to the ground in the fall to encourage migration. Asclepias tuberosa is a native milkweed with orange or yellow Asclepias, commonly known as Milkweed, is a blooms that appear in the late summer or early fall. The plant group of perennials that derived its common grows about 2 feet tall and will survive in almost any soil. name from its sticky, milky-white sap which is Butterfly weed likes sun or partial shade but does not a combination of alkaloids, latex, and other transplant well because of its tap root. compounds. There are over 100 species in the U.S. and Canada. USDA notes there are 76 The milkweed plant has been used for many things. The species growing throughout the United States Native Americans used it as a rope source (processed stem) and 21 different types grow in Florida. There and even health remedy as a tea from the leaves. Perhaps the are from 13 to 15 species of Asclepias growing most interesting use was when the seed pods were collected in Lake County. It is a plant of note since it is and the fluff inside was used to stuff WW2 life vests. the only one that acts as a host plant for the Photo by Karen K. For more information, Gardening E.F. Gilman UF/EDIS Solutions, UF/IFAS, EDIS FP050, Butterfly-weed Tropical Fertilizers—Do they have an expiration? Our Plant Clinic lead MGV, Sandra Bryan, was asked this very question when a homeowner called the Plant Clinic about her old bag of fertilizer. This is what Sandra found out and told the client: Liquid fertilizer is generally good for 8-10 years. Dry fertilizer is effective indefinitely unless it contains an herbicide or insecticide, then it is only good for approximately 4 years. Click these links for further information on Fertilizing: Fertilize Appropriately | Lake County Fertilizer Law 2 Featured Discovery Garden: Butterfly Garden someone new to take over the lead position – ME! by Susan Follick, MGV The second stage which is the feeding stage (larva) Did you know you can use Florida-Friendly plants in a came quickly. A team of Master Gardeners met in June garden designed for pollinators? Our Lead Master Gar- to discuss the direction of the Butterfly House and we dener discusses the process about the metamorphosis all quickly realized that it was time for the house to be of the Discovery Gardens’ butterfly garden below. replaced with a garden. This suggestion that Brooke made was liberating! Our Gardens Technician, Ron “Metamorphosis has always been the greatest symbol Musgrave, and a team of MGVs, began dismantling the of change for poets and artists. Imagine that you could house (thanks to John and Mike who helped). Once the be a caterpillar one moment and a butterfly the next.” house was down, the planning began. This is the story of the metamorphosis of an aging We reached out to Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly House to a dynamic new Butterfly MGV, Teresa Watkins, Garden. It’s the story of change made possible by the who also has her own efforts and hard work of many. landscape design firm There are four stages in the metamorphosis of (she-consulting.com) to butterflies and moths: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. create a design plan. The first stage in our story (egg) began a year ago in the While that plan was in Lake County Master Gardener Volunteer (MGV) development, we be- Greenhouse. Thursday mornings would find me at my gan digging the plants favorite volunteer post – co-lead of the Greenhouse, we wanted to keep and propagating plants for our annual plant sale. And every potted them up. They Thursday morning, MGV John Geddes would stop to were placed in the chat on his way to and from the Butterfly House. He greenhouse area for would often tell me that it was time for someone new the Winter where they to take over the Butterfly House as it was time for him would be nurtured and could grow until Spring. Then to retire. I would suggest new MGVs that I had met and began the hard work of removing plants we weren’t go- had expressed interest in butterflies but every week it ing to keep and digging out the roots – never an easy was John that stopped to chat and he didn’t have news job. Along the way, I got to know many Master Garden- of anyone willing to take over. ers that I had not had the opportunity to work with. And I must say, they weren’t afraid of hard work. We dug Finally, one day in May, 2018, I met with Brooke Moffis, roots, pressure washed, painted, ran the electric under- the Residential Horticulture Agent and our MGV Coordi- ground (for the water feature), and added irrigation nator, and explained that I wanted to step down from lines. We created a new water feature (thanks to Luis the co-lead position in the greenhouse. I quickly ex- Hernandez of Luis Landscaping who donated his time & plained I wasn’t going away but rather wanted to take materials) and planned signage and pamphlets to have on a new challenge – the Butterfly House. You see, available for visitors to the new garden. John’s chats with me had finally sunk in. It was time for The third stage (pupa) is the transitional phase and with Stained glass bench Refurbished by MGV Sandra Bryan the design plan in hand (thanks Teresa!) plant procurement and planting began in late March after the threat of frost passed. Many of the plants came from the Lake County Master Gardener Greenhouse where we had grown Florida Friendly Plants from seed or cuttings-- a variety of native and non-native plants. Others were purchased from Lake County nurseries. (Continued on page 4) 3 (Continued from page 3) The featured plants were selected in a variety of heights Malone, Lorraine Hubbard, Cy Lindberg, Regina to satisfy the needs of different butterflies. Vibrant col- Doherty, Valerye Garrett, Michael Duvall). ored flowers attract the butterflies: red, lavender/ Finally, the garden was ready for its grand opening with purple, yellow, and pink. It’s important to have plants a butterfly release on April 13, 2019 at the Landscape & that bloom constantly so there will always be plenty of Garden Fair. There were lots of kids of all ages on hand nectar to attract the butterflies. Food/Host plants will for the release of 50 butterflies. It was a grand day! attract the butterflies too and are important as this is where the butterflies will lay their eggs. When the eggs And to John Geddes, I have to say thank you. For hatch, the caterpillars will feed on Milkweed, Fennel, without you, I would have missed a grand experience of Wild Lime, Hercules Club, and Cassia until it’s time to what has become a beautiful butterfly garden. molt and form a chrysalis. And the final phase (adult) came over the three weeks prior to the opening. We planted a total of 150 plants. One day we were very productive and planted over 70 plants (thanks Jerry Markle, Chris Weil, John Braun, Jan Water Feature Stage 1 Photos: Regina D, MGV Cereus Opening Day 4 FEATURE MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEER: SUSAN FOLLICK Susan has been gardening in Central Florida for 25 years after many years gardening in Ohio.