The Lily Pad certain flower seeds because of the July Program shape of their beak. Eleanor C. Foerste, Faculty, Natural They also found this was true of the July 2013 Resources, UF/IFAS Osceola County squirrels and the mice we saw. Volume 7, Issue 5 Extension will present on Invasive species - Air potato and the One young boy just could not stop biocontrol air potato beetle as a himself from reaching over to collect management tool. a few seeds for himself to take home to his own garden! His chosen plant? In the Community Dune sunflower. A native plant by Jenny Welch member in the making. The purpose of the Florida Native Plant Interesting that our class was about Society is to promote the preservation, Sandy Webb and I were asked to birds yet it still came back around to conservation, and restoration of the native help out at Bok Tower Summer native plants… plants and native plant communities of Camp Program. We were there for Florida. "Bountiful Birds" program. As I always say you cannot have BOARD OF DIRECTORS : birds without native plants and you President: cannot have native plants without Jenny Welch.............. [email protected] birds. We discussed what birds eat 1st Vice President: based upon their beaks. Mark Johnson ....... [email protected] We went on a walk to the Window Secretary: by the pond, a great place to see birds Sandy Webb....... [email protected] because it is a room with glass Treasurer: overlooking a small pond. OPEN ................................... Apply now Along the way we saw several Chapter Rep: birds…mockingbird, cardinal, blue .............................................. Apply now jay, great crested flycatcher, dove, Membership: Susan Parent ..... [email protected] and red winged blackbird. Publicity/Newsletter: As we walked the children noticed Loret .................. [email protected] that some of the birds could eat Visit us on the Web: http://www.pinelily.fnpschapters.org/ Meeting is Thursday July 18th 6:30p.m. First United Methodist Church 101 W. Dakin Avenue, Kissimmee Are you a member yet? “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.” Joining helps Florida Conservation efforts — Mohandas K. Gandhi quoted in EF Schumacher, Small is Beautiful July 2013 Getting Ready for Fall Plant Volunteers wanted Shingle Creek Welcome Center Sale Landscape Maintenance by Jenny Welch Contact Jenny: [email protected] 407-847-2488 Sandy Webb and I have been working and getting ready for the Fall Master Gardener Plant Sale scheduled for September 27-28, 2013 at Osceola Heritage Park. Join the Plant Rescue I brought home lots and lots of boxes from work to lay down Jackie Rolly with Tarflower Chapter has invited us to assist to keep weeds (ok, grass) down. We shoveled mulch into 25- with a plant rescue. The rescue is scheduled for Sunday, July gallon buckets (2 trips and 12 buckets so far) and laid the 28, 2013. The location is 20524 CR 455 in Ferndale. mulch down over the cardboard to give us a clear walkway. (Actually that address is the house right next door to the site. We have started cuttings or separated clumps of corky stem If you mapquest the site you can see where it is.) passion vine, firebush, blue eyed grass, fakahatchee grass, scarlet hibiscus, coral honeysuckle, violets (purple and It is to become a new bike trailhead. Most of the plants need white), beautyberry, iris, and many more. to be kept to be replanted after construction. We can take a They are all doing well. We still have more to do and plans few though. to help dig up additional plants from some of our members Mostly there are: Commelina erecta (White mouth Day yards so we should have a great sale come Fall. Flower), Piriqueta, wire grass, Pittyopsis, Liatris. There are Please let us know when you can help out before or during some pygmy fringe trees. the sale. Jenny (407-847-2488 home; 407-319-2488 cell) (See photos on page 7) If you have rain water in buckets please bring those. Always bring sunscreen, hat, water to drink, snacks, and Seeds for Schools anything else you may need for hot sunny Florida weather. Four Osceola County schools received Seeds for Schools Please RSVP with Jackie at 407-620-6963 Grants from Florida Wildflower Foundation. They will receive wildflower seeds, classroom resources and staff assistance. The lucky schools are: Narcoosee Middle, Say No to Public Lands for Pleasant Hill Elementary, Celebration High and Renaissance Elementary. College Public land called Mac Overstreet Park located on Pleasant Hill Road has been suggested by the Board of County Conservation ALERT Commissioners as a potential location for a new campus of The development company behind the Northeast District is Valencia College. now going public with their plans to develop the lands between Orange/Osceola County and Brevard County. It’s There is a vote being held on July 16, 2013 concerning an area that is 22 miles wide and 47 miles long. Prior to the where to build this new campus in Osceola County. its disbanding the DCA rejected the development plans. We Poinciana residents have suggested that it be located IN no longer have this important voice in government to protect Poinciana and while Mac Overstreet is on the way TO the environment. Poinciana, it is not located within that community. This area encompass The Upper Econ Mosaic, a unique Road congestion in that area is a concern and there should blend of uplands and wetlands, the Econ Swamp, the interior be viable alternatives that don’t involve giving up public lakes with hydrological connection to the Everglades and lands for this type of project. tributaries to the St. Johns. This land is also the only north Have your voice heard by contacting Carrie Henderson with /south connection in this region in the state’s wildlife the division of Florida Colleges requesting they choose non- corridor. public land located within the boundaries of Poinciana for This area of the state is riddled with tributaries to the St. their new school. email to: [email protected] John’s river – our future drinking water. Be aware of what is taking place in our own backyards and be prepared to contact your elected officials to ensure the plans are in the best interest of all the citizens of our State. ........................... 2 The Lily Pad Ooops! Anatomy of a Potter Wasp Nest by Loret (originally published at BeautifulWildlifeGarden.com) --Holy Mackerel! Well, as research would reveal the larvae likely were young potter wasps in the Eumenes genus, probably E. fraternus based on the way the nests were constructed. Just minding their own business, working through complete metamorphosis. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that until today. --Potter Wasp (Eumenes fraternus) I feel horrible. I guess I will be up for only 2nd degree bugslaughter since I didn’t realize what I was doing. There was no intent, I swear, Judge. --Eumenes fraternus nest has a distinct pottery shape like a little jug I’ll probably get a stay of execution because, as luck would have it, a hungry green anole showed up almost immediately upon the caterpillars being scattered. He ate the evidence. That potter nest must have rung like a dinner bell when I disturbed it. At least my mistake made for a happy critter --Potter Wasp Nests next up the food chain. Hopefully it will be seen that way Yesterday I noticed three potter wasp nests on the brick and I will avoid being fed to the mosquitoes. skirting around the bottom of the house. They look like pots similar to what you would see at a ceramics store before the painting and firing of the clay, only in miniature. Without any thought I used the screwdriver in my hand to scrape these brood cells off the bricks since they were awfully close to the door. All three “popped” open and I was shocked to see scads of caterpillars and what I thought was beetle or fly larvae. ........................... 3 July 2013 Had I known the larva was a wasp, I would have moved it to puts them into the brood cell so her larva will have a rearing box (or in my case, a screened Beanie Baby box) something to feed off. Then she seals up the entry with and tried to see it into adulthood. Having now had this mud. educational experience, in the future I’ll be a lot more careful about removing the little pots and will place them somewhere safe rather than attacking them with a screwdriver. Put down the screwdriver lady! The larger green larva on the left is the wasp larva, others are various caterpillars Although I doubt there would ever be a next time since it --A different species shows how to capture and disable a appears that momma potter wasps aren’t protective of the caterpillar nest, so you don’t have to worry about some angry, This is an example of how nature stays in check. Had all aggressive insect with the stinger coming after you if you those caterpillars remained on a shrub or plant, there surely walk by. They are capable of stinging; they just don’t really would have been noticeable chewing damage. Had someone bother. Now that I know that, I’d just leave the little pots come along and treated the shrub with pesticides, there alone. One can never have too many wasps to help with would be less pollinators, both butterflies and wasps, and pollination. The adults are nectar feeders. fewer baby birds because there would be no caterpillars as food.