by Mary Salinas | Jul 7, 2015
Butterflies are not only beautiful to look at in your landscape; they serve as important pollinators and indicators of the health of our environment. Attracting them to your garden and incorporating some features to get them to stay and make it their home involves a little planning ahead of time for optimum results.
Queen butterfly. Photo credit: Milt Putnam, UF/IFAS.
Choose a location that provides some protection from wind. Trees and shrubs that provide wind protection also serve as a safe harbor from rain and predators. The garden should be mostly sunny with some part sun areas. Ensure that any new plantings have access to a convenient irrigation source so they can be successfully established and maintained in good health.
Now you’ll need to choose the plants. Adults feed on the nectar of many flowering trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals and, fortunately, there are usually many choices that will meet your site requirements and your taste preferences. In order to keep the butterflies in your garden, certain plants need to be available to serve as host plants for their young. Determine which species of butterfly is common in your area and that you want to attract. Most species have very few plants on which the caterpillars can feed so those host plants need to be chosen wisely. Determine whether any of the plants you already have are host plants and they can be integrated into your butterfly garden. For example, cassia is a host plant for the Cloudless Sulphur and citrus is a host plant for the Giant Swallowtail.
In choosing your nectar plants, select those that are native or Florida-Friendly as they are lower maintenance, giving you less trouble in the long run. Choose plants that have flowers in a variety of color, size, and shape. Different butterflies like to feed at different elevations, so choose trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals of varying heights. In order to have nectar available throughout the time when the butterflies occur, include plants that bloom at different times of the year. And include some plants that bloom from spring to late fall, like pentas or moss verbena.
Larger plants should be placed in the background with smaller plants layered in the foreground. When you plant smaller annuals and perennials, place them in masses to better attract the butterflies. Consider placing host plants in an area that is in close proximity to the nectar plants, but in an area of your garden that is not a focal point. Host plants can get quite ragged looking from hungry caterpillars!
Good maintenance practices will enhance the health of your garden. Regular fertilization and irrigation if needed will help keep your plants in bloom and healthy; healthy plants are less susceptible to disease and pests. Avoid pesticides as they may harm the very creatures you are trying to attract. Never use Bt or systemic pesticide. If you must, target a pest with lower risk oils or soaps and then only treat the affected plants. Lastly, be aware of beneficial insects that will help you achieve satisfactory control of a pest.
Now that your plants are placed there are several things to do to make your butterfly garden complete. Add a spot where water can puddle on the ground for the adult butterflies to drink. They require minerals from the soil that get dissolved in the water. Also add a rock or log in a sunny spot where butterflies can rest and sun themselves. And consider placing a comfortable place for you to sit and enjoy the beauty of your garden and its inhabitants!
For more information:
Butterfly Gardening in Florida
by Sheila Dunning | May 22, 2015
Everyone with a landscape can make a difference for pollinators. Simply Having Areas Reserved for the Environment enables homeowners, land managers, farmers, individuals, corporations, schools, roadside managers, and golf courses to increase the number of pollinators in the area by making conscious choices to include plants that provide essential habitat for bees, bats, birds, butterflies, moths, beetles, and hummingbirds. What better time than during National Pollinator Week, June 15-21, 2015.
Initiated and managed by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, National Pollinator Week was unanimously approved and designated by the U.S. Senate in 2007. Each year since, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has signed the proclamation in an effort to address the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations.
Worldwide there is evidence that pollinating animals have suffered from loss of habitat, pesticide misuse, competition from invasive species, disease, and parasites. Many pollinators are federally “listed species”, meaning that there is documented information confirming the disappearance and/or significant population reduction in natural areas. The United States has lost over 50% of its managed honeybee colonies over the past ten years. The European Union has been so concerned that they invested over $20 million investigating the status of pollinators in Europe.
Pollinator health affects everyone. Worldwide, roughly 1,000 plants grown for food, beverages, fibers, spices, and medicines need to be pollinated by animals in order to produce the goods on which we depend. Food and beverages produced with the help of pollinators include: apples, blueberries, chocolate, coffee, melons, peaches, potatoes, pumpkins, vanilla, almonds, and tequila. In the U.S., pollination by honey bees, native bees, and other insects produces $40 billion worth of products annually.
The native plants that can be identified and preserved or introduced include trees, shrubs, vines and perennials. Some of them include: Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), Passionflower (Passiflora spp.), Coreopsis (Coreopsis spp.), Goldenrod (Solidago spp.), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), and Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). Simply identifying and avoiding damaging many of the existing native plants will allow anyone to provide important homes and food for many different pollinating animals. During National Pollinator Week S.H.A.R.E. your space.
For additional information:
UF Native Buzz
Gardening for Pollinators
Minimizing Honey Bee Exposure to Pesticides
The Xerces Society
by Mary Salinas | May 12, 2015
An easy to care for perennial to add to your flower garden is the coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. The daisy-like flowers stand tall above the foliage on sturdy 2 to 4 foot stems. Blooms appear about the last part of April or the first of May in the Florida panhandle and last throughout the warm season until late fall. This Florida native reliably comes back year after year. Plant coneflower in part to full sun in rich but well-drained soil for best results.
White coneflower. Photo credit: Mary Derrick, UF/IFAS Extension.
Coneflowers are traditionally purple but many new colors and variations of their form have become available from the horticultural industry. You can find them in white, yellows, pinks, oranges, and greens as well as all shades of lavender and purple. No matter what color you choose, the blooms will attract a host of butterflies and other pollinating insects. In order to protect these delicate creatures, avoid the use of pesticides when they are present.
Once you have a few coneflowers, you will notice that the clumps will grow in time and new plants will sprout from seeds left behind by the spent blooms. In our demonstration garden, this has created a stunning display that has been allowed to take over one of the garden beds. When any one clump gets too big, the number of blooms can decrease and it may be time to dig up the clump and divide it. This is a great opportunity to expand your coneflower bed or share them with some friends or neighbors!
For more information:
Ornamentals for your landscape
Butterfly Gardening
by Sheila Dunning | Apr 28, 2015
Bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate and continue to vanish without a trace. Why should anyone care? Well, they matter a lot more than most people think. Bees are the overwhelmingly dominant pollinator for most food crops. Native bees in the United States are responsible for pollinating over $15 billion worth of agricultural commodities annually. However, native bee populations are in decline due to habitat loss. At the same time, managed colonies of European honey bees have suffered a 50% decline over the past few decades. Numerous other pollinating insects are facing the same fate.
European honey bee. Photo credit: UF/IFAS.
As the spring planting season is upon us, it’s exciting to think about all the wonderful produce we will have this summer. But, without pollinators many of these crops would not be available. The majority of fruit and vegetable food sources we eat are dependent on insect pollinators. One of every three bites of food Americans consume comes from a plant visited by bees or other pollinators.
As declining numbers of farmers work to meets the need of increasing populations, they are forced to make choices on alternative to chemicals for pest control. “Good bug blends” of flowers can help attract pollinators as well as beneficial insects that suppress harmful pests. Establishment of these meadows can be done on a small or large scale and in any habitat. One approach to “bring back the pollinators” is to intercrop with blooming plants that attract insects. Selecting a diversity of plants with different flower sizes, shapes and colors, as well as various plant heights and growth habits, will encourage the greatest numbers of pollinators. It is important to provide a continuous source of pollen and nectar throughout the growing season. At minimum, strive for three species to be blooming at any one time; the greater the diversity the better.
To enhance the garden, choose flowering plants that also provide shelter for beneficial insects. Many companion plants are suitable habitat for predators and parasitoids. Research in Florida has demonstrated that predatory minute pirate bugs can build to high numbers in sunflowers. The favorite food of minute pirate bugs is Western flower thrips. So, planting sunflowers on the perimeter of vegetable crops, such as peppers, can greatly reduce the damage caused by the thrips. Similar results were found with the planting of sorghum to attract beneficial mites and intercropping with buckwheat to house syrphid flies and parasitoid wasps. The garden vegetables experienced fewer spider mite, whitefly and aphid problems. Crimson clover, Hairy vetch and cosmos are other annual seed crops that can aid in attracting pollinators and harboring beneficial insects.
Blue Mistflower. Photo Credit Mary Derrick, UF / IFAS Extension.
Insectary meadows can be created in the landscape and along roadways, not just in the garden. For more permanently planted areas, native wildflowers, grasses and woody plants serve as larval host plants for butterflies, and also provide nesting and overwintering sites for bumble bees, predacious beetles and other beneficial insects. Native perennial wildflowers such as blanketflower, tickseed, black-eyed Susan, partridge pea, narrowleaf sunflower, milkweed, beebalm, goldenrod and silkgrass can be installed in the spring as potted plants or seeded in the fall. Seeds require exposure to cold temperatures and damp conditions before germination can occur. In Florida, the best time is November to February.
Though grasses do not offer nectar or high-quality pollen, it is often useful to include at least one native bunch grass or sedge. Short, clump-forming grasses are preferable to large, spreading grasses. Hedgerow planting of woody species is a way to provide winter-blooming plants vital for supporting pollinators. Woody plants and grasses provide more than forage for pollinators, as many native bee species nest in the stems of plants or in the undisturbed ground underneath plantings. Suitable grasses include: beaked panicgrass, purple lovegrass, Muhly grass, broomsedge,little bluestem, wiregrass and toothache grass. Favored woody species that make good “beetle banks” include: fetterbush, American beautyberry, saw palmetto, Chickasaw plum, red maple, sparkleberry, Dahoon holly, redbud, blackgum, magnolia, buttonwood and sourwood.
Regardless of whether the objective is to establish herbaceous or woody vegetation, the time and effort spent on eradicating undesirable plants prior to planting will result in higher success rates in establishing the targeted plant community. Choose level, open sites that receive full sunlight and have limited weed populations. If perennial weeds are a problem, the use of herbicides that have no soil residual (e.g. glyphosate) may be necessary.
For more information on establishing planting for pollinators visit: www.xerces.org/pollinator.
by Carrie Stevenson | Jan 13, 2015
Planting a tree is an excellent way to insure clean air and water in the future. Photo credit: Carrie Stevenson
Most of us begin a new year with resolutions–to exercise more, to eat right, to spend our time more productively–but few things have as many lasting impacts for the future as the simple act of planting a tree.
Arbor Day (which literally means, “Tree Day”) was founded in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton, a naturalist and journalist in Nebraska. By 1882, it was celebrated by thousands of schoolchildren nationwide, who planted trees and took care of them with their classmates. Today, millions of communities and schools celebrate Arbor Day all over the world. Trees provide endless benefits, including shade, recreation, food and building products, shade and wind protection, wildlife habitat, oxygen production and carbon dioxide uptake.
Arbor Day is typically celebrated in the United States on the last Friday of April, but as ideal tree-planting conditions differ by climate, each state has its own specific Arbor Day, as well. Winter is the ideal time to plant trees in Florida, because it allows roots to develop without expending energy on growing new leaves and shoots. Our state celebration this year is January 16th.
Many local communities in Florida hold special events around this time. Be sure to check with your local Extension office or Native Plant Society chapter to find out if they are offering free trees or public events this month. For more information on the best trees for your area, be sure to take the time to read “Native Trees for North Florida” or peruse the UF Environmental Horticulture web page.
