Partners for Pollinators

Mickey and I met with the Master Gardeners on 3/10. Mother Nature was contributing free water generously so we met at a restaurant and shared our expectations. The Master Gardeners did not have a native plant garden at the Extension Center so this was an opportunity to use our foundational skills to expand our expertise with natives, while providing a demonstration garden to educate the public and increase its appreciation of pollinators and native plants. Since the garden was in need of much attention, we decided to meet weekly for the next month or so to clean it up, document what was growing, and locate and plant needed additions. 

 On March 17 five of us met to start pruning, raking, and pulling dead and overgrown plants. The firebush had spread like, well, like wildfire and we decided to dig up the volunteers as soon as possible and find new owners for them. The Walters Viburnum was growing over the sidewalk and impeding pedestrians. It was doing so because it got its most consistent source of sunlight from the east (over the walkway). We decided we'd work on a drastic pruning regime - taking 1/3 of the overhanging boughs at a time until it was trimmed up to spec. We mused on ways to "train" the remaining trunks/branches to not overspread the walkway again. It was really planted much too close to the sidewalk. But who among us hasn't made THAT mistake! 

 The majority of the time we tidied up and pruned spent plants and foliage. We started from the western side of the garden (the entrance) and worked east through all the beds. The initial trimming stopped just at the end of the bench and across to the other fence. Big improvement! Before we left, we identified two large ant mounds around the inside of the walkway. They would need treatment to prevent them from biting visitors.  We did some research on which product had the least toxicity for other species.  We compared the different products we'd used, and learned one important lesson. We were always taught to read the label for application instructions and for precautions and hazards to wildlife. But when I went to some of the materials safety data sheets and government and university information on the active chemicals, I found that the manufacturer had omitted hazards to some key wildlife: namely bees. Almost all the ingredients were toxic to bees on some level, some highly so. All were highly toxic to aquatic wildlife. Well, bee toxicity ruled out all but one product: Amdro Fire Ant Bait.  It contained the ingredient hydramethylnon, which had no toxicity to bees (especially honey bees). If you are maintaining a public garden that visitors are encouraged to walk through, you can't just let fire ants colonize the area. It's a hard decision to apply pesticides to a wild habitat, and that's why it's so important to understand the risks and the proper application. Hopefully that one treatment will tame the fire ants over the summer.  See the UF/IFAS publication, "Managing Fire Ants in an Urban Area."

 One can never eradicate the mounds entirely, but forcing them to rebuild elsewhere gives us humans breathing room. Note that fire ants like to colonize sandy areas that are not covered with vegetation. Digging is just easier there. But ants will colonize even a full turf grass area. Get ahead of them by applying chemicals if you need to early in the year. By the time we finished that day, the garden looked much more cared for!

Inspecting the Garden in February

Walter's Viburnum in bloom in February
(photo by John Battle)

 Our garden club has formed a partnership with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Center in St. Johns County to revitalize our Freedom Butterfly Garden at Alpine Groves Park.  We now have a team of enthusiastic Master Gardeners to work on the horticultural aspects of the garden.  It is 15 years old and has weathered hurricanes, freezes, pandemics, and use by the public (including climbing on our fragile chickasaw plum necessitating its removal).  When the garden was first installed, there were very few nurseries that carried native plants.  There was little demand for them.  As our residents are becoming more aware of the need for wildlife habitat in the face of loss from development, there is a commercial niche for retail outlets that supply natives. Many can be found at the Florida Association of Native Nurseries website  The organizations that promote the use of natives in urban and residential settings has grown:  Florida Wildflower Federation, and Florida Native Plant Society. Members of those organizations participate in plant swaps and sales, and educational presentations and outings.   The University of Florida provides resources on gardening with natives and has semi-annual plant sales.

Before meeting with the Master Gardener Volunteers, my husband and I did a site survey to diagram the garden plots and the walkway.  We also made a note of the orientation to estimate sunlight levels.  We also noted some problem areas, such as fire ant mounds, unsightly vines and dead plant parts.  I drew up a list of butterflies I'd seen in past years and identified host plants.  Installing these plants if there were none in the garden would be a big priority.

The garden documentation is in the right column of this page.  I scheduled a meeting with the Master Gardeners to give them the backgorund info and to plan our gardening schedule.