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.