A Fanfare of Blanket Flower

Gaillardia (Indian Blanket, Blanket Flower, and Firewheel) is a genus of drought-tolerant annual and perennial plants from the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

Varieties of this gorgeous flower can be seen all about the state but here we have just added some of this particularly cool variety: Gaillardia 'Fanfare'. Instead of the flower being composed of flat daisy-like petals, each flower is actually a collection of trumpet-like blooms that continue to increase in size as the flower grows.

Although this Gaillardia is said to bloom spring through fall, our flowers are still going strong. A very attractive nectar plant for butterflies, Gaillardia does tend to ramble a bit so plan a spot where it can spread when you add it to your home gardens.

Butterflies on a Vine

Yesterday I visited the gardens of the Hillsborough County Extension Service and had a nice stroll. I always enjoy visiting other gardens to see what they do well and what plants are working for them or what best attracts butterflies in their gardens. Every so often I find a real gem.

A great stand of Butterfly Vine (Mascagnia macroptera) was growing on a trellis in the gardens. This vine blooms beautiful sprays of five-petaled bright yellow flowers from mid-Spring to mid-Summer that have a distinctly orchid look about them.

The chartreuse seed pods begin to form next in clusters. Each pod has two 'wings' that are shaped remarkably like butterfly wings and a central ridge that looks like a butterfly body.

The seed pods dry on the vine to a beautiful papery brown color and often detach one at a time to float away in the breeze. I have been told that if you cut the pods when they are green they will remain green when they dry and work beautifully in dried flower arrangements.

I don't know of any butterfly nectaring potential but I am pretty certain that butterfly enthusiasts just may be able to find a bit of fence or tall trellis to make a home for this plant in their gardens.

I was certainly captivated by it. I left the gardens with 4 seed pods that I gleaned from the ground at the base of the vine so I could start my own for the MOSI gardens. Hopefully I will have wonderful pictures of this plant thriving in growing seasons to come.

Lastly, a happy holiday to all!

Talent needed: Actor needed for short film more MOSI gardens

I need an actor.

To help the MOSI gardens secure a grant, we are putting together a brief film (about 1 min 30 secs in length) that will also likely be used later as a MOSI web commercial. Of course, there is no budget for this film. The short film will be entirely student produced and edited.

I need 1 male (or female if you can give the right look) actor in the 20's-30's age range that is familiar with the acting/movement style of Charlie Chaplin. If you can provide your own costumes (very simple wardrobe concepts) that is a real plus! Info below including what compensation I am able to offer! Filming should be completed in just several hours on a single day. Filming date TBD

Talent needed:

• Male/Female (20-30's)
• Non speaking role with Charlie Chaplin movement/acting/concept
• Clowning/mime experience a plus

Costumes needed:

• Charlie Chaplin/ hobo clown style: Black/brown pants, black jacket, white shirt, black tie, black hat, antiquated look a plus
• Modern garden clothing: Khaki/green/jean shorts or pants, bright colored t-shirt, sandals

In thanks

• 4 complimentary MOSI passes (IMAX & Permanent exhibits)
• Acknowledgement in film credits
• DVD copy of short film when editing is complete
• My eternal gratitude

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested! Need more information or if you are interested in this role, please contact me directly!

Kristen G / (813)987-6357 / kristeng@mosi.org

Eat a Bug!

On the average day, there are just some things you do not think you will do. I don't wake up most mornings and consider water skiing, fishing or playing football as none of these are things I do on a regular basis. I also don't wake up in the morning and think "Man, I'd really like to eat a bug today!".

A few weeks ago we had a visiting Terminex exhibit about bugs from around the world. You may recall my post in which I met and fell immediately in love with a Giant Millipede whose hundreds of legs felt like hair brush bristles as he walked over my arm.

The exhibit also included cockroach races, cricket spitting (in which I did not participate), a caricature artist, and lastly a segment on the cooking and eating of bugs. The host for this different sort of cooking show was none other than David Gordon, author of the Eat-A-Bug Cookbook.

I was brimming with glee and managed to be chosen as the assistant and fellow diner for this culinary delight. Our mission: tempura batter, fry, lightly salt and then consume a meal worm. Yes, those things that you feed to your pet reptiles or use for fishing bait. Yes, I ate one.

Chef David introduced me to my recently thawed meal worm who was of an above average size. I suppose those puny meal worms just don't cut it for this sort of experience. Of course, I was moved to play with my food a bit and made the little fellow dance before I dipped him down and encased him in tempura batter.

Chef David did the frying honors and since he has the title of Chef in his name I did trust him to cook my little snack to a perfect golden brown. I was not disappointed. Our three meal worms emerged a lovely golden fried color and reminded me greatly of short french fries or perhaps those crunchy bits that break off of your tempura vegetables at a sushi restaurant.

I was assured by our good Chef that salt was key to bringing out the true flavor of our meal worms so I let him expertly season the snack. Once finished, we posed with our tempura battered meal worms for full dramatic effect, toasted with our fried worms and then down the hatch they went.

The crowd of children and coworker onlookers responded with a mixture of glee and horror as I thoughtfully chewed a tempura battered worm. I, intrepid grower of insects that I am , was not shaken. The third meal worm was snapped up by our forest conservator, Carolyn, author of our sister blog, The Longleaf. She was also kind enough to snap this series of photos

So, a tempura battered meal worm tastes remarkably like a french fry with a decidedly nutty flavor. Imagine a french fry with a little salt and a little taste of... hazelnut? It was pretty subtle but definitely not terrible. Once you get over the idea of eating a bug, the flavor actually isn't so bad.

I also tried some crickets with orzo but the cricket legs got caught between my teeth. I think I'm certainly a fan of tempura insects now. Thanks again, Chef David. It was a unique experience to eat a bug!

A bed for snakeroots

Virgina Snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria ) is the diminutive host plant for the vibrantly iridescent Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly.

I have been coddling 3 plants to maturity in pots for the last 2 years and was finally able to collect seed from them earlier this fall. Since then I have really been wanting to give them a nice raised bed so they will produce even more seed next year.

The plan is to start enough seedlings that eventually we can naturalize this plant into the museum's urban forest preserve that is currently undergoing restoration. My hope it that by adding more of the host plants, that we will see more of the delightful Pipevine Swallowtail in years to come.

Recently, Rod Angeroth of Loess Roots sent me both seed and also root systems for several plants. With these additions, it really was time to create a home for all this Virginia snakeroot that will soon be growing and feeding caterpillars.

I used a few old 4x4's to create a raised bed that I filled with a mixture of sand and soil. The spot is ideal for Virginia Snakeroot and the new bed is parked under several winged elm trees that provide excellent shade and only a dapple of sunlight for all of Florida's hot, sunny months.

After planting down my 3 beloved pots of snakeroot I added the 4 giant root bundles and 3 tiny root bundles that Rod had mailed to the museum. Each spot is marked with a small upright stick so that I can recall where I put those roots in and make sure that no terrible weeding accidents might occur. Lastly, I mulched the whole bed with a light mulch of freshly raked leaves since young snakeroots are fairly delicate and have trouble pushing up through heavy bark.

Now, we wait. I am terribly excited to see how this turns out! Thanks again to Rod of Loess Roots for the awesome root balls so we can get this experiment started!

Found in the gardens: Wild Cotton

Wild Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is one of the most widely grown cultivated plants in world, but it is on the endangered species list in the state of Florida. Also known as Upland Cotton, Wild cotton is an ancestor of the domestic cotton widely grown in the United States and at one time was quite plentiful in Florida, especially in the Keys.

Cotton was a huge American industry at the turn of the last century, and much was done to protect the crops of the south from infestations of insects that could destroy crops. In about 1892 the boll weevil entered the US through southern Texas and began a rapid spread throughout the cotton belt. By 1922, 85% of the cotton crops of the cotton belt had been infected by the tiny insect that would bore into the unopened cotton bolls (where the cotton fibers form) and keep the fibers from proper development.

In 1932, when the pink boll weevil of the Caribbean was found in populations of Florida cotton, the government took quick action to eradicate cotton from Florida before the pink boll weevil could make its way north to the cultivated cotton crops of the deep south. As part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs, the WPA (Works Progress Administration) was formed to help create jobs for Americans during the great depression. The WPA was dispatched to Florida and began employing locals. In the Keys, grids were cut into the islands so that the Cotton Gangs could better search for and totally destroy all cotton plants that were found.

In Florida, cotton can grow as a true perennial forming heavy woody branches and becoming a leggy shrub or even grown into a small tree. In the MOSI gardens we have two cotton plants that bloom with their gorgeous pale yellow flowers throughout the summer and then develop their cotton bolls which pop open in late fall to show the fluffy cotton that has grown inside.

Although it has nothing to do with caterpillars or butterflies, Wild Cotton tells part of the story of Florida and its agricultural past that has always been intertwined with and perhaps at the mercy of so many tiny insects.

Q: What does a butterfly do on a rainy day?

A: Not much of anything.

When skies begin to darken before a rainstorm, just like when the sun sets at evening, butterflies seek shelter. This may be clinging to the underside of a leaf, deep within a stand of grasses or perhaps even a man made overhang on a building. Rain is a big deal to a butterfly.

If you are a butterfly, rain isn't a great deal of fun: The average monarch butterfly weighs in at around 500 milligrams. The average raindrop weighs a bit more than 1/7th of that, around 70 milligrams. Scientific American suggested that the impact of a raindrop on a butterfly would be similar to a human being hit with a water balloon with twice the mass of a bowling ball. Ouch.

As soon as the rain has quit and the sun returns, butterflies leap from their hiding places to continue patrolling, courting, egg laying and nectar sipping. What a life.

Q: What does a butterfly keeper do on a rainy day?

A: Clean the lab.

Photo credit: Butterfly sheltering from rain, Tortuguero

Deck the gardens with swaths of color

It is as if the holidays have arrived early... at least for me! Winter annuals are in and I have planting to do. Such is Christmas for a gardener!

Marigolds
Gazanias
Vincas
Pentas
Lavendula
Alyssum
Petunias
Cuphea
Dianthus
Begonias
All so bright with color!

Flame on!

The Mexican Flame Vine (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides) is blooming like crazy in the cool weather!

This vine is currently clambering up a large metal trellis in the garden and is simply covered in a riot of flame orange blooms that are very attractive to the few butterflies out cruising through the cooler weather. Mexican Flame Vine will bloom throughout the summer and into the winter here in Florida but will be killed back to the ground by frost. One neat aspect of this flower is that once the bloom is finished it dries out into puffy white seed pods very much like a dandelion.

Also, today I planted down a raised bed of Virginia Snakeroot that were sent to me by Rod Angeroth of Loess Roots. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow morning or early next week of their new Florida home in a shady raised bed beneath some lovely winged elm trees.

Making a centerpiece

So I had a circular bed of soil in the tree grove that had been empty for a while and needed a freshening up.

The low budget answer: 3 donated cigar plants (cuphea ignea), 3 rocks from other places in the garden, 1 chunk of driftwood and 1 bag of leftover pine bark mulch.

Cuphea, from the Latin for 'fire' is native to Mexico and the West Indies and will grow to a height of around 3 feet with a similar spread. Attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds, this little circle of garden should soon be quite the party spot for local insect life.

In short, I'm quite happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to see what it grows in to when the cuphea fills up the space.

Cassia bicapsularis

Winter Cassia, also known as Senna (Cassia bicapsularis) is a real wonder this time of year. The rest of the year this shrub is nothing but lush green foliage but by late November it is usually dripping with brilliant yellow blooms.

Cassias are host to a variety of sulphur butterflies and we have several species in the gardens including Desert Cassia (Cassia polyphylla) , Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata), Candlestick Cassia (Senna alata), Sicklepod Senna (Cassia obtusifolius), and Winter Cassia to help draw as many butterflies as possible.

Cassias are vigorous plants that grow rapidly and can become quite unruly, so expect a great deal of pruning if you want to keep this shrub anywhere near dainty. This particular species of cassia is native to South America, but there are plenty of Florida native species around if you prefer gardening with local plants. This variety of cassia makes an excellent host plant since its very quick growth helps it to recover rapidly from any damage feeding caterpillars may cause.

Although most sulphur caterpillars are usually green in color, when the fall and winter caterpillars of species like the Orange Barred Sulphur (Phoebis philea) pictured to the right [Photo: What's That Bug] dine upon the bright yellow cassia flowers, they also turn yellow. If the caterpillar resumes eating the green leaves of cassia, then they will turn back to green in color within a day or two.

I have noticed that larvae, when given the option, will consume the flowers and unopened flower buds before they will eat cassia leaves. I can only assume that the flowers are somehow more tasty to their delicate caterpillar pallets. At this time of year the larvae of sulphur butterflies are much easier to find as their screaming yellow color really helps my eye to pick them out on the sprawling cassia shrubs.

For these donations, we are very thankful (part 2)

Our awesome front door water feature was installed about 2 years ago, but this blog didn't exist then for me to brag about the wonders of waterfalls in cyberspace.

The pieces and parts were donated by Aquascapes of Florida and Wesley Chapel Nursery and the work to install this water feature was donated by Wild Rose Lawncare (who has also donated tons of hours of lawn care service to our gardens and water features).

Since it was installed the water feature has had metal butterflies and new flowers added to its landscape and has also recently been enclosed by a pretty white fence.

Danielle Fence donated and installed a white metal fence to surround the water feature, making its plantings a bit safer from tiny feet that might trod upon plantings and splash right into the inviting looking pool of water.

There are so many grants, countless hours of volunteer labor and so much annual support that go into making this garden the wonderful little corner of the museum that truly thanking all of or donors and volunteers will take a series of posts so that I can make sure that nothing is overlooked.

More to come!

For these donations, we are very thankful

Seems the right season in which to acknowledge some of our amazing donors who have helped to make the last year or two in the garden better than ever. Here are some of the fabulous donations we have received in the last year.

An amazing potting shed from TampaSheds.com has replaced our old potting shed that had seen much better days. Shed 2.0 has huge amounts of storage space, allows us to have shelving to keep our pots and seeds organized, can handle a stack of potting soil bags and even has room for an actual potting bench upon which we can really pot up plants!

The awesome lift up windows (sort of like a produce stand) provide amazing low-tech air circulation so that you can work inside this shed on a hot day and still be comfortable without running air conditioning!

Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop donated a very neat bird feeder to the garden this year. This state of the art EcoTough bird feeder is made of recycled materials but looks like wood and even has a device for thwarting squirrels, the great nemesis of backyard birders everywhere.

Providing us with this feeder and the bird food inside has definitely increased the diversity of birds we see in the MOSI gardens. Jays, cardinals, mockingbirds, blackbirds, doves, warblers, wrens and more can be seen throughout the day (at least when huge groups of school children are not being too exuberant nearby). We have also seen an increase of predator birds in the area such as hawks and kestrels. Squirrels, of course, can often be found waiting hopefully beneath the feeder for one of the birds to drop them a tasty snack.

This feeder has definitely helped our local bird community to thrive this year as I actually watched two families of baby cardinals go for hungry fledglings to brilliantly colored adults all in the trees surrounding this feeder.

Steel butterflies in bright blue and yellow now dot our water feature along the walkway to the museum doors. Thanks to Mark Stewart and Steve Wilson at Tampa Bay Steel these 20 metal butterflies were cut out and welded to posts so we could stake them in the garden.

About an hour with some primer and paint and the metal butterflies were brilliantly colored are ready to help perk up the water feature area. Definitely a cool addition!