Planting a Feast for Nature

By Marlene Rodak

Creating Bird and Butterfly Habitat at Middle School

A tiny butterfly on bloodberry (Cordia globosa), which is one of the native species
that will be planted at Fort Myers Middle Academy on Tuesday
 
The school corridor to be planted
A spectacular event will take place the morning of Tuesday, July 28 at Fort Myers Middle Academy.  Florida Forest Service employees and volunteers from the Florida Native Plant Society are planting hundreds of native plants in an outdoor corridor, which will transform the area into important bird and butterfly habitat.  This planting will demonstrate how natural, native landscaping functions in the environment by providing food and shelter to wildlife.  Best of all, the entire project is provided to Fort Myers Middle Academy and Lee County Schools FREE OF CHARGE!

FNPS Coccoloba Chapter President
Martha Grattan shoveling mulch
at Fort Myers Middle Academy
Florida Native Plant Society is coordinating the planting with Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program, Florida Forest Service, Covanta Energy, Lee County Solid Waste, All Native Garden Center, Deep South Native Nursery, Hickory Hammock Native Tree Farm, Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Nursery and others.  Costco, Bass Pro Shops, and Estero Community Park Recreation Center donated the cardboard and newspapers that volunteers placed over the entire 105' x 20' area. This will both recycle these materials and help prevent weeds for about a year. After laying the cardboard and newspaper, they covered it in mulch. Subsequently, they will install about 340 one-gallon plants in openings they make through the cardboard, with the mulch moved to the side then returned under the plants' dripline. Volunteers have already driven to Sweetbay Nursery in Parrish, Florida to acquire plants for the project that were not available at local nurseries.

After the planting is finished, the school will be provided with a plant maintenance manual . Monthly visits will also take place to monitor the new landscape's progress.

Fort Myers Middle Academy, located at 3050 Central Avenue, Fort Myers, FL 33901, was in the news in March when student Jeffery Thompson won the Lee County Spelling Bee by correctly spelling the word ESCARGOT. The school, which celebrates its 60th year anniversary this year, is in one of the most economically challenged areas of the city.

Would you like to learn more about native plants and landscaping in southwest Florida?  Do you want to help a school that deserves our attention?  Call (239) 273-8945 to learn how you can participate.  Visit www.FNPSCoccoloba.org for more information about the Coccoloba Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society.

Below are some work-in-progress photos. Looking great, Coccoloba Chapter!

Already an improvement!
---
posted by Laurie Sheldon

Comments

Loret said…
Great stuff! Teach them YOUNG! Your tiny butterfly in the top picture appears to be a Red-waisted Florella Moth (Syngamia florella).
August 12, 2015 at 5:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Florida Native Azaleas

Image
Piedmont Azalea, Rhododendron canescens. Photo by Lilly Anderson-Messec By Lilly Anderson-Messec While growing up in North Florida, I began to recognize the arrival of spring by the boisterous show of white, pink, and fuchsia blooms of azalea shrubs. The house I grew up in had large, mature azalea hedges with a variety of different colors and forms. Every spring, my mom would bring in vases full of them and my dad loved to point out the showy shrubs as we drove through town. I suppose I assumed these plants were native, but most likely I never gave it a thought. I didn’t differentiate a native plant from a non-native one because I didn’t yet know the importance of native plants as the basis of our functioning ecosystems. I was so surprised when I learned the azaleas I was so familiar with (Rhododendron indicum) are actually transplants from Asia! They are favored by the horticultural industry for their fast, vigorous, and dense growth of evergreen leaves and large, showy blooms. Curio...
Read more

Wednesday's Wildflower:Spanish Needle

Image
Spanish Needle, Bidens Alba Submitted by Donna Bollenbach, Suncoast Chapter Biden's alba , all photos by Donna Bollenbach Nothing attracts more butterflies and bees than a simple white flower called Bidens alba . Also called Romerillo, Beggar’s Tick, Spanish Needle or Monkey’s Lice, this Florida native wildflower is the third most reliable source of nectar for pollinators in our state. There would be many starving bees and butterflies if not for the Bidens family of flowers. More so, Bidens alba and its sister plant, Bidens pilosa , are both edible and have medicinal value. Yet, many gardeners have a love/hate relationship the plant, and some even consider it a pesky weed. Why?
Read more

Paradise Tree: Beautiful and Useful

Image
"The native Paradise tree is more useful than Google, and easy to grow." And how could any blogger resist leading off with this intriguing quote from the Key West Garden Club? I am a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist, but I only know so much; so I always check out  statistics from experts before posting information about plants. I have a beautiful Paradise tree in my yard, it came from the raffle table at my chapter's program night about six years ago.   Paradise tree                Simarouba glauca For the first six years the little tree had a perfect, closed, cone shape; but just this summer I was astounded one morning to walk out and notice that my tree had changed. The canopy had begun to open up, there were open spaces between the layers of branches. It seemed to happen overnight. Proving again that a garden is constantly in motion, which is one of the fascinating things about o...
Read more