Monday, February 17, 2020

In Jo's Yard - 49 Garden Tour


May 19, 2019 is The Villages FNPS Garden Tour, and my yard is included!  People started arriving right at 7:30AM.  There was a pretty steady of visitors for about an hour.  Then, it was off and on, so that I could go into the house and have some water before another couple of people would arrive.  I learned that the Corky Stemmed Passionvine  [Corky Stem Passionvine Info] is Larval host for the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), the Julia Heliconian (Dryas iulia) and the Zebra Heliconian (Heliconius charitonius) butterflies.  But some of the butterflies prefer shade and some sun.  So if I got a second Corky Stemmed Passionvine, I should put one in the sunniest spot and one in the shadiest spot. Then the butterflies won’t compete for the same plant.  Also one lays its eggs in the teeny tiny corkscrew part of the plant and one lays its eggs on the leaf.  Everyone who came by was interested in Florida Native Plants – some already had a native yard, some were considering converting all or part of their yards to native plants and were gathering ideas!  It was a wonderful day of exchanging ideas and learning for me – plus there was a little”‘showing off” on my part.  



Corky Stemmed Passion Vine 

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In Jo's Yard - last post - Join Facebook group

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