Discover the Fun of Gardening

April 14, 2011   

The butterflies are back in full force, and they love all the bright flowers on the boardwalk at Kerby's. Pentas and lantanas, gaillardias and milkweed are among the beautiful spring flowers that are sure to make your garden the hot spot for butterflies. Bring the family out to Kerby's this Saturday, April 16th at 10am for the Kid's Butterfly Workshop. It will be a workshop geared towards the little ones and will talk about the life cycle of butterflies and how to create a simple butterfly garden. Then take a walk by the butterfly garden to see nature's miracles fluttering about.  

To get all the info on Kerby's fun events, check out the event calendar. Spring is rolling right along, but there are plenty great workshops still to come, including herb gardening, a kid's workshop on butterfly gardening, the Easter Egg Hunt and the Tampa Rose Society's Growing Roses in Florida workshop. It's a great year to Discover the Fun of Gardening.


 

Happy Gardening,
Kim, Joey and Mark

In This Issue
Butterfly Gardening

Upcoming Events

 

Butterfly Gardening

It's easy to attract butterflies to your garden. For the basics, check out our butterfly handout and learn about some of the best plants for butterflies, and see below for all of the cool butterflies that you might see fluttering about in your garden.

 

Monarch - The monarch butterfly is one of the most common butterflies in our area. The host plant for these butterflies is milkweed, so make sure that you include it in your butterfly garden. Did you know that monarch butterflies migrate all the way to Mexico in the winter?

 
Swallowtail - There are lots of different swallowtail butterflies, including the black swallowtail which lays its eggs on the herbs dill, fennel, rue and parsley, the pipevine and polydamus swallowtails which use dutchman's pipevine to lay their eggs and the giant swallowtail which lays its eggs on citrus. These butterflies come in many different mixes of black and yellow and are some of the most beautiful.


Sulphurs - A fast-flying yellow butterfly, there are many different types of sulphurs. Some are pale yellow and some like the orange-barred sulphur have beautiful orange colors in their wings. These butterflies lay their eggs on plants in the senna and cassia family. These large shrubs or small trees can make a great centerpiece in a butterfly garden.



Zebra Longwing - The state butterfly of Florida, this cool butterfly hangs out in shady areas under trees or large shrubs. You won't see it flying out in the hot sun too much. It lays its eggs on passionvine planted in the shade.

 

 

Gulf Fritillary - Another speedy little butterfly that is orange with white speckling. This butterfly flutters fast and high in sunny areas and lays its eggs on passion vine planted in the sun.


These are the most common butterflies in our area, but they aren't the only ones. There are actually hundreds of butterflies that call our area home. How many do you have in your butterfly garden?


Upcoming Events
 

Kerby's has lots of fun planned for the garden in 2011, including workshop favorites on vegetables, herbs and roses, as well as some new kids gardening events that will get the whole family involved. 2011 will be a great year to Discover the Fun of Gardening. 

 

 

Kerby's Kids Workshop: Butterfly Gardening
Saturday, April 16 at 10am

The delightful flutter of butterflies in your yard - it's like nature is trying to show off.  Come out to this workshop to learn how to create your own beautiful butterfly garden. The workshop will be kid-friendly, so bring the whole family for a little fun in the garden.  

 

 

 

Kerby's Kids Event: 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday, April 23rd at 10:00 am

Bring your Easter basket and get ready for a whole lot of fun . . . it's the 2nd annual Easter Egg Hunt at Kerby's. Starting right at 10:00am, be ready to hunt and see how many Easter Eggs you can find amongst the beautiful flowers.

 

 

 

Workshop: Growing Roses
Saturday, April 30 at 10am

Presented by the Tampa Rose Society

A rose by any other name . . . can grow in your garden. Discover everything you need to plant and care for beautiful roses at this workshop presented by the Tampa Rose Society.

 

 

 

Workshop: Herb Gardening
Saturday, May 7th at 10:00 am

It's mother's day weekend, so treat mom to a fun workshop on herb gardening. Learn how to plant and grow all types of tasty herbs, and how to use them in cooking. We'll even have a few samples for everyone to try. A great way to share some time with mom!

 

 



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Kerby's Nursery

2311 S. Parsons Ave.

Seffner, FL 33584
(813) 685-3265
www.kerbysnursery.com


Spring Hours
Open Seven Days a Week
Monday - Thursday,  9:00am - 5:30pm
Friday & Saturday,  9:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday,  9:00am - 4:00pm