Plant sale is Oct. 12
Nursery plants are ready to find a home at the “Fall Master Gardener Plant Sale” that will be held Oct. 12.
Posted: Saturday, October 5, 2013 9:00 am
W e recently discussed five of the nine “Florida Friendly Landscaping” principles. The remaining four principles are easy to implement and have the ability to positively impact the health of our natural community. Attracting wildlife, recycling, reducing stormwater runoff, and protecting the waterfront are all principles that every homeowner can easily implement in their yard.
Your home landscape can be a needed refuge for wildlife in urban and suburban areas. Attracting wildlife can also be rewarding for the home gardener. Daily visits by birds and butterflies can create a sense of relaxation for the viewer.
To attract wildlife, use native plants, bird feeders, and bird baths to provide food and water. Install birdhouses and leave dead tree stumps, as shelter for cavity nesting birds. Provide a variety of height and texture when choosing plants for your yard and you will be rewarded by diverse birds and animals.
Practice recycling in your home landscape by leaving yard wastes onsite. For example, take advantage of free mulch by raking oak leaves and pine needles into planting beds. The oak leaves and pine needles break down and add organic matter and acidity to the soil.
A small compost pile is also easy to add. Begin a compost pile by adding green materials, such as grass clippings, green leaves, or vegetable scraps, and brown materials such as dried leaves and small twigs. Composting turns yard wastes and debris and into a rich, beautiful soil amendment that can be added to new and existing plantings.
Another way to recycle in your yard is to add a rain barrel to the end of a downspout. You can easily harvest the rainwater and use it to water pots and annual and perennial beds.
Stormwater runoff can occur when oil, pesticides, fertilizers and debris are carried by rainfall into our bodies of water. Reducing stormwater runoff goes hand-in-hand with recycling yard wastes onsite. Leave grass clipplings on your lawn and never wash or blow them down a storm drain.
If you spill fertilizer on your sidewalks or driveways, sweep it up and apply it back to your lawn. Do not apply fertilizers before excessive rainfall is predicted. Fertilizer can leach into the soil and contribute to pollution when not applied correctly.
You can further protect the waterfront by leaving a three- to 10-foot buffer zone around lakes, retention ponds or any type of surface water. Within this buffer zone fertilizers and pesticides should not be applied. Try to leave as much native vegetation around water bodies as possible as plants provide a good filter of pollutants.
We live in a beautiful area of Central Florida riddled with water. Let’s do our part to protect this valuable natural resource. For information on “Florida Friendly Landscaping” go to the University of Florida’s website at http://fyn.ifas.ufl.edu/.
The UF/IFAS Lake County master gardeners will be hosting their “Fall Plant Sale” at 9:00 a.m. on Oct. 12. This sale provides Florida friendly and unusual plants at great prices. Proceeds from the sale benefit Discovery Gardens and volunteer education.
Brooke Moffis is the residential horticulture agent of the UF/IFAS Lake County Extension office. Email burnb48@ufl.edu.
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Saturday, October 5, 2013 9:00 am.
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