Just before a recent open house, visitors to the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden may have noticed new plants and a new design.
Club members finished a number of enhancements to the garden before the second of three open houses hosted by The Villages Butterfly Gardens Club.
Volunteers planted new nectar plants, including spicebush and frog fruit, and contractors laid thick mulch in the garden.
Some work remains to be done, such as the planting of little black cherry trees.
Butterfly gardeners who assist at least two times a week at the garden, named after the club’s founder, aimed to continue improving the garden in advance of the summer’s third and final open house on Aug. 20.
Members also cultivated a new spicebush and frog fruit in the garden, according to club head Alycyn Culbertson.
According to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), spicebush, a perennial shrub related to laurels, is a host plant for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly. Butterflies feed on the nectar of frog fruit, a Florida native plant utilized as ground cover.
A wax myrtle, which nourishes the red-banded hairstreak, and little black cherry trees, which host a variety of butterflies and moths, are two plants that still need to be planted, according to Culbertson of the Village of DeLuna.
Prior to the club’s open party on July 16, fresh mulch was set down in the garden, according to Culbertson.
The club, on the other hand, did something unusual this time around by employing contractors to conduct the mulching.
“We usually do this with volunteers and the committee members, but with it being so hot and we have various things keeping us busy in our day-to-day lives, we elected to pay for the service,” Culbertson said.
Prior to the club’s summer open houses, where members provide guided tours of the grounds and explain the importance of the plants that thrive there, the constant maintenance effort keeps the garden looking fresh and attractive to butterflies.
As the butterfly season develops, visitors may view a variety of butterflies, as indicated by members noticing different kinds out and about.
“The butterflies are quite busy before the storms, gathering all the nectar they can, and they know where to hide for protection,” said butterfly club member Sue Allie, of the Village of Sabal Chase.
There will be more plants and upgrades in the future.
Anyone interested in helping out in the garden can do that on Sundays at 7:30 a.m., Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden, 231 Lake Griffin Road, Lady Lake. People are welcome to volunteer for as long as they want, but they must bring their own garden shears.