All meetings/Events are subject to change due to unforseen circumstances.

Fishhawk Recreation Center, 

2318 Buttonwood Run, 

The Villages, FL 

Fred Funk Butterfly GardenSeptember

Seventh-Day Adventist Church

231 Lake Griffin Rd,

Lady Lake, FL 

2024

May 17, 2024,  1:30

Meeting will be held at Fishhawk Recreation Center.  A Village ID is required to attend.  

April 19th, 1;30 pm

We will meet at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden for this meeting.  Anyone can attend this meeting.  Our speaker will be Lisa Sanderson who will talk on Native Plants.  Lisa is a Sumter County Master Gardener Extension Agent.

March 15, 2024, 1:30 pm

We will meet at Fishhawk Recreation Center.  A Village ID is required to attend this meeting.  Our speaker will be Mindy Lighthipe.  She will speak on "Butterflies, Moths, Insects and their Host Plants".  Mindy draws and paints the beauty of nature. She believes in protecting the earth and does so by educating people through her art. She works in a contemporary approach similar to John James Audubon, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Mark Catesby to show the natural history and interconnection of plants, insects, birds and mammals. She is painting a legacy for future generations. Her goal is to record the earth’s species in the 21st century and educate people to preserve it.

February 16th, 2024, 1:30pm

We will meet at Fishhawk Recreation Center.  A Villager ID is required to attend this meeting. Alycyn will be our speaker.  Her talk will be on Butterfly Gardening 101 - the basics.  We will have a raffle of plants etc.  Come and join us!

January 19th, 2024, 1:30pm

We will meet at Fishhawk Recreation Center.  A Villager ID is required to attend this meeting.  Our speaker will be Carrie Cowell.  Her talk will be on Plant Propagation.  Certainly, you have noticed how beautiful many of our raffle plants are. There are many people who donate plants to the monthly raffle and one of them is Carrie Crowell, who has been on the leadership team of the Butterfly Gardens Club for many years. The January program will feature a live demonstration by Carrie of her successful techniques of digging up seedlings and potting them and starting plants from cuttings. She will feature many of our favorite plants including Porterweed, Mayan Spinach trees, Giant milkweed, Turks Cap, Cassia and Salvia.

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2023

December 15, 2023

Holiday Meeting.  Held at Fishhawk Recreation Center at 1:30.  You must have a Village ID to attend.  We will have a video show of photos submitted by our members taken in the garden or in their gardens.  We will also have a potluck, so bring a dish.  We should have some plants for the raffle also.  A fun time for all.

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November 17, 2023

Next meeting will be held at Fred Funk Butterfly Garden at 1:30.  Anyone can attend this meeting.

Our speaker will be Gary Babic, Master Gardener.

He will talk on preparing our gardens for winter.

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October 20, 2023

Next meeting at Fishhawk Recreation Center at 1:30

Village ID required

Speakers:  Mark & Christian Robinson

Vericomposting  - Worm Castings

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September 15, 2023

Next meeting at Fishhawk Recreation Center at 1:30

Village ID required

Speaker:  Jim Davis, County Extension Director and Extension Agent

Mr. Davis program will be on "Butterfly Identification and Gardening:  Creating a Butterfly Haven".  

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August 18th, 2023

DR. JARET DANIELS – AUGUST 18

There are still seats available to attend the program Friday, August 18, 2023 at 1:00 PM  at the church. This is a return visit for Dr. Daniels and an opportunity for him to see our spectacular gardens again. Dr. Daniels is the Curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity and UF Professor.  His lab specializes in insect ecology and conservation with a focus on at-risk butterflies and native pollinators.  He has authored many field guides, butterfly, insect, and gardening books.  PLANTING FOR BUTTERFLIES is the program and includes discussion on sustaining native butterflies, bees and other wildlife and how home gardens can contribute by including native plant species and increasing plant diversity that helps  butterflies, pollinators, birds and other wildlife.

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June 16th and July 21st will be garden tours at Fred Funk's Butterfly Garden.  10 am - 12 pm

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May 19, 2023

Meeting at Fishhawk Recreation Center, 1:30

The program will be called "WriggleBrew: Using Worms to Save Plants and Florida's Waterways"

Summary:

"WriggleBrew is a startup out of Orlando created by students from UCF and SSC using worm castings in a unique way: brewing a special worm tea that is not only a powerful organic fertilizer, but also fights off pests and diseases. Run by students passionate about keeping Florida's waterways clean from fertilizer runoff, and native plants and soil safe, WriggleBrew employs groundbreaking research funded by both UCF and the city of Orlando to help keep gardening easy while staying green."

Bio:

"Sam Baker is a recent graduate of UCF, and the founder of WriggleBrew, an Orlando startup which uses groundbreaking research to turn organic worm castings into a liquid which can not only effectively fertilize - but can fight off pests and diseases as well. Sam is an Eagle Scout, with a strong passion for environmentalism, and a researcher whose work has been funded by the National Science Foundation to help keep Florida clean and green."

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April 21, 2023

1:30 at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden

Our speaker will be April McLean from Green Isle Gardens.

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March 17, 1:30 

Note: Change of location to Hibiscus Recreation Center

Our speaker will be Tracie Johnson with the Florida Dept of Environmental Protection, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park

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February 17, 1:30 at Fishhawk Recreation Center

Our speaker is Lisa Sanderson.   The presentation is Butterflies and Other Pollinators in your Landscape and How to Attract Them.  Butterflies and other pollinators are attracted to plants with flowers not just for nectar and pollen but also as we know as host plants.  This talk with focus on those pollinators you see in your landscape and those plants you can plant to attract them. 

Lisa Sanderson earned a Masters in Agricultural Education and a BS in Horticultural Science both from NC State University. Lisa uses her 23 years of horticulture and teaching background to educate residents and Master Gardener Volunteers in her role as the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent and Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator for the UF/IFAS Extension in Sumter County. Lisa’s area of focus is educating residents on ways to conserve and protect water resources in Sumter County.  She reaches clients through weekly newspaper articles, twice monthly new resident training on lawns and landscapes and other educational programs. Lisa leads dedicated Master Gardener Volunteers in Sumter County who educate the residents of Sumter County through a variety of educational programs and outreach.

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January 20, 1:30 at Fishhawk Recreation Center

Our speaker will be Gary Babic.  He will speak on "Creepie Crawlies".  The talk covers a range of critters that a gardener might encounter, most of which are not creepy at all.  It will also include some butterfly photos showing what might be expected in the garden.  Gary is a Sumter County Master Gardener and President of the Village Birders.

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2022

December 16th, 2022

Meeting will be at Fishhawk Recreation Center, 1:30.

We will have our usual holiday potluck.

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November 18th, 2022

Meeting at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden at 1:30.

Speaker:  We will have Samatha or Sarah from the University of FL.

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Note changes for October meeting - date & place

October 14, 2022 at Fred Funk Butterfly Garden Time 1:30

 We will join The Villages Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society for this meeting.  Alycyn will be the speaker.  Tours of the garden will be offered after the meeting.  Suggest arriving early.  1 - 1:30 social hour.  Meeting will begin promptly.   Parking is available on the grass. Native plant raffle and rummage table will be set up.  

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September 16, 2022 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

1:30 - 3:15

Village ID required

Nancy Myers from Grumbles House/Antiques & Garden Shop will be our speaker.  Her shop is in Dunnellon.  Her talk will be "Attracting Butterflies with the Beautiful Plants that Butterflies Can't Resist."  Link to website

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Summer Months - Garden Tours

instead of meetings - open to everyone

June 17, July 15 and August 19th- 10am to 12pm at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden.

Take a tour through the garden with a guide as we point out plants and butterflies in the garden.  We never know what butterfly will be out and about.  If you have been on the tour before, go with a different guide the next time.  We all have our own stories and point out various plants/insects etc.  Suggest a donation to the club.  Funds are used to support the garden.  

Think of helping out - weeding, trimming, cleaning up .  After an orientation you can pick your own hours even if just for one hour.  Saturdays are non-work days as the church sets that day aside for its weekly celebration.

We desperately need help.  Meet new people and make new friends.

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May 20th, 2022 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

1:30 - 3:15

Village ID required

Valerie B. will be showing some of her beautiful photos of Annie's Secret Garden.  She is very creative in producing her videos.  We will besides the raffle also have a rummage sale.  Hope to see you there!

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April 15, 2022

We do not have a speaker for our April meeting so …

In lieu of an actual program for April 15, we are going shopping! We will not have a regular meeting or program, we are having a local field trip! We've had many suggestions on places to go, but with the price of gas, we are keeping it close.

From Alycyn:

1. We will rendezvous at the Winn Dixie (Pinellas Plaza/466A) parking lot on Friday April 15 at 1245 pm for a 1 pm departure.  Look for my red Ford F150 at the outside edge of the parking lot, near Burnsed Blvd. Arrive at 12:45 pm, we will depart promptly at 1 pm.

2. We will caravan west on 466A to Cottage Garden and plant nursery, our 1st stop.

3. We will head N on 301 to County Rd 462 and stop at KB Lanscape and plant nursery. 

4. Our final stop will be further North on 301 at Fairfield Farms. 

You must sign up if you plan to attend. Send an email to Butterflysurvey1@gmail.com. Please indicate if you are able to drive and how many passengers you can hold, or if you prefer to be a passenger (if you are riding with someone you might offer them a couple of dollars for gas).

Everyone invited

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March 18th, 2022 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

1:30 - 3:15

Village ID required

'The March program titled, FLORIDA GARDENING 101, A REVIEW, is being presented by Anne Lambrecht.  Anne will discuss many aspects of Florida gardens including sun exposure, pH, heat and cold zones and different types of plants and the creatures that visit. Anne is a Marion Co Master Gardener who was in charge of the children's school gardens, and held the position of President of The Villages Garden Club for years. She has lived in Florida 20 years including some time in Tampa before moving to The Villages. Anne says her goal is to have one of every kind of plant in her garden, to make it a true botanical garden where every spare minute is spent to the detriment of housekeeping!  

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Past meetings:

February 18th, 2022 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

1:30 - 3:15

Village ID required

Our Speaker will be Stacey Matrazzo from the Florida Wildflower Foundation. She will be speaking on Butterfly and Pollinator Gardens.

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January 21, 2022 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center 1:30

Village ID required

Alycyn will lead a discussion of topics

Growing and caring for your milkweed

Advantages of native plants

Benefits of non-natives

Aphids

Milkweed propagation, seed harvesting, etc

Bring your experiences to share

Ask questions ????

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2021

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December 17, 2021 at the Garden

Christmas Celebration  

Meeting was to honor Lamar Young and his wife for all the hard work they do in the garden.

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November 19, 2021 at the Garden

Open to Everyone

Anita Camacho from Little Red Wagon Native Nursery in Tampa will be the speaker.  We will be able to pre-order plants.  See information in email we will provide to members.

Bio for Anita:

Anita Camacho, President and Founder of Tampa Bay Butterfly Foundation, Inc, and North American Butterfly Association - Tampa Bay chapter.  These groups work together at the state and/or local level to conserve butterflies, pollinators and their habitats as well as educate the public about the importance of the Florida ecosystem for pollinators.  Anita opened Little Red Wagon Native Nursery in South Tampa in April 2020. She is planning to open an immersive butterfly experience with other reptile, amphibian and insect exhibits to open spring 2022. The nursery is the only native plant nursery currently in Hillsborough county and a proud member of FANN.

Anita is a life-long Floridian from the Tampa Bay area, married to Marc Camacho (also a Floridian).  She considers herself an amateur Lepidopterist.  She has participated with multiple Universities on studies for advancement of science on the Monarch butterfly as well as milkweed field studies.  She also participates in butterfly population monitoring throughout the state of Florida. She has traveled all over the US, Canada, Cuba, numerous Caribbean islands and Africa to further her education on Lepidoptera. An avid gardener for over 40 years (since she was a young child) and specifically gardening for butterflies, pollinators, edibles and roses. Anita is a current board member of FNPS-Suncoast Chapter. She has served on the executive board as treasurer of Tampa Federation of Garden Club Circles-and a member of two of Tampa’s Garden Club Circles – Rose and Moonlight, currently the treasurer for Tampa Green Fest.  She is an active member of International Association of Butterfly Exhibitors & Suppliers (IABES), International Butterfly Breeders Association (IBBA), as well as other Lepidopterists' Societies. Her home gardens were on the Rose Circle annual garden tour in South Tampa with record attendance of over 900 visitors in 2016.  For more fun, she became a Beekeeper through the USF program in 2018. She has been an accredited American Society consulting rosarian for more than 15 years. Professionally, a CPA in Tampa for 30 years and has her own accounting firm in South Tampa for over 12 years. Accounting is not her true passion, but it helps pave the way for conservation, restoration, education and research!

Anita offers education, outreach and butterfly talks for numerous groups of all ages such around Florida and internationally to raise awareness of the plight of our environment that starts with native plants and insects.

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October 15, 2021 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

Village ID required

Our speaker will be Mindy Lighthipe.

Lecture overview: Mindy will do a slide presentation of her Symbiosis paintings depicting the lifecycle of butterflies and host plants. She will have examples of her paintings and will describe the process she uses to create them.

Bio: Mindy Lighthipe draws and paints the beauty of nature. She believes in protecting the earth and does this by educating people through her art. She works in a contemporary approach similar to John James Audubon, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Mark Catesby to show the natural history and interconnection of plants, insects, birds and mammals. She paints a legacy for future generations. Her goal is to record the earth’s species in the 21st century and educate people to preserve it.

Mindy graduated from Kean University with a BFA in Studio Arts and a MA in Art Education- Magna cum laude. She received her 210 hour certification from the New York Botanical Gardens in Botanical Illustration. After graduating she went on to teach over 20 different classes in their Botanical Art Program and developed a 250 hour certificate in Natural Science Illustration.

Mindy has been exhibiting her art since 1998 in juried and solo exhibitions. In 2009 she received a Silver Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society in London. In 2010 she had a solo exhibition at the Florida Museum of Natural History. She currently is teaching Scientific Illustration at the University of Florida and exhibits her work in juried exhibitions worldwide. She is the author and illustrator of Mother Monarch, Nature’s Wisdom Oracle, and The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration.

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September 17, 2021 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

Village ID required

April McClain from Green Isle Gardens, Groveland will be the speaker

She will speak on Florida Native Plants for Butterflies and will cover host and nectar plants, shrubs and trees.

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June 18, July 16 and August 20, 2021 at the Garden

Open to everyone

We will meet from 10 - 12 for tours of the garden.  Come out and visit.  Even if you have been to the garden in the past, you never know what you will see.  Go with a different guide or join a guide in progress and get another view of the garden.   Dependent upon weather conditions.  We will try and answer questions.  Donations appreciated.

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Friday, May 21, 2021 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

Villager ID required

Butterfly Gardening: Sources and Resources

Do you ever have questions about raising butterflies?  Do you wonder what plants are good nectar plants, where to plant them, or how to care for them? Where are good places to buy butterfly host plants near The Villages?  How do I get rid of aphids on my milkweed?  Are my caterpillars sick? 

 Our May program is dedicated to teaching you many ways to get answers to a myriad of questions …there is so much information available, just knowing where to go get it…many answers are at our fingertips.  Alycyn will have a live demonstration showing how to access the many sources of information available and discuss many resources at our fingertips.  There will be handouts with an outline of the program.

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Friday, January 15, 2021

Village ID required

Our next meeting will be held on January 15th, 1:30-3:15, at Fish Hawk Recreation Center.  We will be showing a video, "Metamorphosis - the Beauty and Design of Butterflies", and is produced by Illustra Media.  The description of the video is:

"Throughout history, butterflies have fascinated artists and philosophers, scientists and school-children with their profound mystery and beauty. In Metamorphosis you will explore their remarkable world as few ever have before.

Spectacular photography, computer animation and magnetic resonance imaging open once hidden doors to every stage of a butterfly's life cycle - from an egg the size of a pinhead to a magnificent flying insect. It is a transformation so incredible biologists have called it 'butterfly magic.'

The butterfly's superbly engineered body is magnified hundreds of times to reveal compound eyes made of thousands of individual lenses, wings covered with microscopic solar panels, and navigational systems that unerringly guide Monarch butterflies on their annual migration from Canada to Mexico."

From Gary Babic, Master Gardener, notes on frost-freeze damage

After the freeze, the best thing to do is nothing. It may look terrible. But in most cases, such as porterweed and lantana, the plant is not dead even if many of the branches are. If you cut off dead stuff down to the living stuff, it is very likely that will promote a burst of new growth. That new tender growth will be very susceptible to a subsequent freeze. That can in turn kill what had been a healthy plant. The dead parts act as insulation which keeps the living tissue from further damage. It is ok, not recommended, to cut back the really dead branches, as long as you do not go down to where the branches have any life in them - which is not always obvious. That is purely for looks but there is the potential downside. And some shrubs like firebush and firespike and beautyberry actually need a hard freeze or they get much too large and gangly.

Even tropicals like crotons may be dead all the way to the ground, but will likely come back if they have been in the ground more than a couple of years and have healthy roots. It will be interesting to see if the Mayan Spinach survives, it is definitely not freeze tolerant.

The date for trimming off dead tissue is St Patrick's Day - it helps to have a holiday as a reminder. The one exception is roses and you trim those of Valentine's Day - conveniently. Of course, by mid-March it is warm and the temptation is strong to give everything a cleanup.  But our last frost date is the end of March and a few years back we had one that late and it killed a lot of plants that had already budded out.

From Sue A.

I was deciding when to make my December visit to the gardens before the weather produced colder temperatures and a frost.  I made that visit on the 23rd before the freeze occurred.  Many flowers were not blooming taking their rest for winter, but there still were blossoms.  What surprised me is the number of butterflies I saw so late.  I saw Monarchs, Sulphur, Gulf Fritillaries, Zebra Longwings, Long-Tailed Skippers, Fiery Skipper, other skippers and one of the tiny blues.  With cooler temperatures the butterflies find areas where to hide.  There are micro-climates in the garden and they seek them out.  Some butterflies over-winter as eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis or as butterflies depending upon the species.  Some hide in the debris under the plants.  I now expect the number of butterflies to decrease until maybe February, but definitely in March.  Time for them to take a short break and not like up north where that break lasts for months.

Help us out in the gardens

Butterfly Gardeners! Please join us to tend, deadhead and weed our beautiful gardens at these regular days/times; MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW:

Sunday ​mornings 730-1030am guided by Lamar & Coleen Young (352-751-1884)

Tuesday mornings 10am guided by Mike & Fran (414 588-9966) and Valerie (352-492-8606)

First Thursday 9-11am guided by Roy & Sherry (772-453-4255)

Come any time on these days and stay 30 minutes or 2 hours! Bring your garden shears, some water, and wear your gloves. Bring a friend or neighbor. Our spectacular demonstration garden is located on the grounds of the Seventh Day Adventist church of Lady Lake.  231 Lake Griffin Road, Lady Lake. Take Hwy 466 east, cross over 441/27, continue 1 block, turn Left on Lake Griffin Road.  Church is one more block on right.

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Next Meetings/Events: 

Friday, February 19, 2021 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

Village ID required

We are having Gary Babic speaking on basic butterfly gardening.  Gary has vast experience on this subject, is a Master Gardener and member of the Native Plant Society.  

Bring your questions!

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Friday, March 19, 2021 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

Village ID required

Program will be on starting seeds and taking cuttings from plants.  We sent out two emails on this meeting.  We are only allowed 50 people at the Recreation Center at this time due to Covid.  Sorry to say we have enough people who signed up for the jiffy pots that we will not be able to accommodate more.  We may be repeating the program in April.

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Friday, April 16, 2021 at Fred Funk's Butterfly Garden

Open to everyone

March's meeting will be repeated for those you missed the meeting or didn't come because of the limits of room occupancy due to Covid at Fishhawk Recreation Center.  If you would like a recap of the meeting, feel free to attend.  

Program will be on starting seeds and taking cuttings from plants.