Contact:  The Villages Butterfly Gardens Club           tvbgclub@gmail.com

The Villages Butterfly Garden Club Meetings and Newsletter

The Villages Butterfly Gardens Club usually meets the third Friday of each month from 1:30 pm - 3:20 pm at the Fish Hawk Village Recreation Center.  We do hold meetings twice a year at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden for anyone to attend.  Our members range from master gardeners to picture-book beginners. The club maintains demonstration gardens, shares experiences, gathers wonderful speakers.  

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

Fishhawk Recreation Center

2318 Buttonwood Run

The Villages, FL 

Fred Funk Butterfly Garden

Seventh-Day Adventist Church

231 Lake Griffin Rd

Lady Lake, FL 

2026

The Villages Butterfly Garden Club

March 20, 2026 Newsletter

Our next meeting will be held on March 20th, 1:30-3:20 pm at Fish Hawk Recreation Center.  Our speaker will be Gary Babic. His presentation will be on “Butterfly Gardening Basics and a bit more”.  Gary has been a Sumter County Master Gardener since 2014, and he is interested in all types of gardening especially habitats for butterflies and other wildlife.  He was past president of The Village Birders and past councilor for the local Florida Native Plant Society branch.  Gary was born in Connecticut, received his PhD from UConn, and worked primarily for Texaco in the petrochemical industry.  He has lived in SE Asia for ten years, and has visited over 100 countries looking for birds.  He has lived in The Villages since 2006 and enjoys golf when not in the garden.

Last month’s meeting was fantastic.  Bob Keyes showed videos on You Tube from the Wild Floridian.  You may want to check other videos she has made.  Although she is southern Florida, some of her information can be applied to our area.

We will be working in the garden Sunday, March 15th starting at 9:00 am.  This will be our pruning day.  There is quite a bit of work to be done.  Come later or stay an hour or so.  I plan on being there from 9-12.  Pick your time to help us out.  Bring rakes, pruners, old sheets, water, wheelbarrows etc.  We do have one wheelbarrow.  We need people to move the mulch bags to the garden as they will be on pallets.  We will place our debris on sheets and someone can move that to the dumpster while we continue pruning.  Some people can rake leaves that we can use as mulch in the gardens.  We can guide you along as to what all needs to be done.  Restrooms will be available.

We give thanks for plant donations to:  Teri Mallory for her fresh flower arrangement, Holly Durfee for the plants and Deb Embry for the Welcome to my garden plaque. Thanks to our Carrie who works so hard with the plants she provides. All money received goes back into the garden.  We would also like to thank Mike Backes, Barbara Lupinski and Dale Mae Menditto for helping us out at the Outdoor Expo.  There was a great turn out of people attending that event.

Plant Sales – Spring Plant sale and Garden Festival with the Sumter County Master Gardener Volunteers will be held March 21st, 8-4 and the 22nd, 9-3 at the Phillip Brady Arena at the Doug Gilpin Pavilion on the Sumter County Fairgrounds (7620 State Road 471, Bushnell).

UF/IFAS Spring Plant Sale at Discovery Gardens, 1951 Woodlea Rd, Tavares.  The Lake County Master Gardeners hold this plant sale.  Held on March 28th, 8-2.  Their Spring Plant Sale is a signature, one-day event featuring a wide selection of Florida-Friendly plants grown by Master Gardener Volunteers in our greenhouse. More Information
https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/lake/ffl/spring-plant-sale-2026/

Note:  Our meetings in April are held at the Fred Funk Butterfly Garden giving non-Villagers a chance to attend our meeting.  Also, it is a time that we can go observe the garden and see what is flying or what flowers are blooming. 

Our Facebook site, Fred Funk Butterfly Garden, is where you can share your photos or observations on Fred’s garden or your own garden.

Please refer to our website or emails for any last minute changes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 2026 Newsletter

February 2026 Newsletter for

The Villages Butterfly Garden Club

February’s meeting will be Feb 20th, 1:30-3:20 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center.  A Village ID is required.  Our speaker will be Bob Keyes who will present videos on Frost Damage and Florida Friendly Plants etc.  Bob Keyes has spent fifty years in the orange juice industry, thirty years as a controller and the last twenty years as commodity manager for the largest Purchasing Association in the Dairy and Beverage Industry.  He has spent forty-three years in Florida with the last twenty years in The Villages.  He is a member of our club for eight years and President of the Florida Native Plants Society the last two years.

The club will have plants and a few related butterfly/garden items for our raffle.

Thanks to the workers who showed up on our Sunday workday, Jan 25th:  Debi Clark, Lynn Schrum, Nancy Dale (Heartbeat Peace Circle), Jen Smith (Abundance of Love Home), Barb Lupinski and Lindsay Collier       

( AAOK Club - Acknowledging Acts of Kindness - The Villages, Florida) led by Louise, Al and Sue.  Sorry I wasn’t there on the original Sunday and don’t have names for those people – we thank you too. 

Thanks to Terri Morris for the beautiful rose flower arrangement that she donated for our raffle at January’s meeting.

Outdoor Expo – February 27-28 – 10am – 3pm at Everglades Recreation Center in the Grand Canyon room.  The club will have a booth inside for the Expo.  This is a great way to promote our club.  We need volunteers to work our booth.  This involves talking to visitors, handing out leaflets etc.  Shifts will be 10-12:30 and 12:30-3.  Contact Sue Allie, 352-459-5825 or tvbgclub@gmail.com    Come out and visit as many clubs are featured.

The Villages Butterfly Garden Club - Events Updated our Events page on the website to include the Expo, Mulch and Pruning days. 

We are now posting the entire newsletter on our website.  On our Plant Sales page is information on organizations holding plant sales.  The Villages Butterfly Garden Club - Plant Sales The Sumter County Master Gardeners are having their plant sale Mar 21-22.  More information on our website.

Watch for Field Trip survey in your email box.  Looking at April 23rd, but that date may not be the final date.  May is not a good month for the bus companies due to graduation and schools needing buses.  The nursery, Eden of Wings, is only open Thursday through Sundays.  Cost would be around $30 which covers the renting of the bus.  We will stop for lunch with a variety of restaurants.  We need 34 people to fill the bus.  This would be a great place to buy your butterfly/pollinator plants.  Eden of Wings is a native and pollinator nursery.  Eden of Wings - Plant Nursery & Farm

Feb 15 – Our next workday in the garden – 10am 

We will be working in the garden.  NO pruning until March 15th.  We will be pulling weeds.  Also, we noticed all the leaves that have fallen due to the frost.  These are great mulch and request that they be raked into the gardens.

March 15 – Pruning day – starts 9am

April 19 – Mulch day – starts 9am

There is a place in New Hampshire called The Caterpillar Lab that has been on my radar.  They have a free video available to watch on caterpillars.  Very interesting!   You need a ticket.  On their website at the bottom of the list is the free ticket.  This is available until late March to view the video.  FILM | The Caterpillar Lab  

Next meeting will be March 20th – Fish Hawk Recreation Center – 1:30  Our speaker will be Gary Babic.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JANUARY 2026 NEWSLETTER

Greetings Everyone.   We hope you had a great holiday season.  The Leadership Team is working hard behind the scenes getting ready for our next meetings.

Our January 16th meeting will be held at Fish Hawk Recreation Center at 1:30 – 3:20.  Sue Allie will be our speaker talking about "What Do You Know About Butterflies”.  I am sure you will learn something new.  We will also have our plant raffle.  We have a nice passionvine that would be worth $30 at a nursery included in the plant raffle that someone donated!

The club needs new people for our leadership team due to the recent personnel who have moved on.  We desperately need someone who will find speakers for the club.  We have lists of speakers from the past.  Could that person be YOU?

We have been informed that there is a walking group who has the recreation room before us.  The Recreation personnel sets up the room and the room may not be ready until 1pm.  The doors may be closed until then.  Please do not bother the Recreation Center personnel.  For right now Sue Allie is in charge as she signed the Recreation room papers. 

Thank You!  There were many people who assisted us with setting up during the December meeting.  Now that we are short of leadership personnel and may not have the room until 1pm, help is greatly appreciated.  Carrie may need assistance with the raffle plants and getting them into the meeting room.  Sometimes we may be short of the few leadership people we do have.     We may seat you at a table to hand out pamphlets or help the new people attending the meeting etc.   

We have upcoming events we participate in.  We have the Outdoor Expo at Everglades Recreation Center where we will have a booth.  The booth needs to be manned and we appreciate two people for shifts of three hours.  Basically, we hand our brochures and provide information on our club.  More news on this later as information is provided to us.  This is a way to advertise our group.  Expo will be held 2-26 and 2-27, 10-3.  

On the third Sunday of each month at 10am, we will have people working in Fred’s Garden at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.  If you want to come and help us or learn what we are doing, we are making this time available.  We do need volunteers to work the garden.  It is a great way to meet new people and satisfying to work side-by-side.  Our first date is Jan 19th.  See you there.

To keep the garden in great shape, mark your calendars – Our pruning day will be March 15th at 9am and the mulch day will be April 19th at 9 am. 

Our next meeting is at Fish Hawk Recreation Center on February 20th.

2025

December 19th                    1:30-3:20 at Fish Hawk Recreation Center

Our speaker will be Valerie Begley.  A  slideshow of submitted photos of butterflies and gardening photos by our members.  You can submit photos (up to 6) and send them to Valerie at jolphoto@hotmail.com with a brief description of where and when they were taken.    At the meeting you will talk about your photos.  Deadline for photos is December 12th.

We will also have a potluck luncheon on that day.  

Suggest arriving early for setup. 

Plants will be raffled.

August 15th   10am - 12pm

Fred Funk Butterfly Garden

Instead of meetings, during the summer we do garden tours.  These are our fundraiser events.  Plants may be offered for sale.  Come out and visit the Butterflies and the garden.  We have some new plants and our volunteers have been busy tending the garden.  Hope to find some caterpillars.  It's a fun time for all to enjoy all the beauty.

July 23   10am - 2pm

June 20    10am - 12pm

Fred Funk Butterfly Garden

Instead of meetings, during the summer we do garden tours.  These are our fundraiser events.  Plants may be offered for sale.  Come out and visit the Butterflies and the garden.  We have some new plants and our volunteers have been busy tending the garden.  Hope to find some caterpillars.  It's a fun time for all to enjoy all the beauty.

May 16th, 2025 - 1:30-3:20  Meeting at Fishhawk Recreation Center

Our very own Carrie Crowell, is one of the longest tenured members of the LEADERSHIP TEAM of the Butterfly Gardens Club and has been growing plants primarily for our plant raffle for many years.

Carrie has assembled a team of growers and will feature hands on planting demos with many types of seedlings including Porterweed, Mayan Spinach Trees, Mexican Flame Vine, and Cassia. Harry Orlind will demo Mexican Sunflowers. Val Begley will present some general gardening tips. Full grown plants will be on display as well. They will show planting with cuttings and starting seeds using Jiffy strips, organic and biodegradable peat cells, and toilet paper holders. They will show using different containers for rooting plants like the netting bags that fruit and avocados are wrapped, glass jars, and plastic water tubes. A variety of items to tie up tall plants will also be shown including ladies stockings, garden twist ties, and plastic plant clips. Additionally this team has some great ideas on garden markers for identifying different seeds that have been planted.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 18th, 2025 - 1:30-3:20  Meeting at Fred Funk garden!!!

Our speaker will be Charlie Pioli.  He started his career in solid waste & recycling consulting, where he witnessed the egregious waste our country produces on a regular basis.  Spurred to action, he started O-Town Compost, because he thought it would be fun, and to give his Central Florida community a sustainable option to recycle their food scrapes.

We will also have our plant raffle.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 21, 2025 - 1:30-3:20  Fishhawk Recreation Center

Our speaker will be Stacey Matrazzo, Executive Director of the Florida Wildflower Foundation

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 21, 2025 - 1:30-3:20 Fishhawk Recreation Center

Our speaker will be Leslie Lightbourne, a Lake County Master Gardener

Our speaker this month is Leslie Lightbourne. Leslie began gardening alongside her Great Uncle Ernest, a horticulturist with a nursery in Southern Pines, NC. She delights in the challenges of gardening with her dogs who frequently relocate plants to better locations and assist in digging and pruning. She followed in the footsteps of her Mom, a Master Gardener on an island off the coast of NC, and became a Master Gardener while still working in education in Louisiana. There she converted 20 acres to vegetable gardens, an orchard, pine forest, and trails among native plants. After moving to Florida, she became a Lake County Master Gardener in 2015. Her gardening challenges include conversion of 3 sandy lakefront acres, previously an orange grove, to gardens filled with native and other Florida Friendly plants, edible landscape plants, and raised beds for vegetables, fruit and herbs – with her dogs’ help.

 Her program is called Butterfly Gardening

Creating a garden that attracts butterflies and supports their life cycle requires planning and planting a wide assortment of colorful flowers. Even a small space can provide a safe haven for butterflies, other pollinators and hummingbirds to gather. She will cover major components of a successful butterfly garden and garden design.  She will discuss selection of native and Florida Friendly plants which invite pollinators and beneficial insects and aid in natural pest control and foster a balanced ecosystem. Creating your butterfly garden offers a practical, sustainable, and visually appealing solution that can transform your outdoor sanctuary into a true celebration of nature.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 17th - 1:30- 3:20 Fishhawk Recreation Center

Sue Allie will present a slide show on How to Identify Butterflies.  Sue is self-taught and has used the Internet and her collection of over 25 books on butterflies for her knowledge.  She is a member of the North American Butterfly Association which produces two magazines on butterflies and moths.  Their magazines contain more technical articles for indentification of the harder species, the Skippers.  Her love of nature has blossomed over the years.  Currently, 47 species of butterflies have been found in Fred Funk Butterfly Garden, many identified by Sue, but she has had help from other members too.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2024

December 20th - 1:30-3:20  Fishhawk Recreation Center

Slideshow of submitted photos of butterflies and gardening photos by our members.  You can submit your photos to Alycyn at alycynculbertson@msn.com   At the meeting you will talk about your photos.  We will also have a potluck luncheon on that day.

November 15th - 1:30 - 3:20 at Fred Funk Butterfly Garden

Wigglebrew talk

October 18th - 1:30 - 3:20

On October 18th, from 1:30 PM to 3:20 PM at the Fishhawk Recreation Center,

.  Our guest speaker is Dr. Chris Marble is an associate professor at the University of Florida/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka, FL. Dr. Marble’s research and extension program focus on development and evaluation of sustainable and effective weed management strategies for ornamental plants in production and in the landscape. He works closely with nursery growers, pest management companies, county extension agents, and other stakeholders to help them manage weeds and invasive plants in the most effective and environmentally friendly way possible.

His talk will be “Best Management Practices for Improving Weed control in Landscape beds and Butterfly gardens”. This presentation will focus on how to develop an integrated weed management program for different non-turf areas of the landscape including planting beds and in pollinator-friendly type plantings. The latest research on herbicide use, effective non-chemical approaches, and how to combine different methods based on someone’s needs and preferences will be shared.

September 20th - 1:30-3:20 

Fishhawk Recreation Center

Our speaker will be Wendy Chasalow Milstein who is an avid birder.  I always remember Wendy with a camera.  She will give a talk on birding.

We will also be discussing the Wigglebrew tour.

June 21   July 19   August 16 - 10am - 12pm

Fred Funk Butterfly Garden

Instead of meetings, during the summer we do garden tours.  These are our fundraiser events.  Plants may be offered for sale.  Come out and visit the Butterflies and the garden.  We have some new plants and our volunteers have been busy tending the garden.  Hope to find some caterpillars.  It's a fun time for all to enjoy all the beauty.

May 17, 2024,  1:30

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

Our speaker will be Jamie Daugherty who will speak on trees.  Trees are an important host plant for both butterflies and moths.

Bio:

Jamie Daugherty is the new FFL/Urban Forestry Agent with UF/IFAS in Sumter County. She has a background in both urban forestry, higher education, and extension. She is excited to join the Sumter Extension family and bring more urban tree topics to the county.  

Topic: Flowering Trees of Florida

While all trees I Florida flower, not all have a showy display that attracts pollinators. In this presentation you are introduced to several trees and a few shrubs that make great additions to pollinator gardens.  

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------