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Hernando Today

Butterfly Garden Ribbon Cutting Attracts Nature Seekers

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: September 28, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Local nature centers joined the national celebration of public lands for the first time Saturday, and it included local Girl Scouts digging in the dirt and watching for butterflies.

They saw quite a few. The newly inaugurated butterfly and hummingbird garden at Chinsegut Nature Center is expected to be a major attraction for both people and wildlife.

First came the grant money from the Longbrake Family Foundation in Seattle, then came the digging, watering and landscaping from the center's volunteers.

They had help from more than 50 people Saturday - including many from Girl Scout Troop 581 in Spring Hill.

"We came here last year with the Girl Scouts and they gave us our own private tour guide," said troop leader Lisa Kellogg Crane. "She engaged the girls so fully. We wanted to give back ... This was such a great opportunity."

The girls in the troop, along with several other children and adults, donned work gloves, grabbed shovels and spread mulch along the beds.

The girls focused mostly on the Prairie Garden, which already has begun attracting swarms of butterflies.

"It was fun doing all the mulching and seeing all the butterflies get to it," said 10-year-old Jasmine Nordberg, who guessed she saw about a dozen insects fly by her head.

The annual National Public Lands Day started 15 years ago. Saturday was the first time local nature centers took part. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission partnered with the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Hernando County to host four local work sites. Events were held at Chinsegut, the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area, Weeki Wachee Preserve and Peck Sink.

Chinsegut volunteer Becky Brown organized the ribbon cutting for the new garden Saturday.

The landscape is designed to educate visitors and school groups about Florida's native plants and how to attract butterflies, birds, bees and other wildlife.

"We felt this was a good way to connect and to get people excited about public lands," she said of the garden. "We wanted to support that wildlife growing."

Work on the garden began in August. National Public Lands Day was the intended deadline all along, Brown said.

Each plant has its own water tap, which can drip a half gallon, one gallon or two gallons in one hour, depending on the watering requirements for the individual plant.

The spigots are connected to a water system, but Chinsegut volunteers have plans to have them connected to rain barrels in the future, Brown said.

A training program has been established at the nature center so that volunteers can learn to identify butterflies.

Secondly, Florida Wildlife has joined the Florida Museum of Natural History to provide "design expertise" for the gardens to ensure the native plants survive and butterflies are attracted to the garden, Brown said.

Some of those plants include fire brush, blazing star, snow squarestem, passion-flower vine and ironweed.

Volunteers at all four sites were invited to Bud McKethan Park in Brooksville for lunch and a thank-you ceremony.

National Public Lands Day, which is scheduled annually for the last Saturday in September, encourages people to clean the country's most popular nature spots and preserve them for the future.

It was estimated more than 100,000 volunteers would take part in the clean up of more than 1,500 nature sites across the country.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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