Calusa Garden Club – Educating Members Monthly

Each month, the Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island offers horticulture workshops to its members. The workshops are varied in topic and because some of them take place at homes, attendance is limited. For the December workshop, chairman Maureen McFarland has chosen the topic of landscaping a home without using grass. The “no-lawn” homeowners will show club members their alternative landscape and comment on its benefits.  

The two fall workshops held in October and November included a visit to the home of Rhonda and Bob Gloodt, avid gardeners who concentrate their landscape on pollinator and host plants for butterflies, and a visit to the home of Maria and Charles Lamb. Maria Lamb demonstrated different methods of propagating plants using the many and varied types of plants she has in her landscape.

Rhonda Gloodt was profiled in Coastal Breeze as the “Butterfly Lady.” After seeing that article, Marco Island resident Brian Ferrell contacted her. Ferrell had purchased a set of 15 collectible porcelain butterfly figurines for his mother, and she had passed away. He wanted to give the figurines to someone with a love of butterflies, so he contacted Gloodt and gave the collection to her. Gloodt showed the figurines to the workshop attendees, who admired the artistry and beautiful colors of the figurines.

The Gloodt home has many native and Florida-friendly plants, with particular emphasis on nectar and host plants for butterflies and moths, as well as plants that attract hummingbirds. A host plant is one on which the butterflies lay eggs, caterpillars hatch, and the caterpillars eventually form chrysalises and emerge as butterflies. A nectar plant for butterflies is a plant that gives life-sustaining nutrition to insects. The Gloodt landscape includes native Florida milkweed, passion vine, and African senna (also called popcorn senna or the candelabra tree). She also has a large royal poinciana tree that offers shade to the plants below.

In November, about a dozen Calusa Garden Club members attended a plant propagation workshop at the home of Maria Lamb. Lamb enjoys propagating new plants from her large diverse collection of plants and giving them to friends. She described three types of plant propagation based on her own plants in the garden. For the white spider lily, Maria showed the very large seeds that drop from the plant’s flower and described how to plant them. Next, she showed the workshop attendees the propagation method of “air layering.” Shrub and tree branches can be forced to grow roots by making a cut in the branch, packing it with peat moss, and keeping the peat moss moist. When the cut branch grows plentiful roots, the branch is removed and planted as an independent new plant.

Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island meets the second Monday of each month, October through April, at Marco Island Branch Library. If you are interested in membership, please contact the Club at calusagardenclubcommunication@gmail.com, or go to the Calusa Garden Club website, calusa.org, and click on “Contact Us.” Please visit the Club’s Facebook page, Calusa Garden Club, for news of club activities.