There is so much here it is amazing...I live in an area that is a preserve for many of the native species AND ALL I CAN SAY IS ITS A JUNGLE OUT THERE!
I have several ground orchids growing all around my house, they dont get any kind of showy bloom but they do get these tiny brownish white flowers that mature into pods...(but maybe the thrill is in the hunt)?
If you want any of them I'll send them to you...unless you know of a reason I shouldnt! Like laws and stuff. I'm a real newbie to all this gardening stuff, but I do so love to do it.
Happy hunting!
Collecting wild plants in Fla
I love Webster's Flea Market. I'll be going there on March 28th. I drive down to see my elderly parents in Brooksville every March(before those dang spiders appear, LOL!). My sister meets me down there and we go flea-marketing and each get a tattoo(long story, but my sister's idear).
Please don't bring that kudzu anywhere near the Mason-Dixon line....god knows, it would probably adapt and take over everything up here, too. Then we'll all have to buy goats........April
Arent goats wonderful? lol
You can use their milk to replace another animals- and they will eat Kudzu down to death. Truly a Godly creature, LOL.
What's this about the spiders>? Do they have plants at the Webster Market? Also are there people selling buttons there?
You can recognize me & my DH there because he drives a rascal scooter with an attached seat with wheels which he fabricated & we ride together. Now all we will need is an attached cart. ho ho ho.
Yes, they do sell plants at Websters...every year I buy an orchid and bring it home...never to have it bloom again! I'm not so sure about buttons, though...but I'm sure someone there sells them!
Spiders? Those dang golden silk spiders, I think they're called. The female is 3 inches long. It's an orb-weaver that weaves its web across trails and stuff like that so you can walk right into them! Bleeeeaaaauuuughhh.
Then there's another kind of orb-weaver that looks like a hamburger with legs. They're really big, too.
Good Lord, I cannot stand them. April
Oh gross. Thanks for the picture.
Hey, no problem! The sad part is..when you click on the picture...that's about actual size. That's why I would never even think about living in Florida, LOL!
My sister is freaked out about beetle-type insects, so we would not make very good Floridians!
My mother hates worms of all types.
I wonder if there is a genetic component for phobias? April
Whoa, I have no jumbo arachnids around here, and the lizards eat what I do have, beetley things too.
Keeping the mulch under control, use cedar or cypress, and not next to the brick house. Keeping up with the other debris has kept us free of most everything crawly.
I think said component could be present, glad it's not contageous. lol
The Red Brested Robins are digging deep divits in my yard, guess they can hear deeper through sand
Sugarweed,
You're further north than where my P's live, so maybe that's why you don't get the giant arachnids and beetles they do. But believe me...i went horseback riding there, once. Until the woman on the guide horse rode, face first, right through one of those giant "banana spider(golden silk spider)" webs. Saw the giant spider run right up over her head. I bailed. I walked my horse a mile or two back to the barn, skin crawling. In the eaves of my parents house was living this giant spider that looked like a Mickey D's hamburger. The giant flying cockroaches don't bother me....that's my sister's phobia, LOL!
One of the guides on the Homosassa Springs boat tours said they sent people out in boats early in the day to break down the webs over the canals, too. Bleaaaaauuuugghhhhhh~
So, how 'bout that Webster's Flea Market! Every Monday, rain or shine! April
Ohh but Orb Weavers are so pretty! Thier webs are just breathtaking. I'm seeing a decline in them around here. :-(
This thread gave me an idea for another thread. Buhahaha.
I too like the Orbs one at a time in their designated web spots, end of porch, or out kitchen window in Charlotte.
Before we leave here, I think it's oh so funny that "Dogzilla" wants Ax murder insurance concerning anyone with a name like that.lol
Where are you posting your new thread?
Sidney
Hey, I heard that! (See my threads in the Pets forum and you'll know why I'm called "dogzilla.")
I was going to say, here in Tally -- as far north as Jax -- we have those blasted spiders as well. I think they're pretty until I accidentally run into a web and then they creep me right out.
Yes, I've seen your pretty babies before and know, I'm stll lol though.
Like I said designated places, or I'm eeewe too
FYI, in an emergency spiderwebs put over an open wound will slow down or "steptic" blood completely until you can get to an ER.
A friend of mine did this when his son cut himself.
Sidney
Yeah, as long as you don't accidentally wrap the darn spider in with the wound!
I think a good 4" x 4" from my first aid kit would be a far better choice... ;>)
They didn't have any, and I dont think that guaze has the chemical make-up to stop the blood flow. I was amazed. These were corner ceiling spiderwebs w/o spiders.
The youngun had several stitches after they got him to the ER.
I just thought it was an interesting fact, that I knew from first hand experience works.
Nature is facinating.
It is fascinating! I'll have to stick that one in my herbal journal for future reference! (Things that stop bleeding: spider webs...)
;>)
It will be in the wildlife forum- I'll go post it now. Entitled 'Spider Pictures'.
Oh GAAAAAK, Crimson! April
I forgot to post it I think LOL- going to do that now hehe.
Reply to collecting plants in the wild. I almost hate to admit this, but with that said, I find the theme parks the best places to collect plants. They have terrific selections to choose from, and usually only the healthiest of plants. It's easy to see which butterflies are attracted to which plant, so bring your notebook. The plants are usually named so identification is easy. But the best part, is everyone is carrying around large bags to hold them over for the day, so you are not under suspicion for carrying a large bag for your collecting. Some of my best butterfly attractors came from Universal Studios, the Disney parks and I have also had very good findings at Bush Gardens. Often you will see maintenance of the plants in progress and clippings are there for just bending over and helping yourself. Don't forget to bring a supply of quart sized plastic baggies that seal. The humidity in the sealed bag will keep your cuttings fresh until you can get them into water.
Art
Art, we have an ongoing thread about this kind of capper. lol,
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/489126/ .
We ave several and have snatched from everywhere else.
Please post this there also please.
Sidney
edited to add also please.
This message was edited Mar 23, 2005 7:05 PM
Just remember, EVERY road out of Florida has an Agricultural Inspection station.
Well, our vacation is over & yes, I did intend to and did succeed in collecting plants from Florida. I also bought plants from Fla. Native Plants, Buried Treasures & the Selby Bot. Garden Rare Plant Sale. For your information, the plants I collected in the wild were from friends houses, but I sure did collect the seeds everywhere. My biggest regret was not getting more seeds of Sesbania (Daubentonia) punicea but those tall buggers were in a wild weedy place surrounded by drainage ditches and I got my foot wet more times than I can count. Saw plenty of alligators and managed to taste one. Very tasty, like chicken white meat. I had a ball down there. Anothre regret was that it rained while we were at the Webster Flea Market and next time we go back (in 3 years), I will get my DH's butt out of bed early enough so we can spend more time & money there. There were plant-sellers there, too. Pretty cool place, Fla, but you can have the route 4 traffic snarl around Orlando & route 95 snarl around Jacksonville. What I couldn't understand was all the signs that said men working but there were no workers present, yet all the traffic crawled at 10 mph & mpg (LOL) and stopped within 20 miles of Orlando. Do Fla drivers drive like lemmings or what? I am still stumped.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. The only inspection station I saw was on Route 95 and it said for big trucks only, yet I saw trucks avoiding it. Maybe they weren't carrying plants. Who knows?
Most of us are over 50 and many are just not in a hurry. We get there when we get there and often decide not to go at all if we can play in the garden. So you were actually lucky on that part.
Sidney
Buttoneer, I had to stop both ways to & from FL recently. Going from GA on Rt US 441 and back to GA on Rt US 23. Both stops required small pickups and vans as well as big trucks to stop for agricultural inspection. This was last week.
Want to tell you a funny story about sesbania. When I was 9 (1949) my grandfather (who had been a County Ag Agent in KS but by then living in Miami) planted sesbania as a cover crop. We kids loved it for we could make teepees and forts in it. Anyway, one day when I came home from school, there were cop cars all around my grandfather's place, cordoning it off. Seems sesbania somewhat resembles marijuana and they thought he was growing pot. It took hours to get it sorted out but at least they didn't take him to jail, LOL.
I take I-75 down there, and I've never seen inspection points? I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow, so I'll try to pay attention this time.
Webster's on Monday! Tattoo on Tuesday! Yay! April
I missed her, darn it. I wanted to "bum" a ride with her. Not for the tatoodle, though. LOL. Maybe the reason the inspection points are on the smaller roads because that is where the people try to smuggle Marijuana out. I can say this, that there were little orange caterpillars with prickly black prickles on them on the Passiflora incarnata I bought at a Plant Nursery & they are eating & growing. I do not know which Fla butterfly they will turn into but they are eating the leaves. I wonder also if they will kill the plant by denuding the leaves. Also, do they eat the leaves of anything else, so I can move them to another plant? Any information on this would be appreciated. They are in my greenhouse as it is much too cold outside for them. That's probably the main reason for the inspection stations. I doubt if they will do any harm up here but I will try to raise them to chrysalis and eventually to butterfly. Maybe the caterpillars will slow down their growth because it is only 60 degrees in the GH when the sun isn't shining.
buttoneer, get over to Butterflies and Hummers forum and post this question. they know boocoos about butterflies, and the plant will survive I believe.
Sidney
I had to stop on the way down on Hwy 441 at the Ag. inspection station, and at the way back on Hwy. 23.
Actually the inspection stations are not for those plants you mentioned. The folks that haul that stuff don't drive vehicles that are obviously carrying any kind of vegitation.
Fla. Arizonia, and Calif. all have inspection stations to keep insect, fungus, and other botanical pest under control.
Like Citrus cancer distributed by hurricanes last year. They just destroyed thousands of citrus trees to keep it from ending orange production altogeather.
Sidney
Thank you, Sidney for the info & I most certainly will check out butterflies & hummers.
Buttoneer, those are Gulf Fritillary butterflies, indigenous to Florida. I would be highly surprised if they lived in your area, but if you keep 'em in the greenhouse and they have plenty of nectar flowers after their chrysalis stage... it's entirely possible.
They don't eat anything else, that I'm aware of and they will not hurt your plant at all. It's sort of like cutting back a plant: the eating promotes new growth so the plant and caterpillar have a symbiotic relationship.
I think you hit the main reason for the inspection stations on the head with the marijuana guess... LOL I don't think foreign butterflies are the concern. ;>) (They'll just be eaten by birds five minutes after you let 'em out of the greenhouse...)
I'd be more concerned about a foreign bug or disease than a pot plant if I were them. :-O
You'd think...
But remember, most cops aren't gardeners or horticulturists. You and I would be concerned about a foriegn bug or disease because we understand the larger ecological ramifications for something to get loose without its natural predators. One need only glace in the direction of Kudzu to make my point. On the other hand, if one cop allows one pot plant to cross state lines, he's allowed the terrorists to win, and then where will we be?
Ooops sorry. Getting political again. I'll stop now.
Politics! For shame!! hehe
Yeah- better steer clear of this subject- might insult a few feelings or get in trouble. :-O
Yeah, we get enough politics in the boob tube & in email. If I lived in Fla, then I wouldn't have to collect, after I filled the yard up, right?
Funny the things that just magically appear in your beds in Florida. I'm hoping an orchid gets poo planted by a bird in mine, LOL.
I think I saw some on that dudes land- the way they mow things over and put cement down- I wont feel bad about digging them when I can.