Do You Believe in Magic?

Okay, it wasn't magic exactly. These duck potato plants were actually planted by our Adopt-A-Pond group back in August. Despite possible herbicide applications and our own inexpert planting skills, many of the plants are thriving. Click here to see more pictures from our second planting event on November 14.

Sweet Pea

I recently discovered a patch of Hairy-Pod Cowpea growing near My Florida Backyard. The cowpea is technically just outside our boundary, growing under a stand of pine trees along the lake, but you can certainly see it from My Florida Backyard, so I think it counts.

Anyway, I was pleased to find this native Florida wildflower here for a variety of reasons. First, it has a delightfully descriptive name. The pods are indeed hairy, as you can see below, and the seeds that grow inside the pods are a type of pea. This plant is in fact a member of the pea family, which includes the more familiar soybeans and chickpeas, among many others.

Hairy-Pod Cowpea is a vine, and will climb up trees and other objects in the wild, or be trained over a trellis in cultivation. The yellow flowers are intriguingly lovely, another reason to enjoy this Florida native.
But perhaps the best reason of all, the reason that certainly excited me the most, is that the hairy-pod cowpea serves as a host plant for several species of butterfly, including the Long-Tailed Skipper, a frequent visitor to My Florida Backyard. These caterpillars are leaf-rollers, like the canna skipper, so finding one is a little like opening a very strange birthday gift.
When they're very small, the caterpillars cut portions of the leaves to roll over themselves. As they grow larger, they "stitch" the leaves of the cowpea together to make a shelter big enough to hold them safely. This caterpillar was cozied up inside two cowpea leaves held together with strands of silk.

Because this patch of cowpea is outside the boundaries of My Florida Backyard, in an area technically owned by the HOA, there's always the chance that the maintenance crew could mow or spray the area. Fortunately, our neighborhood is participating in the Hillsborough County Adopt-A-Pond program, so I'm going to post some "Restoration Project: Do Not Mow" signs in the area and hope for the best!

Wade in the Water

The other night, our community held our first planting for the Adopt-A-Pond program. Despite a pouring rainstorm and some slightly less than helpful Boy Scouts, we managed to plant over 900 plants in less than 2 hours. Click here to see pictures of the planting if you're interested.

Although this first planting was focused on the playground area at the other side of the pond, we were able to bring home a few plants to start in the water by our house. Since we were already wet and muddy from head to toe, we plunged in and got them planted right away.

It doesn't look like much yet, but the plants will grow and spread over time. We planted duck potato, blue flag iris, canna, and lemon bacopa. We also planted a bald cypress tree:

Now we'll need to be vigilant to make sure that the HOA maintenance crews don't spray herbicides on our new plants. We'll also have to watch for invasive weeds (yup, they grow in the water too!) that could choke out our new plantings. Water planting is a new experience for us here in My Florida Backyard, so there's a lot to learn.


P.S. It seems to be dragonfly season - they are simply everywhere. I never realized before just how many colors there are - this vibrant blue fellow is actually one of the less conspicuous ones!

Live and Learn

On July 7, My Florida Backyard hosted the second meeting of the Greenbrook/Brightside Adopt-A-Pond Project. John McGee, Hillsborough County Adopt-A-Pond program coordinator, was on hand to provide us with lots of information and materials to get our project up and running.

We were also fortunate to have on hand John Calvert, Plantation's new property manager, and Danny Church, Plantation's maintenance supervisor. We need the support of the whole community to make this project succeed, and John and Danny understand the positive impacts our planned improvements will have on Plantation as a whole.

John (McGee) began the evening by giving us an overview of stormwater ecology, and then asked us what our goals are as we begin work on our pond. Several of us listed the desire to create new wildlife habitats and improve the existing ones. Danny indicated it would be great if this program could help to stop erosion of the pond banks. We also discussed the possibility of maintaining water quality while using fewer chemical herbicides. John assured us all of these goals were very possible.

He then moved on to explaining the materials he brought to support our efforts. The most important is the giant Adopt-A-Pond Notebook. This book contains just about every kind of information we could need, including forms, program information, pictures and detailed description of plants, and a landscaping guide. Paula will hold onto one copy of this notebook, and Danny will receive another to be used as our group cooperates with the maintenance team to make the project successful.

John also brought copies of the Adopt-A-Pond brochure, stickers, and several reference books, as well as print copies of the Adopt-A-Pond newsletter, On Our Pond.

The group spent some time addressing concerns that while residents may work to establish new plants and habitats in and around the pond, well-meaning maintenance crews could inadverdently spray herbicides that would destroy all the hard work. Danny assured us that he would work with us and his crew to ensure that our pond maintains maximum health levels while protecting the efforts of the Adopt-A-Pond team. Danny explained that one of the main pond issues is controlling the very invasive Hydrilla. John explained some possible alternatives to the current methods, including the possibility of introducing a carefully controlled population of Chinese Grass Carp. We will explore these ideas further as the project progresses.

Finally, the group was ready to make some plans for moving ahead with the project. We agreed to focus our initial efforts on the playground area at the north end of the pond, where we can work to control erosion as well as establish wildlife habitat. John suggested he visit the area and choose the best plants (all native to Florida) to start the project off right, and we agreed. Some of the plants he may help us introduce include:

• Cypress trees
• Shade trees such as oak or elm
• Duck Potato
• Pickerelweed
• Cordgrass and Soft Rush

Our first planting is planned for Wednesday, August 12, from 6:00 - 8:00. John will be there to guide us every step of the way, so no experience in any kind of planting is required. All residents are encouraged to join in! We'll meet at the playground area. Be sure to dress in clothes that can get wet and muddy, and bring a long-handled pointed shovel if you have one.

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
-Frank Lloyd Wright

See also: Let it Begin With Me (First Adopt-A-Pond Meeting)

Let It Begin With Me

This evening I had the pleasure of taking part in the inaugural meeting of the Greenbrook/Brightside Adopt-A-Pond project. A small but enthusiastic group of residents from the neighborhood met with a stormwater ecologist to learn a little about our lake and what we can do to make it even better.

We learned that our pond is part of two local watersheds, Sweetwater Creek and Rocky Brushy Creek. It's a stormwater drainage pond, which means that it's mainly fed by stormwater runoff. Stormwater ponds serve several purposes, including helping to manage water and avoid flooding nearby houses, as well as filtering out pollutants and trash before it can reach the waters of Tampa Bay.

Because we live on a stormwater pond, there are a lot of rules and regulations we'll have to follow as we begin cleanup and planting. Fortunately, we'll have the assistance of the Hillsborough County Adpot-A-Pond program as we begin our project. They'll help us plan what will be best for the pond and our community, as well as provide us with free plants (how cool is that?). In return, we as residents will provide the labor and enthusiasm needed to make the project work.

We're so excited to be part of this project. The Adopt-A-Pond website shows other ponds throughout the county that have been adopted and improved - it's incredible! Our Florida-Friendly mindset fits in perfectly with this program, and it's amazing to imagine what other kinds of wildlife we may be able to bring to our little piece of Florida.

If you live in the neighborhood and would like to get involved, send an email to Paula at PlantationAdoptAPond@yahoo.com. The next step will be an education meeting where we make plans, followed by the actual work of cleaning up and planting our pond. Join us as we make the pond in My Florida Backyard a better place for all of us!


P.S. I spotted a new batch of ducklings walking home from the meeting this evening. After my rather depressing experience earlier this spring, I'm not going to get too attached this time, but they are darn cute.