Butterfly Pea Experiments
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
3M ago
Fun projects your family will enjoy using butterfly pea blooms ..read more
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Garden Suncatcher
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
5M ago
Create a custom garden suncatcher with friends and family that everyone will enjoy!  Follow these kid-friendly steps to creating a Garden Suncatcher ..read more
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Attracting Ladybugs
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
8M ago
Ladybugs are cute bugs that can have a symbiotic relationship with humans.  They eat lots of bad bugs, pollinate the garden, and are great subjects for biodiversity education.  Attracting and sustaining Ladybugs can be done with a few simple steps.   Food Sources By keeping or planting known food sources, gardenistas or gardeners can attract and sustain the short life cycle of Ladybugs.  It is recommended to plant a diversity and cluster of plants with many small flowers such as butterfly weed, cilantro, coreopsis, cosmos, dill, fennel, marigolds, oregano, Queen Ann’s ..read more
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Is Your Mango Ripe Yet?
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
9M ago
It’s mango season here in central Florida and we can not wait to pick some mangoes as soon as they're ripe enough to enjoy!  Do you know what to look for when checking the ripeness of your mangoes?  No worries, here I’ll be sharing simple ways to tell if your mangoes are ready to be harvested! Squeeze A quick squeeze test is one of the best ways to check the readiness of a mango.  If you give the fruit a quick squeeze and it’s hard or firm, it is not ripe.  A ripened mango will be soft, not squishy.  A mushy mango usually means the fruit is overripe.  One of my ne ..read more
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Earth Day Kids Activities
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
10M ago
Earth Day is the perfect time to experience the beauty of our amazing planet through outdoor activities with the kiddos!  As a Mama who loves to be doing anything outside with my little Gardenista, I’m always excited to try new adventures that help us both explore Mother Nature.  So in honor of celebrating Earth Day, we’re going to share some of our favorite earth-focused activities you can do with little to no budget.   Plant Host Plants Certain caterpillars only eat specific plants to progress to the next stage of their life.  By planting host plants, your family wil ..read more
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Brew Cranberry Hibiscus Tea
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
1y ago
How to Brew Your Own Cranberry Hibiscus Tea Cranberry hibiscus is a beautiful and fun shrub to grow in the garden.  I love how the burgundy/purple leaves add a “Fall” feeling to my landscape.  This hibiscus is relatively easy to grow and the entire plant is edible.  There are various edible uses for the Cranberry hibiscus, but I find the tea is our family’s favorite.  In this post, I will walk you through step-by-step how to whip up a delicious tea from the Cranberry hibiscus leaves.  Cranberry hibiscus tea is easy to make, delicious, and has various health benefits ..read more
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It is time to Chop ... Tropical Milkweed
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
1y ago
It’s November, which means it’s time to plant cool weather veggies and cut back your non-native milkweed, also known as Tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica.  I’m sure the idea of cutting back a flowering plant is a total bummer, and not vary appealing. Cutting Tropical milkweed twice a year is a healthy garden practice that will be beneficial in promoting the Monarch butterfly community.   Milkweed is one of those plants most commonly recommended for pollinator gardens to gardenistas and gardeners wanting to attract butterflies.  Monarch butterflies rely on milkweed to ..read more
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New Favorite: the Atala Butterfly
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
2y ago
The Atala butterfly is a new favorite of ours in the garden.  Its flutter offers an aqua shimmer with a flash of red dancing amongst the plants.  Watching this butterfly’s life cycle is amazing because it is brilliant and uniquely colored through each stage.   The coontie is the only host plant for the caterpillars, or the larvae stage.  With the rise of urbanization or expansive construction in Central and South  Florida, the habitat and host plant of the Atala became scarce.  As a result, the Atala butterfly became so rare that it was thought to be extinct ..read more
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Turf Alternatives
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
2y ago
Having a prestigiously green lawn in Florida can be time consuming, expensive, and often not best for the environment.  There are various beautiful turf alternatives that are low maintenance, thrive in various sun, salt, and soil conditions, and attract pollinators to the yard!  Below I will lay out a few ground cover options that may be a good fit for your yard or garden.     Twinflower I recently discovered and came to absolutely love Twinflower as a ground cover!  Twinflower, scientifically known as Dyschoriste oblongifolia, is a Florida native plant that ..read more
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Tips to Help You Achieve a Zero Waste Home
Florida Gardenista Blog
by Kristy Buchler
2y ago
With summer right around the corner, many homeowners have been thinking of ways to be more environmentally friendly. However, the idea of creating a zero waste home can feel overwhelming. With so many household items creating waste on a daily basis, where should you even begin? To help you start making little eco-friendly changes in your home, we reached out to sustainability enthusiasts to share their best tips on achieving a zero waste home. Whether you’re renting a condo in Phoenix, Arizona, or a homeowner in Melbourne, Florida, you’re sure to find easy ways to live greener.  1. Start ..read more
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