Et cetera

By LYRA SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 29, 2003

TIPS

Grow a garden with wings

Most kids love to be outside, dig in the dirt and play with bugs. Planting a butterfly garden lets them do all that and attracts beautiful flying creatures to your yard. A butterfly garden doesn't take much space, but it does require at least six hours of sun. Planting near trees, shrubs or a building will offer some protection from wind. Avoid using insecticides. Products designed to eliminate harmful insects will kill butterflies and caterpillars, too. Some plants that attract butterflies: aster, beebalm, black-eyed Susans, butterfly bush, butterfly weed, lantana, marigolds, milkweed, passion flower, penta, phlox, plumbago, purple coneflower, sage, verbena and zinnias.

In training to flourish

When starting plants from seeds, run your hands across the tops of seedlings. It strengthens the stems, gets them used to movement and prepares them for outdoor breezes.
-- HGTV

ON THE MARKET

For true Italian taste

For gourmet cooks, authentic Italian ingredients can be difficult to find in the Tampa Bay area. Seeds from Italy is a company that can solve the problem with a variety of seeds for vegetables, herbs and flowers. It imports and distributes heirloom varieties from a company in Italy.

You can view the online catalog at www.growitalian.com; ask for a free catalog at the Web site or write to Seeds from Italy, P.O. Box 149, Winchester, MA 01890.

Locally, some seeds are available at Mazzaro's Italian Market at 2909 22nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg.

UPDATE

Hope for endangered butterfly

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Scientists have bred the rare Miami Blue butterfly for the first time in captivity, offering hope to a species in imminent danger of extinction.

A male and a female emerged from chrysalises recently in a lab at the University of Florida. Those butterflies have mated, and biologists are waiting for the female to lay eggs.

Fewer than 50 adults exist of the once-common butterfly, which today is found only in Bahia Honda Key in the Florida Keys.

The state issued an emergency endangered species protection order in December, making it a third-degree felony to kill or catch the cornflower-colored butterflies.

CLIPPINGS

Occasional excerpts from fertile sources.

Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers, edited for the American Horticultural Society. DK Publishers, $60.

"Everyone interprets the moods that colors create in different ways, and many people change their minds according to the weather, the time of day or their emotional state. Individuals with perfectly normal colors vision perceive colors differently, and color blindness is a surprisingly common phenomenon. Color choice is first and foremost about personal preferences."

-- Compiled by Lyra Solochek from Times staff and wire reports

If you have unusual gardening tips you would like to share, please send them to Lyra Solochek, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731-1121 or send an e-mail to lyra@sptimes.com . Include your name and a daytime phone number.

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