Garden calendar

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 17, 2000

All events listed are open to the public.

This Week

ORCHID LOVERS PICNIC: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. today, Cruz Lake Park (Pavilion 1), left off Shady Hills Road, Spring Hill. Orchid Lovers Club of Spring Hill hosts annual picnic. Call (352) 686-2512 or (352) 686-0202.

TROPICALS: 11:30 a.m. today, Sunken Gardens, 1825 Fourth St. N, St. Petersburg. Vince Mortellaro, owner of Island Stylin' Nursery and Bodatious Oasis in Tampa, offers tips on growing tropical gingers, heliconia and cannas in a subtropical climate; also plants for sale. Included in gardens admission: $4 adult, $3 seniors, $1 children. Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Sun. (727) 551-3100.

BIBLICAL PLANTS: "Flora of the Bible: Botanical Paintings of Plants from Biblical Times," on display today through Sept. 17 at Bok Tower Gardens, 1151 Tower Blvd., Lake Wales (east of Bartow). Traveling exhibit developed by Biedenharn Museum & Gardens of Monroe, La., with watercolors by Art Botanica, five New York-based women artists. Descriptive panels explain how each plant was used in Biblical times, its symbolic meaning, scriptural references and scientific facts. Related slide show, 2 p.m. daily. Gardens admission: $6 adult, $5 for 62 and older and $2 for 5-12. (863) 676-1408.

FROG LISTENING: 7 p.m. Wed., University of South Florida, Westside Conference Center (at Banyan and Cypress on campus), Tampa. You can learn to identify frogs through their sounds, then help monitor the ecological health of local ponds, lakes and streams. Laura Delise, of the Department of Environmental Protection, offers details at Suncoast Native Plant Society meeting. USF parking fee $2. Call Ken, (813) 985-3372.

MOSQUITO AND TICK-BORNE DISEASE: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri. (registration 7:30-8 a.m.), Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service Office, 12175 125th St. N, Largo (next to Heritage Village). Experts at Pinellas Extension Service offer educational program on mosquito-borne encephalitis, ticks and Lyme disease as well as issues related to surveillance programs, mosquitocides and more. $30. RSVP: (727) 582-2456.

FLORIDA WILDFLOWERS: 10 a.m. Fri., Clearwater Garden Club, 405 Seminole St. (corner N Fort Harrison), Clearwater. Joe Dunlop presents program on wildflowers of Florida at horticulture meeting of Clearwater Garden Club. "Grow and Share" follows talk, with distribution of cuttings and plants from members' gardens. Call (727) 442-8428 or (727) 449-9411 or visit club Web site at: http://www.clearwatergardenclub.org.

Looking Ahead

POND FILTRATION: 9 a.m. June 24, Pondscapes, 4213 S Manhattan Ave., Tampa. Building a pond or trying to properly maintain one? Pondscapes offers free seminar on what you'll need in a filtration system. (813) 839-8062.

TROPICAL GARDENING: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. June 24, Selby Classroom, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 811 S Palm Ave., Sarasota. Ed Golden, orchid specialist and volunteer at Selby, teaches program about growing orchids, bromeliads, ferns and other tropical plants, including how to mount them on trees or driftwood. $50, $40 for members. RSVP: (941) 366-5731, ext. 239.

PEPPER EXTRAVAGANZA: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. June 24 and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. June 25, Beckett Lake Nursery, 2251 Montclair Road (one block north of Sunset Point Road, off Belcher) Clearwater. Nursery's third annual pepper event with taste samples of 25 varieties of locally grown plants (mild to hot); seminars on history and use of pepper plants; growing tips; cooking demonstrations; tasting with local hot sauce and salsa vendors; live music. Salsa contest 2:30 p.m. June 24 and hot sauce contest 2:30 p.m. June 25; register entries by 1:30 p.m. day of event (maximum two entries in each category per household). (727) 796-7950.

TOUR OF PALMS: 3:30 p.m. June 25 (held fourth Sunday each month), Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum at North Shore Park, 10th Avenue and North Shore Drive NE, St. Petersburg. Guided tour of 83 species of palms and cycads at the arboretum (species identified by individual signs). Free. Call (727) 321-7998 for information or to arrange group tour.

BUTTERFLY GARDEN TOUR: 9:30 a.m. June 25 at three Port Richey area homes. Hernando/Pasco Zebra Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association sponsors event. For registration and locations, call Shirley, (727) 848-8000.

Continuing

GARDENS FILM SERIES: Film showings at 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in June, Polk Museum of Art, 800 E Palmetto St. (off Lake Morton), Lakeland. Free. Audrey Hepburn narrates series Gardens of the World. This week: Country Gardens travels to Rome, England and the United Kingdom; with guests John Brookes and Ryan Gainey, garden designers and authors. June 24-25: Public Gardens & Trees visits restored gardens of Mount Vernon and public gardens of Paris. All films are 27 minutes long. (863) 688-7743.

WATER-WISE VIDEOS: The Cooperative Extension Service has placed in libraries throughout Pinellas county copies of three videos on creating a water-efficient landscape. They are Water Conservation in the Landscape, Xeriscape: Water-Wise Gardening and Creating a Florida Yard.

On the air

AT GARDEN'S GATE, hosted by Cypress Gardens' chief horticulturist Joe Freeman, 3 p.m. Saturdays, WEDU-Ch. 3.

EXTENSION CORDS, Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service horticulturists air programs on home economics, marine science and urban wildlife. Schedule varies; for program guide, send self-addressed, stamped envelope to Extension Cords TV Schedule, 12175 125th St., Largo, FL 33774-3695.

FLORIDA GARDENING WITH GIL WHITTON, live call-in radio show, 7-11 a.m. Sundays, WFLA-AM 970.

THE GARDEN REBEL, 7 a.m. Sundays and 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays on the Sunshine Network.

HOME AND LAWN PEST CONTROL SHOW, with Mona Giordano from Pest Control General Store, airs live on Time Warner Ch. 6: 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays in Pasco County, 8:30 p.m. Thursdays in north Pinellas County.

MR. GREEN THUMB, live call-in radio show with Stan DeFreitas, author of Stan DeFreitas' Complete Guide to Florida Gardening, 11 a.m.-noon Saturdays, WTAN-AM 1340.

THE VICTORY GARDEN, 2:30 p.m. Saturdays, WEDU-Ch. 3.

-- Address submissions to Garden Calendar, Home&Garden, the St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Deadline is Monday before the Saturday of publication.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.