Homeandgarden: Meet some gargantuan ants

[Photo: Selby Gardens]
Giant sculptures, like this one created by David Rogers will be on display as part of the Big Bugs Exhibit through Dec. 31 on the grounds of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota will open its Big Bugs exhibit Wednesday, featuring three enormous ant sculptures. David Rogers created the 700-pound, 25-foot-long insects from whole trees, cut green saplings, dry branches and other natural forest materials. They will be on display through Dec. 31.

From 10 a.m. to noon each Saturday in July, the gardens' education department will present "Books, Botany and Bugs." Celebrity storytellers will read books by children's author Lynne Cherry, who wrote The Great Kapok Tree and The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. The program is recommended for children 4-12.

An exhibit of Cherry's illustrations also will open on Wednesday in the Christy Payne Mansion at the gardens. It will run through Aug. 26.

Selby Gardens, 811 S Palm Ave., Sarasota, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular admission is $8 for adults, $4 for children 6 through 11. Children 5 and under are admitted free. Boxed lunches are available for purchase in the Banyan Grove from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Call (941) 366-5731; on the Web www.selby.org.

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