2014 Jacksonville Orchid Show

Attention orchid lovers!  The Jacksonville Orchid Show is back this weekend, March 14-15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Garden Club of Jacksonville (1005 Riverside Avenue).  Admission is free but donations are accepted and encouraged.  There will be lots of orchid vendors all over Florida at this event, along with an orchid clinic for re-potting needs or Q&A from experts. For more information, please visit http://www.jaxorchidsociety.org/show.htm

Jacksonville Rose Society Meeting - Tonight

Mike Shoup of Antique Rose Emporium
Image source: Today's Garden Center

The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas is famous for leading the charge for bringing easy care old garden roses to the forefront of today’s home rose gardening.  Admission is free & open to the public.

Tuesday, March 4th, 7:00 p.m.
Topic:  Antique Roses
Special Guest Speaker:  Mike Shoup, Owner of the  Antique Rose Emporium

Garden Club of Jacksonville
1005 Riverside Ave
Jacksonville, FL 32204
Get Directions

Upcoming Programs at Duval County Extension for February

There are some great programs for the month of February at the Duval County Extension.  If you're interested, please remember to register as seating is limited.  For more information, please contact the Duval County Extension office at 904-255-7450.

A New Leaf Newsletter January/February Issue

Saturday, February 8th  9AM-1PM
Growing and Eating Seasonally
Learn how to grow warm-season vegetables, how to compost and food sampling of seasonal produce. The cost is $10. Must pre-register and prepay. Call Jeannie for more information at 255-7450.

Wednesday, February 12th 10AM – Noon
Compost & Vermicompost Workshop
Attendees can make their own worm bin with worms (optional) for $10 or just attend the class for $5.00 to learn about composting.
Deadline to pre-register with payment is Friday, February 7th for worm bin. Make check to DCOHAC, and mail to Worm Bin, 1010 N McDuff Ave. Jacksonville, Fl  32254. For questions, call Becky 255-7450 or email her at beckyd@coj.net.

And the big event for February!
 
A Day of Gardening
Saturday, February 22nd 8:30 – 2:30 PM
This is a fun filled day of shopping our vendors, listening to gardening speakers and lunch with us. The cost is $15.00. I have attached the registration form. Pre-payment is required by mailing check or online. You don’t want to miss this. It fills up really quick each year so pre-register early. Deadline to register if Tuesday, Feb 18th. No walk-ins!  Download the registration form below.

a_day_of_gardening_registration_form_2014.pdf

Download File

Hydroponic Tower Garden Session at Hagan Ace Hardware Store

Image: www.inhabitat.com

If you ever wanted to know how to make your own hydroponic tower garden or had questions about starting one, Ace is the place!  There will be a session at the Hagan Ace Hardware store on 12501 San Jose Blvd, 32223, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, February 16.

Hydroponic Tower Garden Session
Date:  Sunday, February 16, 2014
Time:  10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location:  Hagan Ace Hardware, 12501 San Jose Blvd, 32223
Phone:  (904) 268-9597
Topics covered:
      •Hydroponics explained
      •Tower Garden story
      •Growing vegetables, fruit, and herbs without soil

Live Oak: Betsey H's Spectacular Garden

Wow look at Live Oak member Betsey H’s spectacular garden!  Betsey has done an outstanding job mixing native plants, non-native plants, butterfly plants, trees, and shrubs.  Betsey has a large selection of native plants:  oak leaf hydrangea, coral bean, beauty berry, Florida anise, cinnamon fern, and many more.  She also has a large selection of butterfly plants.  The red pentas and bottlebrush get lots of action from giant swallowtails & zebra longwings.  Many different birds enjoy her feeders too.  Congratulations to Betsey & Mark for creating such a beautiful backyard habitat.

Magnolia Circle: 13-Foot Alligator Story

In the Magnolia Circle meeting this week, the story about a 13-foot alligator that was trapped in Lake George was shared.  Lou Ann Williams (pictured above and the trapper) is the daughter-in-law of Rosemary Williams of our Magnolia Circle!  The article is featured below, and is available on the Florida Times Union website.

Pictured:  Lou Ann Williams with 13-foot gator (picture from Jacksonville.com)

Couple bags 'monster' gator in Putnam County
by Dana Treen, Posted on Jacksonville.com 9/11/2013

Ben Williams has been hunting gators for a long time and already has one in Florida’s top-10 record book.

So when he and wife Louann spotted a big one around daybreak Wednesday in the northern reaches of Lake George, he knew it was right up there.

“We first saw him on the surface of the water like a jon boat,” said Williams, 57, remarking on the behemoth that eventually stretched the tape to roughly 13 feet, 7 inches.

The couple live in St. Johns County and own Fisherman’s Dock Seafood Market in Mandarin where they brought the alligator after killing it and hauling it aboard their boat in Putnam County. Williams said they’ll get 200 or more pounds of meat as well as hide and claws from the catch.

Estimating its total weight is tricky, but record-size Florida alligators about the same length weigh 700 to 870 pounds, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records. Williams called the agency to measure the catch but said they were not able to respond. His other record catch was in 2008 when he snagged a 13-foot-6-inch alligator weighing 839 pounds.

The Williams catch gators under the state’s lottery-style permit system. Between them, the couple had four permits this year.

The Williams’ found him in about 9 feet of water.

“We got real excited,” Louann Williams said. “We started shaking.”

Using a fishing pole, she snagged the big gator with a hook. The trick is to get enough hooks in to get a secure hold. But before that happened, their prey took off.

“You couldn’t see him anymore but you could see the wake,” she said. “It looked like a monster in the water.”

The one line held and the Williams were able to follow it to where the alligator went to the bottom. Then, hooking it again, the two were able to drag it to the surface where Ben Williams used a harpoon then a device called a bang stick with a .357-magnum round to kill it. They tied it to the side of the boat and brought it to a dock where they used a block and tackle rig to hoist it across the stern. The Williams trailered the boat and drove to Jacksonville.

Ben Williams estimated it is the sixth 13-footer he’s caught in the past five years. He said Fish and Wildlife has properly managed alligator populations in recent years.

“Nobody ever gives credit to the fish and game commission for the job they’ve done managing the resource,” he said.

Since 1988 the commission has held a lottery for hunting permits that designates areas and a mid-August to Nov. 1 season, said Tony Young, a hunting spokesman for the agency. Alligator populations hover around 2 million in the state, he said.

“That’s a number our agency is comfortable with,” he said.

Alligators are in all 67 counties in the state, according to commission information.

Steve Stiegler, a wildlife biologist with the agency’s alligator management program, said alligators are larger in the southern reaches of their range, which stretches to South Carolina. That’s due to longer feeding seasons where weather is warmer. Alligators grow about a foot a year under optimum conditions, he said, though more slowly as they age. Alligators the size the Williamses caught Wednesday are big, but not unusual.

On Sept. 1, a 14-foot-1-inch alligator was killed in Lake Talquin in Gadsden County. It is the second longest on official state records. The longest, a 14-foot-3-inch alligator, was killed in November 2010 in Lake Washington. The largest weighed a whopping 1,043 pounds and was caught in Orange Lake in 1989, according to records back to 1977.

Dana Treen: (904) 359-4091

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-09-11/story/couple-bags-monster-gator-putnam-county#ixzz2ejhhYQH5

A New Leaf - September/October Issue

The New Leaf Newsletter by the Duval County Extension office is now available for the September/October issue.  Find out what to plant, how to troubleshoot insects and diseases, upcoming programs, and more to help Jacksonville residents take care of their landscape.