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.

Mandarin Newsline September Issue is Now Online

The Mandarin Newsline's, our local community newspaper, September issue is now available!  Check out the article about the Mandarin Garden Club featured in the issue on page 14.  Below is the press release from RT Publishing.

This month's issue of Mandarin NewsLine is once again filled with all the informative community news you have come to expect from your community newspaper!

With school back in session, it is marching band season again! Check out the article on the front page about the MHS Mustang Band, past and future!

Also on page 1: "Catholic Night at the Ballpark" was a big success as neighbors enjoyed a Jacksonville Suns game.

City Councilmember Matt Schellenberg's column is back in this issue. See page 4 for his explanation on how he voted on the mayor's pension proposal.

Taxes...to raise or not to raise? Check out page 7 for our political columnists' take on this important issue.

The Mandarin Women's Club has had a busy summer planning for the upcoming season. See their article for all the details on page 13.

There is "football aplenty" according to local sports columnist Chad Cushnir. Be sure to read his article on page 15.

Don't miss our annual Back to School Guide beginning on page 19. Everything you need to know about the newly started school year, in addition to columns by our MHS student writers, is contained in this special section.

A special thank you for reading our publication. Please be sure to patronize our advertisers; they are the ones who bring Mandarin NewsLine to your mailbox each month!

Be on the lookout, watch for the children as they return to school!

Cordially,

Rebecca Taus, Publisher

3rd Annual MGC Plant Exchange

The Mandarin Garden Club's 3rd Annual Plant Exchange on July 20th, 2013 was a great success!  Members from all circles participated in 10 rounds of swapping plants and miscellaneous garden stuff.  Also invited were the Mandarin Demonstration Garden Master Gardeners & Jacksonville V.I.G’s (very important gardeners).  The V.I.G.’s are: 

• Linda Cunningham - local herb expert
• Linda Jones - local garden blogger of Southern Rural Route
• Janese Warner - local expert gardener
• Tatyana Vaynberg - retired from Trad’s Garden Center  

This event for MGC members and invited guests was a fantastic way to get new and interesting plants for free.  Garden books, magazines, tools, garden art, ceramic pots, etc., were also swapped.  Attendees enjoyed refreshments made with ingredients from the garden and recipes to take home (PDF available below).

For more photos from the 3rd Annual Plant Exchange, go to the Gallery.

Susan Westermann getting ready for the Plant Exchange.

Linda Jones, one of our invited guests to the 3rd Annual Plant Exchange. Linda is from Jacksonville and garden blogger of Southern Rural Route (http://SouthernRuralRoute.wordpress.com).

(L-R) Marina and Karen (MGC President) are both members of our Dogwood Circle.

These ladies are waiting in front of the plants they want to grasp when the first round of the exchange starts. Notice Sandie Ingram's hand (orange top); she's not letting anyone get her plant!

Recipes from 3rd Annual Plant Exchange

Download File

A New Leaf

The New Leaf Newsletter by the Duval County Extension office is now available for the July/August 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.

MGC in the Mandarin Newsline

The Mandarin Garden Club is featured in the Mandarin Newsline's July 2013 issue!  If you're not a Mandarin resident or do not get the Mandarin Newsline in your mailbox, check out the digital edition here.

Picture source:  Mandarin Newsline July 2013 issue