Lawn & Garden Show is Saturday

By Robert & Sheryl Yantis

Highland Lakes Master Gardeners

Earth-Kind specialists

This Saturday, March 24, is the Hill Country Lawn and Garden Show is not all about plants and garden vendors. It is a time for learning, too and butterflies are on the agenda.

Butterflies are beautiful and mysterious creatures that appear in our gardens in spring and disappear during our cold winter weather. They come in a variety of sizes, colors and shapes that help us identify them.

Butterflies natural habitats are being altered every year but home gardeners can lessen the impact by providing these beautiful creatures with new areas where they can find food, breed and lay eggs. We can all help preserve and contribute to increasing future butterfly populations by providing the plants and habitats they depend on to survive.

In order to attract butterflies, you need to learn to identify which butterflies are common in your garden and which plants they need to survive and flourish. They need nectar plants to feed on, and they need host plants to lay their eggs on and for caterpillars to eat and grow.

Without caterpillars we will not have butterflies so we need to learn to love holes in the leaves of butterfly host plants because we know that we will soon have butterflies in our garden.

Did you know that butterflies wings are completely covered with tiny scales? Sometimes the color white we see on butterflies is the result of pigmentation and sometimes like us (humans) it is the result of tiny air bubbles that replace the natural color of the scale or hair. Each scale is only one color but may have a variety of structures that change to make them appear different.

Attend the Saturday, March 24, at the Hill Country Lawn and Garden Show at the Burnet Community Center at 11:30 a.m. and learn other interesting facts about butterflies that will help you to identify and attract butterflies to your garden. The more you learn about butterflies the more interested you will become and the more you will enjoy, appreciate and want to protect them.

The Lawn and Garden Show will go from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 24, with many vendors and garden events, a kids corner, and a Master Gardener booth.

This free family event has a wide variety of native and exotic houseplants, herbs, flowers, vegetables, succulents and garden supplies for sale.  The Show also features children’s activities, a beautiful quilt raffle, silent auctions and food for purchase. In addition to the many interesting vendors, we will also have booths from the Native Plant Society, the Highland Lakes Birding and Wildflower Society, Highland Lakes Master Naturalists and Highland Lakes Master Gardeners.

Be sure to make time for free expert programs throughout the day:

9:30 - "Tomatoes 101" - Ricky Lane

10:30 - "Propagation" - Rose Lackey

11:30 - "Let’s Talk Butterflies" presentation - Sheryl Yantis

12:30 - "Herbs for Central Texas" - Amy Parke

1:30 - "Fun with What We Grow" - Linda Wells