Master Gardeners of Spencer County

09/06/2026

🦋 Butterflies and Their Host Plants: Nature’s Perfect Partnership 🌿

Butterflies are more than just beautiful garden visitors—they depend on specific host plants to complete their life cycle. Female butterflies carefully lay their eggs on particular plants because their caterpillars can only feed on certain species. Without these host plants, many butterfly populations would struggle to survive.

🌱 Why Host Plants Matter

Provide food for caterpillars.

Support butterfly reproduction.

Increase local biodiversity.

Help create healthy pollinator habitats.

Encourage thriving ecosystems in gardens and natural areas.

🦋 Interesting Examples • Monarch → Milkweed
• Black Swallowtail → Dill, Fennel & Parsley
• Painted Lady → Thistle & Sunflower
• Red Admiral → Nettles
• Great Spangled Fritillary → Violets
• Clouded Sulphur → Clover & Alfalfa

Creating a butterfly-friendly garden isn't just about planting flowers for nectar. Adding native host plants gives butterflies a place to breed, grow, and flourish for future generations.

🌍 Every butterfly starts as a tiny caterpillar. Protecting host plants means protecting the entire butterfly life cycle and helping nature stay balanced.





🦋🌿

07/18/2026

The 2026 Kentucky State University Two-Day Pawpaw Workshop will be held September 16–17, 2026, at the KSU Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm. The workshop will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16, with hands-on field demonstrations covering: 1) Bench grafting and bark inlay grafting, 2) Pawpaw propagation and orchard establishment, and 3)
Pawpaw fruit processing and value-added products.

The demonstrations will be followed by a mixer and dinner beginning at 5:00 p.m. The meal will feature several pawpaw-inspired items. Pawpaw vendors will also be available during the event. The registration fee for the Wednesday evening mixer and dinner is $30. Registration ends on August 21, 2026.

On Thursday, September 17, KSU will host a special Pawpaw Third Thursday Workshop featuring presentations by pawpaw experts on propagation, orchard production, and marketing. The program will also include a pawpaw fruit tasting.

To register for the workshop, go to this link: https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-ahnr/school-of-anr/pawpaw/2026-KSU-two-day-pawpaw-workshop.php

07/03/2026

🦋 12 Beautiful Butterflies You're Most Likely to See in July! 🌼

July is one of the best months to enjoy butterflies! 🦋☀️
As gardens, meadows, and wildflowers reach their peak, many butterfly species become easier to spot. If you look closely, you may find colorful visitors like Monarchs, Swallowtails, Painted Ladies, Viceroys, and many more.
Want to attract even more butterflies to your yard?
🌸 Plant native flowers that bloom through summer.
🌿 Include host plants for caterpillars.
💧 Add a shallow water source or damp area.
🚫 Avoid broad-spectrum pesticides whenever possible.
☀️ Leave a few sunny, sheltered spots for butterflies to rest and warm their wings.
A butterfly-friendly garden doesn't just look beautiful—it also helps support pollinators and local biodiversity.
🦋 Which butterfly do you see most often where you live?

07/01/2026

This Spencer County heat is no joke! ☀️🌿 With temps pushing into the mid-90s and high humidity, our plants are feeling the stress too.

A few quick ways to help keep them alive:

Water early in the morning or later in the evening so the roots can actually absorb it before the sun bakes everything.

Skip watering the leaves when possible and focus on the base of the plant.

Add mulch around plants to help hold moisture and keep roots cooler.

Move potted plants into partial shade during the hottest part of the day.

Check hanging baskets daily — they dry out fast in this kind of heat!

And remember, more water is not always better. If the soil is still soggy, give it a break so the roots don’t rot.

Stay cool, Spencer County, and give your plants a little extra love this week! 🌸🌱

06/30/2026

🦋🦋

🦋 Monarch caterpillars are usually found on milkweed, and they become one of America’s most loved butterflies, famous for their long migration.

🦋 Black Swallowtail caterpillars are often found on parsley, dill, fennel, carrots, and Queen Anne’s lace, and they become beautiful garden pollinators.

🦋 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars usually live on wild cherry, tulip tree, birch, ash, and other native trees, and the adults are important nectar visitors.

🦋 Mourning Cloak caterpillars are often found on willow, elm, birch, poplar, and hackberry, and they become one of the first butterflies seen in spring.

🦋 Red Admiral caterpillars usually hide in folded leaves of nettles and false nettle, and the adults help pollinate flowers while feeding on nectar.

🦋 Luna Moth caterpillars are found on walnut, hickory, sweetgum, birch, and persimmon, and they become one of the most beautiful native moths in the USA.

🦋 Cecropia Moth caterpillars are often found on maple, cherry, apple, birch, willow, and lilac, and they become North America’s largest native moth.

🦋 Tomato Hornworm caterpillars are usually found on tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and potatoes, but they become large native hawkmoths, so it’s better to move them instead of crushing them.

06/28/2026

New resource alert! Meet the : Swallowtail butterflies

Discover this family of giants in our latest Quick Reference Guide! Swallowtail butterflies rely on a number of host plants to complete their life cycle depending on the species.

Find out what to plant to support your neighborhood swallowtails from caterpillars to adults and remember to contribute your butterfly observations to the Pollinator Week Bioblitz!

🔗pollinator.org/pollinator-week/resources

06/16/2026

06/10/2026

FYI-

05/11/2026

Information on what to look for with this invasive species-

https://www.facebook.com/share/1LFyQ84BAP/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Those splotches that look like dried mud on your maple tree aren’t mud. They’re spotted lanternfly egg masses — often containing 30 to 50 eggs — laid last fall and set to hatch in the coming weeks.

Spotted lanternfly is one of the fastest-spreading invasive insects in the eastern US. Heavy infestations can cover trees, grape vines, fences, decks, and even vehicles. They feed on plant sap and leave behind sticky honeydew that attracts mold and other pests.

🌿 Where to look this weekend:
- Bottom 6 feet of any tree trunk, especially maple, walnut, willow, and tree of heaven
- Underside of deck railings, picnic tables, wood piles
- Behind house numbers, on fence posts, under outdoor furniture
- Vehicle wheel wells, undercarriages, trailer hitches — they lay on metal too
- Look for a 1 to 1.5 inch smear that looks like dried gray mud or putty

🌿 What to do if you find one:
- Hold a sealable bag underneath
- Scrape with a credit card, plastic putty knife, or stiff stick
- drop the egg mass into rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to destroy the eggs, then dispose of it according to local waste guidelines.
- Seal the bag and discard in regular trash
- Report the find to your state agriculture department — many states track sightings
- One mass takes ten seconds. Most infested trees carry between five and twenty.

One credit card. One sealed bag. One weekend. Or thousands of nymphs hatching in May 🌿