Educating the public about the best gardening practices for our region is the primary mission of the UC Master Gardeners of Butte County. A terrific example of our educational outreach was on tap at the first offering of our Fall 2019 Public Workshop series. This 90-minute workshop focused on getting the most out of our Gardening Guide and Three-Year Garden Journal, a publication full of useful information, seasonal tips, and regional plant wisdom specific to Butte County.

Joyce Hill, a Master Gardener and lifelong educator who teaches teachers how to teach, led the workshop. Before delving into her carefully devised learning activities, Hill gave a quick outline of the Guide which was first published in 2014 and is currently being revised. Articles on climate, soil, compost, fertilizer, native plants, sustainable gardening, managing pests, and attracting pollinators comprise the first portion of the spiral-bound book. The following sections combine the format of a journal with pertinent information for every month within each season, starting with spring and ending with winter. Each seasonal segment begins with an overview of what to expect from climate and plants, gardening tasks for that time of year, and ripening fruits and vegetables to be harvested.

Designed with journaling and record keeping in mind, the interactive part of the Guide follows the seasonal introductions. Each of the thirteen weeks of the season is given a two-page layout which features three lined columns, each to be headed by the month and year of use, and filled in by the user as they wish. On the left side of each two-page layout is a short, pertinent article. Helpful tips and items of interest appear on the lower right.

An appendix at the end of the Guide contains pruning and planting guides for the Valley and the foothills, detailed information on caring for fruit trees, and photos and descriptions of common garden pests and beneficial insects.

All-in-all this Gardening Guide is a handy resource for gardeners of all abilities and preferences. But lecturing about what's in the Guide is one thing – getting us into it hands-on is another, and as a good teacher, Hill knew how important it was to engage us in this educational material. To that end, she had prepared a series of garden-, plant-, and climate-related questions, each of which was printed out and pasted onto colored construction paper. Colors were coded by season, and workshop participants were grouped by season/color to locate the answer to each question within the Guide.

About two-thirds of the workshop participants had brought their own dog-eared (or hardly used) Garden Guides with them – the others were able to purchase them on site before we began. Within our groups, we began to leaf through our Guides – the cleverly formulated questions directed us variously to the table of contents, planting guides, pest tables, and task lists.

A former community college instructor myself, I valued group work as an educational tool, and learned to gauge the success of an exercise by the level of noisy interaction occurring in each group. Judging by that criterion, Hill's color-coded questions were a success – we were discovering, learning, and helping each other. Better yet, we were using the Guide as it was intended.

A second benefit of group work is when each team shares the outcome of its investigation. And here is where even more learning occurs – individuals share experiences and knowledge – all of us tapping into expertise that would not have been available in a traditional lecture-oriented class.

The Master Gardeners are working on a revised edition of the Guide, and in wrapping up the workshop, Hill asked participants to critique the existing Guide and offer suggestions for improving the second edition. Changes already in the works include firewise planting and yard maintenance, new and updated sidebar articles, and a section on the basics of garden design (the Guide includes several pages of grid paper for planning to scale). Of course, everyone wanted color photos. So did and do the Master Gardeners. But the prohibitive cost of color images would make the Guide far less affordable for many of its potential users, and getting the information contained in the Guide to as many people as possible is the goal. Other items on the wish list included index tabs (some workshop participants had already added their own), website addresses added to resource lists, an area dedicated to recording climate conditions, and a list of invasive plants.

The Garden Guide and Journaling Workshop showcased and encouraged some highly effective teaching methods, including interaction, self-discovery, and individual and group contributions. A good teacher helps students find the “answer” on their own. The best teachers do this subtly – all of a sudden you have that “aha” moment of discovery without knowing that the exercises crafted, and the information presented, have guided you there. I had just experienced proof of this at our Master Gardener Workshop.

The Garden Guide and Three-Year Garden Journal is currently available in Chico at Magnolia Gift and Garden, the Patrick Ranch Gift Store, the Butte County Cooperative Extension Office in Oroville and all Master Gardener workshops.

To learn more about UC Butte County Master Gardeners and our upcoming workshops and events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, call our Hotline at (530) 538-7201 or email mgbutte@ucanr.edu.

Yes, they're still there.

More today than yesterday. That's how it goes in the Magical World of Butterflies.

The Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) are keeping busy, and so is this insect wedding photographer trying to capture their images.

There! A Gulf Fritillary has just emerged from her chrysalis on the passionflower vine, and a suitor descends within minutes. He doesn't use any pick-up lines. He doesn't have to. In seconds, there's a twosome on the passionflower vine, something apparently rarely seen. (The Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, answers telephone calls from folks who excitedly proclaim they've found a "two-headed butterfly.")

Soon another suitor appears...three heads...a three-headed butterfly?...and flutters away.

Meanwhile, other brides and grooms meet and greet.  It's like being on the Las Vegas strip with all the wedding chapels occupied.

Just another day in the Magical World of Butterflies.

Love is like a butterfly
A rare and gentle thing
--Love Is Like a Butterfly, Dolly Parton

When Dolly Parton penned her song, "Love Is Like a Butterfly," she probably wasn't thinking of passion butterflies, Gulf Fritillaries.

And when she sings that popular song, neither she nor her audience are thinking of Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae), getting together on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia.

But Lepidopterists, entomologists, horticulturists and insect photographers are.

It's autumn, approaching Halloween, and the Gulf Fritillaries are doing what comes naturally on their host plant, the passionflower vine. But sometimes you'll find them on the fence line, on the ground, or on a neighboring flower.

Then you make a beeline for your camera. It's insect wedding photography. The bride and the groom and the photographer. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the flowers are producing nectar, the bees are buzzing, the crickets are chirping, and all's right with the world.

Love is indeed like a butterfly, "a rare and gentle thing." 

Question: Can you name a fun way to compost some of your kitchen scraps?

Answer: Vermicomposting, using worms to eat your "garbage!"

Vermicomposting is the process of keeping red wriggler worms in a “hotel” where they eat food scraps and other organic materials like paper and cardboard. Hotels can be simple or fancy, and the materials needed are easy to put together. This odorless hotel can be kept anywhere inside your house, or outdoors if you prefer.

Our local UCCE Stanislaus County Master Gardeners will tell you which foods worms prefer and demonstrate how to create a hotel and feed your worms. You'll go home with information on how to start your own bin. 

This class may appeal to the kids in your family, so be sure to bring them along. We hope you will join us for this fun class to learn about this sustainable way of turning waste into compost!

Please sign up for our Thursday, November 14, 2019 class from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at: https://ucanr.edu/sites/stancountymg/Classes/