The Neighborhood Gardener
August 2026
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Pollinator Plants for a Naturalized Lawn
Weeds are considered by UF/IFAS to be plants out of place, but what if some weeds residing in your lawn are exactly where they need to be? There are certain flowering weedy plants that attract pollinators, increase the biodiversity of your lawn and reduce maintenance needs. A new article on Gardening Solutions shares a few “lawn companions” can enhance or replace the conventional lawn.
Spotting and Identifying Butterflies
Butterfly sightings are beautiful to behold, but these observations can also help scientists identify which species are at risk, track population trends and study the impacts of environmental change. Photographing and recording butterflies and then sharing them with the wider community via citizen science apps can help us further understand the complexities of these delicate creatures. This new article shares tips on where and when you can spot butterflies, as well as how you can record and share your sightings.
How to Contribute to Environmental Research with Citizen Science
Do you feel a spark of curiosity when you engage with nature and wish you could help preserve and protect it? It’s a lot easier than you might think to contribute to science without donning a lab coat. There are many opportunities to volunteer as a “citizen scientist” by making observations and recording data with participating projects. We explain what “citizen science” actually is, and share some of the many ways you can get involved.
Wendy’s Wanderings
This year, the 2026 Great Southeast Pollinator Census will be held August 21–22. Young and grown-up citizen scientists will spend just 15 minutes observing and counting insects on a single plant and then share their findings with University of Georgia Extension. These efforts help researchers better understand insect populations and inform conservation efforts. The garden where I usually participate in the census is a sunny location — and frankly, it is hot! So this year I hope to time my pollinator census count to keep me out of the hot sun while giving me an opportunity to see a few nighttime lepidopterans.
Plant of the Month: Frogfruit
Frogfruit is a vigorous groundcover, well suited as a companion or alternative to turfgrass. Its delicate, pollinator-friendly flowers improve the biodiversity of the landscape while adding a whimsical yet natural feel. Also called turkey tangle fogfruit and matchweed, Phyla nodiflora is a larval host plant for butterflies like the phaon crescent, buckeye and white peacock. It also provides nectar for the ceraunus blue butterfly and local bees. Learn more about this low-maintenance groundcover.
August in Your Garden
The hottest days of summer limit planting now to only heat-tolerant annuals like periwinkle, salvia, celosia and coleus. Get started on your fall vegetable garden by planting peppers and summer squash. Bulbs like walking iris and spider lily can be planted any time of the year, even late summer.
For more month-by-month gardening tips, check out the Florida Gardening Calendar. Three different editions of the calendar provide specific tips for each of Florida’s gardening regions—North, Central and South.
What’s Going On?
If your Master Gardener Volunteer program or Extension office is having an event, be sure to share it with us.