Master Gardeners Mike Gliddon, Barbara Anuzis, Carol Bencivengo, and Nancy Putnam. (Photo by Mark Wetherbee, Jr.)
A member of the Master Gardeners of Mercer County holds up a trio of caterpillars, the likes of which will be on display at the annual Insect Festival to be held at the Mercer Educational Gardens in Pennington Sept. 7, 2013. (Photo by Mark Wetherbee, Jr.)
Master Gardener’s Insect Festival features gardening tips for adults and activities for kids.
By Sara Jerome
When a caller reaches out to the Master Gardeners of Mercer County hotline for help with plant problems such as deer, pests and insects, the question is usually simple: “What can I spray to make this stop?”
But the answer rarely comes in a spray bottle. Experts in the program, known as Master Gardeners, encourage residents to safeguard their personal flowers and vegetables with techniques that do not harm anyone in the ecosystem, including its smallest inhabitants: insects.
Bugs and their role in the environment are the the focal point of Insect Festival, an outdoor event set for Sept. 7. The event is run by the Master Gardeners of Mercer County, a nonprofit organization administered by Rutgers University and self-funded in part through a plant sale in the spring.
The goal of the Master Gardeners program, which is staffed by volunteers who have dozens upon dozens of hours of training, is to provide horticultural support to the public on such topics as composting, pruning dead wood on trees, and keeping out pesky deer. There are around 200 Master Gardeners, and 56 of them live in Hopewell or Lawrence.
In one favorite tip, the gardeners tell callers that deer are wary of reflective objects, so surrounding an outdoor garden with a shiny ribbon can help keep them at bay. The gardeners dole out advice like this through a help line (try it: (609) 989-6853).
This year marks the Master Gardeners’ 11th annual “Insect Festival.” Visitors will have a chance to view outdoor exhibits displaying everything from frog eggs to butterflies to bees. The event is held at the Mercer County Educational Gardens, which houses around three acres of plant (and insect) life.
One of the main goals of this program is to ease adults’ fear of insects so they are less likely to douse their yards in harmful pesticides and chemicals. But children are often the reason that families attend, and the gardeners enjoy catering to the younger crowd. They say kids sometimes ask better questions than their parents, and everyone finds the answers fascinating. Did you know, for instance, there are countless kinds of bees?
“Most people think honey bees are it,” said Nancy Putnam, a Hopewell resident and Master Gardener.
For Putnam, the best part of the Insect Fest is the “puppet show,” in which volunteers dress up in immaculate costumes designed to showcase the anatomy of an the insect. For instance, one costume has all the markings of a moth painted on it.
Moths, Putnam said, are under-appreciated bug.
“Most people think of a Luna Moth when they picture a moth,” she said, referring the large flying insect seen on outdoor lamps in the summer.
But that’s a pretty narrow perception, according to Putnam. That leaves out such diverse creatures as the speckled Isabella Tiger Moth and its larvae, the Banded Woolly Bear. The puppet show helps illustrate this diversity.
Putnam said that Insect Festival has become such a local institution that crowds of people attend.
“One year hundreds of people came during Hurricane Irene,” she said. “That speaks to the popularity of the program.”
A team effort makes Insect Festival possible. Hamilton resident Carol Bencivengo, for instance, handles publicity for the group, and she is willing to be of service wherever she’s needed, even if it means directing parking at the event.
“Nobody wants to do parking, but I loved it. I got to talk to every kid who attended,” she said. “They want to tell you every worm they touched.”
She recalls one young boy who was shocked by how many activities there are at “Insect Festival.”
“He became overwhelmed and started to cry,” Bencivengo recalls. “He kept saying, ‘I don’t know where to go first!’”
Insect Festival does not confine itself to the bugs in the backyard. The myriad insects that live in rivers and ponds are a special focus for Master Gardener Mike Gliddon of Lawrence.
Gliddon joined the Master Gardeners program after a career at a major pesticide and agricultural chemical company, American Cyanamid, where he served as a scientist.
A longtime fisherman, Gliddon now puts his aquatic expertise to use at the Insect Festival by gathering up water creatures for display in a shallow aquarium at the show.
Water creatures range from tadpoles to frogs to water bugs, Gliddon said. Microscopes provide a closeup look for festival-goers.
“I feel a little sorry for the for frogs,” Gliddon said. “The kids love to touch them.”
Gliddon noted that the Master Gardeners make sure all creatures get safely returned to their original homes at the end of the day.
Gliddon first became interested in flora and fauna growing up in Cornwall, England. Moving to Lawrence, he was amazed at how quickly plant life grows here.
Like Gliddon, Pennington resident and Master Gardener Barbra Anuzis developed a love for the outdoors at a young age. She recently stumbled on a picture of herself as a child already devoted to understanding insect life: she was out on a walk armed with a set of butterfly nets.
After a career in college administration, Anuzis became a Master Gardener with a particular focus on butterflies.
Her kids helped her follow her passion for the outdoors. As they grew up, she collected nature items with them, and then one day at a soccer game she heard another parent speaking about the Master Gardeners. She knew she had to join.
Now one of her favorite nature activities is standing in the middle of the meadow and thinking of all the hidden insect life.
“And so many of those insects are peaceful,” she said.
In prior “Insect Festivals,” Anuzis has displayed butterflies moving through the stages of change, starting with the caterpillar.
“It’s amazing how much the kids know about all of it,” she said. “They’ll say, ‘that’s metamorphosis.’”
Each Master Gardener has accrued a wealth of bug and plant trivia to dish out to visitors. For instance, Anuzis noted, did you know butterflies taste with their feet?
Anuzis looks at nature moments as “miracles,” including when she saw a giant swallow laying her eggs. Of course, that does not mean she wants an up-close-and-personal relationship with every animal; spiders skeeve her out.
But she had another trivia fact on hand to prove that’s not an affront of “Insect Festival.”
“Spiders aren’t insects,” she said.
The Insect Festival is scheduled to take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Mercer Educational Gardens, 431 A Federal City Road, Hopewell. For more information call (609) 989-6830.
,
