About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2020)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Friday, July 10, 2020 3A ‘If you plant it, they will come’ How to attract butterflies to your yard this summer Dahlonega Butterfly Farm Where: 427 Castleberry Bridge Road, Dawsonville Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday More info: www.dahlonegabutterfly.com/ BY KELSEY PODO kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com As the summer cranks up the heat, the butterflies come out to play. “Butterflies are cold-blooded, they like it hot,” Jo Ann Golden- burg, owner of Dahlonega But terfly Farm said. “We typically start seeing them after May and more so as the summer gets even warmer.” Planting flowers may bring a couple of butterflies to your yard, but if you’re wanting to attract a kaleidoscope of flutter ing friends, you need a different strategy. Goldenburg, who raises and cares for butterflies on a day- to-day basis, shared her tips and tricks for luring these delicate insects into your yard. Nectar and host plant To start a butterfly garden, Goldenburg said people need two ingredients: nectar and host plants. “You put in nectar plants for the adult butterflies, and then you want host plants for the female to lay her eggs,” she said. Goldenburg recommends planting native nectar plants like black-eyed susans, milk weed, purple coneflower, joe- pye weed, lantana and other flowering perennials. The host plants not only give female butterflies a place to lay their eggs, but they offer cater pillars a source of food. Goldenburg said her favorite host plants for attracting year- round and migratory butterflies include milkweed for drawing monarchs; passion vine for gulf fritillary; bronze fennel and tulip trees for Eastern black swallowtail; and wild cherry and plum trees for red-spotted purple butterflies. “It you plant it, they will come,” Goldenburg said. For a successful butterfly gar den, Goldenburg always keeps a water feature, no matter how small, near the nectar and host plants. Butterflies gather nutrients from dirt, which is called “pud dling.” Goldenburg recom mends creating a mud pie by placing dirt, rocks and sea salt into a plate, and then filling the container with water just beneath the line of stones. “You can hang the plate, set it inside a bird bath — you can be as creative as you want,” she said. “Butterflies like the miner als that come out of the ground. If you ever see a bunch of but terflies in a group on the ground after it rains, that’s what they’re doing.” Butterflies to look out for this summer Goldenburg said North Geor gia is home to four species of swallowtail butterflies including the Eastern tiger swallowtail, Eastern black swallowtail, spice- bush swallowtail and zebra swal lowtail. Common buckeyes, the brown butterflies with large eye like spots, also reside locally. In August and September, Goldenburg said people can expect to see monarchs come through Georgia for their migra tion back to Florida. One of her most cherished native groups are the fritillary butterflies, which typically boast bright orange hues and silver markings under their wings. Goldenburg said she espe cially keeps an eye out for the great spangled butterfly, a spe cies of rare fritillary in Georgia. “They’re one of the largest in the United States,” she said. “They can have a wingspan of 4.5 inches, and they’re bright orange, brown and silver. They’re an amazing kind of woodland butterfly.” If you’re looking to purchase a native host plant and get a jump-start on a butterfly garden, visit the Dahlonega Butterfly Farm, located at 427 Castleberry Bridge Road in Dawsonville. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fri day through Sunday. Times file photos Butterflies land on flowers at Dahlonega Butterfly Farm in May 2019. TAXES ■ Continued from 1A quarters with a tax professional. According to Tammy Walker, senior tax analyst at the H&R Block location on Thompson Bridge Road, H&R Block has been recom mending its drop-off option for those worried about meeting in person. “They come in, they fill out a drop-off sheet with pertinent information, and then they leave their docu ments,” Walker said. “The average time for a tax return is about an hour. They have the option to go run errands and come back, pick up their paperwork. They’re good to go.” She added that people can leave their documents at the tax office overnight and pick them up the following morning. Hollingsworth said Jackson Hewitt is also offer ing the drop-off option. Walker also said H&R Block was even offering meetings outside of regu lar office hours for high- risk individuals who really wanted to have a face-to- face conversation with a tax professional. “They can come into the office and nobody else will be there but their one tax rep,” she said. And while COVID-19 and an extended deadline have made this year’s tax season far from normal, Walker and Hollingsworth both said it’s been a fairly usual year in terms of what they’ve seen on returns. Next year, according to Walker, is likely to be a com pletely different story. With many people filing for unemployment this year, she said it was important that those who have been laid off from their jobs get on top of their tax situa tions starting now so they can avoid a nasty surprise next April. Unemployment income is not tax-free, and those who do not make vol untary withholdings could end up owing money to the government. “Did they hold out enough tax on that unemployment?” she said. “Did they hold out tax at all on that unemploy ment? Are they going to be in for a big shock when they have a really small refund, or if they owe at the end of the year when it’s time to do their taxes next year? Now would be a good time for that midseason checkup.” Hollingsworth also recom mended that any individuals who have filed for unem ployment and are not well versed in tax policies seek help from a professional. “We can tell them approx imately how much they will be owing in, and they can make quarterly payments on that instead of being hit at the end if the year with that big tax payment,” she said. As for this year, Walker said the most important thing is that people not ignore the July 15 deadline to file. Whether they are expect ing a refund or to owe money, she said it is essen tial that the new deadline ■h&r^blogk? SCOTT ROGERS I The Times H&R Block clients enter the Thompson Bridge Road location Thursday, July 9, as the deadline for filing taxes nears on Wednesday, July 15. LONGSTREET ■ Continued from 1A Stone Mountain Park’s massive Confederate carving featuring Lee, Jackson and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis has come under fire during the recent call to remove Con federate statues, including Old Joe in the downtown Gainesville square. “Longstreet, in the late 19th century, was by far the most politically incor rect Confederate general in Dixie,” Young said. “But now, he’s the most politically correct. How ironic.” One other irony is that one of the guests at Longstreet’s Piedmont Hotel — preserved in part in Gainesville and now serving as the James Longstreet Museum off Maple Street — was Wood- row Wilson, whose name was stripped, because of racist views, from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Long before he was president, Wil son’s daughter, Jessie, was born at the Piedmont Hotel — the room where the delivery took place has been pre served. Jessie would go on to become a political activist, fighting for women’s right to vote. Wilson “did spend a good bit of time at the Piedmont,” Pilcher said. “... We know the Longstreets got to know (the Wilsons). How well, we don’t know. They were at least acquaintances.” SCOn ROGERS I The Times A monument of Gen. James Longstreet in is at a site on Longstreet Place in Gainesville. is followed just as strictly as the usual April 15 date is. “People are pushing the envelope to July 15, but they need to file something,” Walker said. “They need to either file their return, because there are still a lot of people out there that are going to get refunds. But if you do owe, you can still file that return or file an exten sion, and then we can work with the IRS to do a payment plan.” Lula to close facilities today for cleaning Lula will suspend city operations Friday, July 10 to allow for disinfection of city facilities. On June 29, Lula reported an employee had tested posi tive for COVID-19 and closed City Hall. City Hall will be closed Friday. For water or sewer emergencies, people can call 770-869-3801. In a statement on the city website, officials encouraged people to wear masks in public, practice social distancing and wash their hands. Megan Reed
