Spring has arrived, it's time to plant and the Penn State Master Gardeners of Butler County are ready to help.

The group's Spring Garden Market, the sixth in as many years, is the place to go for plants, answers to gardening questions and fun. This year's market will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at The Succop Conservancy on Airport Road in Penn Township.

All day, free shuttle service will carry market visitors between the nearby Penn Christian Academy parking lot and the market.

The market will feature events and sales to get home gardeners off to a great start on the growing season. Garden-related workshops; vendors with plants, crafts and food to tempt; and music set amid the wooded ambiance of the conservancy add up to a day not to be missed.

This year's workshops focus on the flying creatures that enhance home gardens, making them more lovely, and indeed, playing a vital role in their very existence.

At 11 a.m. Gene Wilhelm, an ecologist, naturalist and educator, will discuss how to attract birds to home gardens.

At noon, Rick Mikula, "That Butterfly Guy," will talk about different varieties of butterflies and butterfly gardens.

At 1 p.m., bee experts Herb Thompson and Owen Thompson will address keeping bees and current research on the problems affecting the honeybee population.

Throughout the morning, market visitors will have the opportunity to bid on baskets containing a variety of items from garden tools to gift certificates for restaurants and hotels in a silent auction.

From 2 to 4 p.m., the Butler Faculty Jazz Trio, in its second garden market appearance, will entertain visitors.

Also on display will be a hay wagon, which has been restored by Venturing Crew 50 with support from Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections. Venturing Crew 50 will sell vegetable plants from the hay wagon and also will have soap it made and soy candles for sale.

Information about Venturing, Heritage School and the conservancy will be available.

Along with the concern for the environment and emphasis on green, gardening is undergoing a new focus on returning to nature. Wilhelm discussed one aspect of that focus in his presentation "Nature as a Guide for Home Gardens, Birds in Your Garden."

The theme of his presentation is "Everything in Nature is Interconnected and One," and he will emphasize the what, how, when, where and why nature is the perfect guide for designing home gardens. Using nature as a design goal, the home gardener can attract the bird species that are the best garden friends.

Mikula will focus on butterfly varieties and attracting those varieties to the home garden. His discussion will cover what type of gardens to plant to encourage butterflies to lay eggs and start a private butterfly population.

Visitors will learn which perennials and annuals will be a magnet for which butterflies, and they can discover some plants considered common weeds are good hosts and nectar plants for butterflies. Container gardens are an excellent tool for city gardeners to attract butterflies.

Father-and-son team Herb and Owen Thompson presentation "It's all about the Bees" is a particularly timely subject given the world problems affecting plant pollinators, including the colony collapse disorder affecting honeybees.

Owen Thompson, while completing his master's degree at Penn State, has specialized in diseases and parasites damaging to honeybees, including colony collapse disorder. He will discuss these concerns.

His father will focus on the basics of beekeeping equipment and honey production.

Wilhelm taught ecology and environmental courses at Slippery Rock University and has done field courses, seminars and workshops in ecology and natural history on five continents.

Currently, for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he is a volunteer international hawk watch station master every spring at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Alamo, Texas. He also formerly was vice president of education for the National Audubon Society.

Mikula owns and operates Hole-In-Hand Butterfly Farm in Hazleton, Pa. For more than 20 years, he has charmed audiences with delightful and funny presentations on butterflies.

Among his credentials are those of photographer, habitat consultant and award-winning author on books about butterflies. He has appeared on the Animal Planet Network and The Discovery Channel. He is also the pioneer and inventor of releasing butterflies at weddings and funerals and has helped make it a global phenomenon.

The Thompsons share in the operation of Hazy Hollow Farm, which is the 128-acre spread in Slippery Rock Township owned by the Thompson family since 1946. Originally operated as a dairy farm, the 1980s brought diversification and a switch to grass-fed beef, meat goats and bobwhite quail.

Seven years ago, Owen Thompson, who was studying entomology, convinced his father to establish bee colonies, and honey production began. Typically, the farm has a dozen producing bee colonies, and the Thompsons plan to increase that number this summer.

In Spring Garden Market tradition, visitors can rely on being able to study and buy additions for their home gardens. Market vendors will offer an array of choices including perennials, herbs, roses, shrubs and small trees.

For the hungry, food vendors will be on hand with a variety of selections from a light snack to an entire meal.

SponsorsThe all-day event is sponsored by Baglier Buick, Mazda, GMC; Farmers National Bank; Newhaven Court at Clearview; Eisler Landscapes; Butler Ambulance Service; NextTier Bank; C.W. Howard Insurance Agency, and Titus Networking.Susan Struthers is a Penn State Master Gardener of Butler County.