LAGC Meeting Notes April 22, 2025

 Vice President Marlow Madeoy presided over the April 2025 meeting because President Nancy was under the weather.  We started the meeting with what's growing in our gardens: Epimedium, Grape Hyacinths, Bleeding Heart, Iris, Pulmonaria, Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths

 Marlow wished members a Happy Earth Day!  Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22^nd to demonstrate support for environmental protection.  It was first celebrated in 1970. Arbor Day will be held on April 25^th and celebrates the importance of trees.

Kudos to Mary Jo Clayton for organizing our tree planting project! It was a huge success where LAGC members, family and friends gathered to plant 75 trees at the Horse Arena in North Park. The North Park Rangers and Jess with the Allegheny Parks Foundation did a fantastic job to make it a fun project. 

 

Mary Anne Kurtz, Plant Sale Coordinator, spoke about our upcoming annual Perennial Plant Sale which will be held on Saturday, May 17^th.  Please check the e-mail that was sent from Mary Anne for all the details.  Please bring as many plants as you can bring.  If you need more pots to pot up your plants then, contact Mary Anne. Please wear your NEW BLUE club T-shirt to the plant sale.  There is an option to bring your plants to Northmont Church on Friday night at 7:30 PM. This is helpful if you don't think you'll have enough room in your car on Saturday morning. Contact Mary Anne with any questions by e-mail, phone or text.

 

Our May program is a tour of Larry Grundler’s Garden. Larry suggests arriving earlier in the month to ensure we can see the irises in bloom. Club members agreed to move the tour to Tuesday, May 20th at 6:30 PM. There will not be a carpool from the church.

 

Larry Grundler will celebrate his 90th birthday in November 2025. The LAGC is planning to get a card for members to sign for him.

 

Treasurer Denny gave a quick report to say that he paid the few expenses from last month and we now have a balance of $2850. 

 

Claudia gave an update about the 75th Anniversary Celebration. Arrangements have been made to hand out annual plants and seeds to customers at our May plant sale. There will be a new plaque displayed at the Chapel Garden which will be paid for by the Passavant Hospital Foundation. The base which holds the plaque will be refurbished. There’s a possibility of a rededication ceremony in the Fall.  Also, it was decided that the table arrangements for the Member dinner in October will be a live pumpkin arrangement.  LAGC will buy the pumpkins.  Seven members have volunteered to decorate one of the pumpkins and bring it for the tables. 

 

Mary Jo Benedetti gave an update about the Chapel Garden and stated that the garden looks good, but she thinks it could benefit from some annual flowers. She is seeking some suggestions so, please let her know if you have any ideas about which white flowers would suit the garden. There are still openings on the schedule to assist with maintaining the garden. Please consider volunteering to sign up for a week.

 

Bill Goff did a quick show and tell and circulated a spring blossom from the Korean Spice Viburnum which he retrieved from the Northmont Church landscape.  The light pink cluster of flowers has a beautiful floral scent. LAGC has one of these trees planted at the Chapel Garden. 

Bill also talked about the daffodils which he brought for tonight’s arrangement.  He bought the heavenly scented Sir Winston Churchhill daffodil bulbs after Doug Oster mentioned them in his talk that he gave to LAGC.  Bill agrees that the sweet-smelling daffodils are worth planting in the garden for being so heavily scented.

Diana Berendowski reminded LAGC members to attend the upcoming Earth Day Celebration sponsored by Bradford Woods Conservancy on Saturday, April 26th from 10:00am to 2:00pm at the Reserve in Bradford Woods.  Admission is free along with a free picnic lunch.  The highlight at 11:00am is a Birds of Prey Presentation. Enjoy the other programs and vendors. 

Hostesses:  The April table arrangement was another nod to Spring with Bill Goff’s sweet smelling Sir Winston Churchhill daffodils and purple hyacinths.  Chris Kerin’s delicious lemonpoppy seed scones, peanut butter cookies and pepperoni and cheese nibbles completed the lovely table. Thank you for presenting such a lovely table!

 

Program – The Importance of Native Plants in the Residential Garden by Kate Allen

Kate Allen is a Penn State Master Gardener with Butler County and a member of the Wild Ones, Western PA Area Chapter whose goal is to educate people on the importance of native plants. She came to our meeting tonight to explain the key benefits of native plants and why they should be included in our gardens. Native plants or those that naturally occur in a particular region and are well adapted to the local climate soil and wildlife native plants enhance both the environment and our suburban gardens.

 

Kate began her talk by explaining the definitions of 7 kinds of plants.

 

1.    Native – those that naturally occur within a specific geographic region

2.    Pollinator – a flowering plant that provides nectar and pollen for pollinators

3.    Cultivar – a plant that has been selected by humans for specific desirable traits; reproduced through cloning methods

4.    Nativar – a cultivar derived from native parents and bred for a particular trait

5.    Exotic – an introduced species; a plant that has been moved to an environment where it would not naturally occur; when people come to visit or settle, they bring seeds or cuttings with them

6.    Invasive – a non-native plant that establishes in a new area and can negatively affect the native ecosystem

7.    Noxious – a plant defined by a governing body or Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture that's injurious to public health, crops or livestock 

 

Kate spoke about the many benefits of why we should grow native plants:

 

·      Support native animals and insects

·      Water conservation

·      Reduced maintenance

·      Enhance biodiversity

·      Improve soil 

 

She encouraged the audience not to be afraid to plant native plants in our suburban gardens because they are beautiful, as well as beneficial to insects and the environment. 96% of young birds feed on insects. She said not to wait, but get started now.  It’s best to start small and consider the problem areas in your garden that would benefit from some assistance with new plants.

 

Native plants are more readily available in nurseries than ever before.  She recommended

Arcadia Nursery in Washington, PA, which specializes in natives and the Audubon Society at Beechwood Reserve.  The 2025 Wild Ones Native Plant Sale will be held on June 22, 2025, at the Allegheny River Trail Park in Aspinwall and will feature more than 45 species of plants. Lastly, she suggested prairiemoon.com as a good resource for native seeds.

Meeting Notes by Colleen Fingal, Pictures by Dianne Machesney