This month we had our annual LAGC club picnic.
Chris Kerin and her husband, Dave welcomed us to tour their beautiful garden
and lovely mid-century modern 1950’s home. Thank you very much for being such gracious hosts. LAGC
members enjoyed a delicious variety of potluck dishes and beverages while we
talked gardening.
LAGC Meeting Notes
President Nancy Madeoy welcomed LACG members
to our June picnic. She announced that former member, Heidi Sestrich has joined
again. Welcome back!
The new officers and committee chairs for 2027
have been decided as follows:
President – Mary Anne Kurtz
Vice President – Amy Foreman
Treasurer – Mary Jo Benedetti
Recording Secretary – Karen Barczak and Cathy
Rose
Programs – Andrea Maire and Diana Berendowski
Community Service – Colleen Fingal
Claudia spoke about 3 potential projects for
LAGC:
·
Remarkable Tree Challenge – McCandless Township has invited the community
to help identify and celebrate the community's most remarkable trees. LAGC members
Claudia, Helen and Bill will complete the nomination form for one or more of
the trees that the club has planted: Tulip
Poplar and Japanese Snowbell on Northland library grounds and Korean Spice Viburnum
at the Chapel Garden at Passavant Hospital. The winners will be announced on
9/19/26 at the MCandless Community Day
·
McCandless
Community Day Booth of 9/19/26 – does LAGC want to sponsor a 10 x 10 booth for
$125 to hand out information about our club or do a planting project or give away
plants. The booth must be open from 1 to 9pm. We’ll need at least 8 members working
in pairs for 2-hour shifts. Members are undecided. Topic will be discussed at
the next meeting.
·
Members have
the opportunity to volunteer to install a new garden at the Suffragist Grove in
Hartwood Acres on July 8th from 9am to 12noon. Please contact Claudia ASAP if you are
interested or have questions.
Vice President Marlow Madeoy confirmed the details
of the 2026 LAGC Holiday Tour and Luncheon on Saturday, November 14th. We will tour the National Aviary at 11:00am
and meet for lunch at 1:00pm at Max’s Allegheny Tavern. Marlow will confirm
with the restaurant if we can get separate checks. Additional details will follow in the
upcoming months.
Mary Anne Kurtz, Plant Sale Coordinator discussed
some of the things that went right at the plant sale and what things could be
better. She applauded all members for participating in the success of the plant
sale. Thank you for your leadership, Mary Anne!
·
The plant list with light
requirements worked well. Contact Mary Anne if you have any additions to the
list. A column will be added to list which plants are PA Natives
·
The chalk lines which identified
where to place the plants worked well but, it was time consuming to set up.
We’ll need a volunteer to handle this job in the future.
·
Members appreciated the detailed
documents about the plant sale: timeline, parking lot map and job descriptions
·
The Specialty Irises which we purchased
from Larry Grundler was positive and members agreed to purchase the plants
again if given the opportunity. The project of potting them up was a huge task which
was handled by Denny and Linda. We will need more volunteers to commit to
potting up the plants and overwintering them in the future.
·
We need more visible signs to
indicate sun versus shade plants. Mary Anne would like to consider the purchase
of tall sign holders. This will be researched further.
·
Tracking the Buy one, Get one free
sales was tricky. It was decided to return
to plants are half off at 11:30am
·
The customer holding tables are
essential. Next year we need 5 tables and we need to use the large tables.
At the conclusion of Mary Anne’s talk it was
decided to form a Plant Sale Committee to discuss ideas for improvement. The committee members will be Mary Anne,
Anita, Karen, Denny and Mary Jo Benedetti.
Mary Jo Benedetti circulated the volunteer
sign up sheet to maintain the White Garden at UPMC Passavant Hospital. Please
contact Mary Jo if you are still interested in signing up.
Photos provided by Dianne Machesney and Chris Kerin
A wide range of delicious foods to choose from!
... and many delicious desserts!
Chris Kerin, hostess for the evening
Cindy having a conversation w/other club members
Colleen, Evan and Andrea enjoying the perfect weather outside
Diana, Jane, Linda and Amy
Chatting over beverages
Bill, Mary Anne, and Nancy
Claudia and Dianne
Enjoying the food and conversation
Mark and Heidi
Chris, Andrea, and Lynn smiling for a photo
Note: many of the daylilies were not blooming on picnic night, so pics included below
Rose campion in full bloom
"Seven seas" daylily
Siloam double classic daylily
Herb container garden
