LAGC Meeting Notes - March 24, 2026

President Nancy Madeoy welcomed LACG members to the March meeting with the question of what’s blooming in our gardens. Members answered with spring flowers of daffodils, hellebores, hyacinths and forsythia.

Nancy reminded members that LAGC will need all new officers for next year. Please consider becoming the president, vice-president, treasurer or recording secretary. We thank Dianne Machesney for agreeing to fill the position of Publicity Chair which Claudia is vacating.

Our president, Nancy Madeoy, speaking at March meeting

We continue to have issues with the projector that Northmont provides for our programs. A suggestion was made that LAGC should purchase our own projector. Dianne researched some options for us to purchase within the $300 to 600 price range. After a discussion of the issues and options, the club took a vote and agreed that a new projector should be purchased. Evan will order a new projector within the researched amount. All agreed that the projector should be brought to each meeting and taken home after the meeting. It will not be stored at the church.

Dianne Machesney posing for a photo while members arrive

The Penn State 30th Annual Garden and Landscape Symposium and Garden Marketplace will be held on Saturday, April 25th at the Hampton Community Center. LAGC member and PSMG Bill Goff will be the 1st speaker at the event. This year it’s free to attend the speaker presentations. As usual there will be plenty of vendors selling a variety of plants and gardening supplies. Please see your e-mail from Claudia for the flyer with all the details.

Mary Anne Kurtz talked about the upcoming tour of Waste Management and lunch at Carmody’s Grille. She is collecting RSVP’s. Let her know if you want to attend the tour. She will send an e-mail with all the details once the date and time have been confirmed.

The 2026 LAGC Perennial Plant Sale is scheduled for May 16th. Our Plant Sale Coordinator, Mary Anne Kurtz talked about the plant sale.

• Plant sale tags were available for members to take. Please be sure to mark the top of the tag with the symbol of the light requirements for your plants and follow the handout which was compiled by Mary Anne and Andrea. We identified a few changes to the handout. Mary Anne will e-mail a revised copy with those changes.
• Asian Jumping Worms are still a concern, so it’s suggested that plants be potted in potting soil instead of garden soil.
• Publicity is important for a successful sale. Paper reminders were distributed to all members to hand to family and friends. When you see the post on Facebook, please share it with your friends.
• The signup sheet was circulated for members to volunteer for specific jobs at the plant sale. Please sign up at the April meeting if you didn’t already get the chance.
• Please bring as many plants as you can. The more plants we have then the more we have available to sell.
• Wear your blue T-shirt.
• Bring your gently used plant and garden items for the FREE table.
• You may bring your plants to Northmont on Friday night before the sale at 7:30pm.
• We will have specialty bearded irises available for sale. Larry Grundler offered them to LAGC at $1.00 per rhizome. Denny and Linda purchased about 100 plants and potted them up with the help of Claudia. We’re going to place these specialty irises in a special section with a sign to identify them as being unique.
• New for 2026 is that at 11:30am we’re going to have a Buy One, Get One free sale instead of everything is half off.
• Members discussed giving customers an annual plant (red, white or blue) in celebration of McCandless Township’s 175th anniversary. Diana Berendowski is going to reach out to a couple of garden centers to find out what flowers would potentially be available on the day of the plant sale and if we can get a discount on the plants. Members will decide next month if we want to give out the annuals.
• We’ve identified a few organizations that are willing to take any plants that don’t sell: Northmont Church, Bradford Woods Conservancy and Memorial Park Church

Diana Berendowski invited members to attend the Bradford Woods Conservancy Earth Day event on Saturday, April 25th. There will be many activities, speakers and free lunch.

A warm LAGC welcome to our 3 new members who joined this month: Greg and Lori Wilson and Cathy Rose. We’re glad you joined the garden club!

Hostesses

We enjoyed eating delicious Lemon Crinkle Cookies and Banana Cake with Malted Chocolate Icing from Karen Barczak. Rose Mary Highman reminded us that Spring has arrived with her arrangement of purple hyacinths, daffodils and hellebores. Thank you!

Beautiful arrangement provided by Rose Mary Highman

Lemon Crinkle Cookies by Karen Barczak

Banana Cake with Malted Chocolate Icing by Karen Barczak

Rose Mary performing Hostess duties for March with a beautiful smile!

Program -  Gardening Thyme: Avoid Aches and Pains While Gardening presented by Taylor Docherty, UPMC Rehab Institute Physical Therapist

This month’s program couldn’t have come at a better time as we are all eagerly waiting to get back outside to begin another gardening season after we were snuggled inside for a long, cold winter. Our speaker, Taylor Docherty talked about the correct techniques and the best tools to use for garden and outdoor chores. She demonstrated ways to lessen the stress and pain on our joints and muscles so that we can enjoy gardening for a lifetime.

Our speaker said that “prehab is better than rehab”. Which means that it’s better to be proactive and prepare the body for activity and strengthen the areas that are prone to injury rather than doing rehab after the damage is done. She suggests keeping fit during the winter by walking, doing cardio, and balance and core strengthening exercises.

Before you start your garden or outdoor chores remember to warm up the muscles and joints by doing arm circles, wrist stretches, squats for the hip flexors and back stretches.

It’s important to keep the body in a comfortable state rather than stresses so remember to dress for the weather, wear a visor, apply sunscreen and stay hydrated.

Here are a few reminders while you are in the middle of garden work:

• Set goals – break up the project into smaller jobs
• Work for short periods of time and take breaks
• Make sure to change body positions frequently
• Garden in the morning when it’s cooler
• Use good body mechanics - remember to carry the weight of heavy items close to your body and avoid twisting your spine or knees when lifting
• Use slower gentle movements rather than quick movements
• Listen to your body – If you have an ache then, take a break

Use the right tool for the job. Long handles make jobs easier so you don’t have to bend in awkward positions or reach up high over your head. Look for ergonomic tools which are specifically engineered to make tasks easier. Consider ratchet pruners for arthritic hands. Use a garden or wheelbarrow to avoid carrying heavy pots or bags of soil. Use knee pads. Plant in elevated containers

LAGC Meeting Notes - February 24, 2026

President Nancy Madeoy welcomed LACG members to the first meeting of 2026.  The January meeting was canceled due to bad winter weather.

The 2026 handbooks were distributed.  Anyone who becomes a new member this year will receive an electronic copy. A huge thank you to Andrea Maire for doing a great job compiling the handbook.

Rosemary Highman will no longer manage the LAGC blog.  We appreciate your 10+ years of excellent work on the blog.  Chris Kerin will take on the role of managing the blog this month.  We thank both of you for keeping our blog going.

Mary Jo Beneditti will chair the Community Service Committee by herself in 2026 because Lynn Betz stepped down from the role. If you are interested in becoming a Co-chair contact Nancy or Mary Jo. Some members have agreed to help with the spring and fall clean-up of the garden so Mary Jo will send an e-mail when she is ready to do the work.  A sign up sheet was circulated for members to sign up for the weekly maintenance in 2026.

Denny gave the Treasurer’s Report and spoke about last year’s expenses. In 2025 we had the best plant sale ever and we gave $650 in donations. The 2026 budget remains about the same with an exception that the cost of speaker programs is higher than last year.  A vote was taken and the budget was approved.

Mary Anne Kurtz, Plant Sale Coordinator reminded members that the annual LAGC Perennial Plant Sale will take place on Saturday, May 16, 2026.  Please mark your calendars and start thinking about what plants you can divide and pot up to bring to the plant sale.

We have many interesting programs scheduled for 2026 thanks to Mary Anne Kurtz, Program Coordinator.  We appreciate the hard work you do to organize the programs! Not on the schedule is a potential tour of the Waste Management Plant on Neville Island.  The tour can only be arranged for a weekday.  Mary Ann will inquire about available tour dates and send the options to members to gauge interest and availability.  Watch your e-mail for more information.

Thank you so much to the 75^th Anniversary Celebration Committee for all the items that they donated to make the celebration such a memorable event.  Your generosity is much appreciated! 

Thank you to Bill Goff for capturing the 75^th Anniversary Celebration with his photography.  Mary Anne Kurtz created a slideshow with all the photos which we enjoyed watching at the meeting.  Great job!

Nancy shared a thank you card from Bev Steiger. We also received a thank you card from Northmont Presbyterian Church for donating the tablecloths that we purchased for our celebration.

Jane MacCredie spoke to members about the hostess duties. The arrival time has been changed to 6:30pm. Before our snack members took a tour of the kitchen and closet where the hostess supplies are kept.  Jane and Claudia answered members questions so that they can be confident in knowing what to do when it’s their turn for hostess duty. Please remember that it is a team effort of the person bringing the dessert and the person bringing the arrangement to work together to set up and clean up the table.  Thank you!

Nancy informed members that LAGC will require four new board members and a Publicity Chair in 2027.   If you are interested in taking on one of these roles, please contact the current board members, Nancy, Marlow, Denny and Colleen or Claudia with questions about the Publicity Chair duties. 

Hostesses:

The beautiful pink tulips provided by Jeanne were a welcome reminder that spring is right around the corner.  We enjoyed delicious pound cake, banana bread and pretzel treats from Claudia.  What a beautiful table to start 2026.  Thank you!  The recipe for Claudia's delicious banana bread can be found above by clicking "Recipes", then "Best Ever Banana Bread".

Pink tulips brought by Jeanne

Yummy pretzels w/ white chocolate

  

Best Ever Banana Bread

Program:   Nature’s Early Risers presented by Sara Klingensmith, Education Associate from Allegheny Land Trust

Sara Klingensmith

Sara Klingensmith gave a very informative and interesting talk about which animals and plants come out of hibernation the earliest in Western Pennsylvania. She explained the definition of hibernation as a deep, energy-saving survival mechanism where animals drastically reduce their metabolism, body temperature, heart rate, and breathing to survive winter's cold and food scarcity. Early risers may wake up to capitalize on early-spring food availability, to find a mate, or because their energy reserves are depleted.

Some of the early risers that we may see in our gardens at this time of year are: bears, coyotes, wood frogs, Great Horned Owl, Spotted salamanders and some plants.

·         Female bears emerge in April so that they can feed their cubs.

·         Coyotes are a generalist species which means they eat whatever food is seasonally abundant; they are known to feed on mice, squirrels, rabbits, small pets, amphibians, insects and fruit.

·         Spring Peepers and wood frogs – they are completely frozen in the winter as “frogcicles” and thaw as the weather warms; they are about the size of a quarter, and the call of the male can be heard in late winter/early spring.

·         Spotted salamanders – can live for 22 years; they are unique because they make a trek to a vernal pond to lay their eggs. There is an organized effort to make sure that the trek of the salamanders is not interrupted as they cross the road. Volunteers act as crossing guards so that the salamanders can safely make it to a pond.

·         The Great Horned Owl is one of the earliest nesting birds in North America and lays eggs in February and March.

·         Bees emerge early with warm weather and may be seen in backyard bird feeders consuming the pollen from bird seed.

Sara also spoke about the following plants that we may find in late winter/early spring. They may not be in our gardens, but they can usually be found in parks or wooded areas.

·         Skunk Cabbage – a unique thermogenic plant that generates its own heat to melt snow in early spring and allows for early blooming and attracts pollinators and insects.

·         Eregenia bulbosa – the Harbinger of Spring or salt and pepper plant is a late February early March, spring blooming perennial with white flowers, 3 to 10 inches tall. Grows well with hostas and ferns.

·         Spring beauty, Claytonia virginica – called the fairy potato is a narrowleaf herbaceous perennial.

·         Canadian Ginger – a woodland perennial which spreads via rhizomes to form dense mats; grows 4 to 8 inches high.

·        Dutchman's Breeches - a true spring woodland ephemeral species; It flowers early in the spring when sunlight hits the woodland floor.

·         Invasive shrubs species in Pennsylvania – privet, honeysuckle and multiflora rose.

These aggressive non-native shrubs leaf out early in spring before native species; they takeover woodlands and fields in dense thickets.