April 19, 2016
Business Meeting
President,
Mary Anne Kurtz, welcomed members and visitors on a beautiful, warm
evening.
·
Blooming
in our gardens are --- crabapples, marsh marigolds, candytuft, pansies, violets,
epimedium, bloodroot, primrose, and arrowwood. Bill Goff brought in a flower
cluster of fragrant Viburnum carlissi found on Northmont church property.
·
LAGC
officers and committee chairs are needed for the 2017-19 term. Call Mary Anne
if interested in serving.
·
The
$100 donation paver approved for Ross Township’s Evergreen Community Garden at
the March meeting was upgraded to $150 with member approval to fit “Longvue
Acres Garden Club estb. 1950” on the paver.
·
Members
signed up for summer gardening maintenance at the UMPC Passavant Chapel Garden
and to help at the plant sale.
·
May
14th Plant Sale – Bring more than the required 10 plants per member
if able since this is our only fund raiser.
Please pot plants now if you have not done so already; plants dug early
and established in their pots sell better.
Plant tags should be tall enough to be readily seen and should include
name, sun preference, and bloom color.
Bring expendable garden books or catalogs to show to customers.
·
Thank
you to Flo Ogden and Linda Brown for desserts and arrangement respectively.
Program: Just Grow
Up—Vertical Gardening
·
Colleen
Fingal introduced speaker Karel Ulizio, a retired attorney, Penn State Master
Gardener, co-chair of Allegheny County Cooperative Extension, and member of
both Daffodil and Hosta Societies.
Karel’s slides were excellent and demonstrated styles, advantages, and
ideas for vertical gardening.
·
Vertical
Gardening take home points:
1. Uses less space and is a
design element combining both form and function.
2. Vertical gardening can
include trees, shrubs, and manmade architectural and gardening structures.
3. Less bending, increases
harvest access, decreases fungal problems.
4. Hides unattractive
structures, blocks wind and noise, adds interest and privacy.
5. Structures can be
elaborate or simple with pockets holding soil and moisture. Bamboo, recycled
materials (avoid arsenic or lead), pallets, purchased frames, wires, and wood
can be used.
6. Concerns – weight if on
a deck, faster dry outs, attractive to pollinators and birds.
7. What is old – Hanging
Gardens of Babylon – is new again with vertical gardening able to enhance any
space.
·
References:
The Vertical Garden by Patrick Blanc, Growing Up the Wall by Sue
Fisher, Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces
by Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet. Per Karel, many pictures of vertical
gardening are available online.
Calendar
·
May 14 Plant Sale – Set up and plant drop
off - 7:30 AM
·
May 24 – LAGC Meeting “Weeds:
Friend or Foe?” by Andrea Jackson
·
June 28 – Annual LAGC Picnic at
the home of Sharon Walston
Submitted by: Rose Mary Highman
