October 24, 2023 Meeting Notes

What’s blooming in your garden?  Monkshood, dahlias, witch hazel, bearded iris and asters

President Nancy thanked Mary Ann for arranging last month’s dahlia tour at the home of Amy Krut in West View.  Thanks also to Bill and Dianne for taking the beautiful photos.

Vice President, Marlow talked about the plans he is working on for this year’s holiday lunch and tour. The idea is to tour Old Economy Village in Ambridge and eat at a restaurant in the area.  PLEASE NOTE – THE DATE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO Saturday, December 2^nd.  Please watch your e-mail for details.

The 2024 LAGC Board will consist of the same board members as this year.

Evan Fingal decided not to be the Community Service Coordinator in 2024.  Lynn Betz and Mary Jo have volunteered to be co-chairs.  Claudia Hickley volunteered to assume the role of Online Communicator in place of Lynn.  Thank you to everyone for your years of service and to those stepping up to assume the vacant positions!

Treasurer Denny, spoke about the donations we give to the 4 organizations that are listed in the handbook.  Members voted and approved to give $250 to each of those organizations.  This was already in the 2023 budget.  If you have a suggestion for another worthy cause that you think we should support then, please bring your suggestion to the January 2024 meeting so that we can plan for it in the 2024 budget.  One suggestion is to donate to the Latodomi Nature Center.

Program Coordinator, Mary Ann reviewed the schedule she has planned for next year.  Here is a list of what we can look forward to:

January   ---  The North Park Rangers will talk about Winter Birds

May ---  Tour of North Park Wetlands

June 4^th --- Annual Picnic at Bill Goff’s house to see his peonies in bloom

June 25^th --- Tour of a local garden 

Please mark your calendars with the date of the 2024 LAGC plant sale: May 18^th  

Members were reminded to make notes now about what plants can be divided in the spring to pot up and bring to the plant sale.

The hostess sign up list was circulated by Jane.  Thank you to those who signed up to bring dessert or an arrangement to our meetings.

We had a variety of delicious autumn goodies from Mary Ann Kurtz:  pumpkin bars, popcorn and cookies.  Linda Brown’s beautiful end of the season arrangement of flowers and grasses complemented the table.  Thank you for sharing!

 

Mary Ann

Linda B's Halloween arrangement

Mary Ann's desserts

Final touches, Jane, Claudia, Mary Ann

 Program:  Historic Structures of North Park by Ranger Deaglan McManus

This evening’s program was very popular.  We had 12 guests!  Allegheny County Park Ranger Deaglan McManus and 2 fellow rangers came well-prepared to talk about the historical structures in North Park that we drive past and may not pay attention to.  They setup a display table with old photographs of the parks and handouts of information about programs in the Allegheny County park system and were on hand to answer questions.

Ranger Deaglan talked about many of the wood and stone structures in North Park.  Some are still in use but, have a different purpose today. Here are some of the facts that I found especially interesting.

·   **North Park is the first Allegheny County park; it was started 4 hours earlier than South Park

·     ** Police headquarters:  the policemen for North Park lived in houses specifically built for them in the park

·      **The Eisenbach barn from 1927 is still standing today; it’s used for electrical equipment

·      **In 1927 the bison and 50 deer were brought to the park from a farm in Allentown, PA.  As the animals were being transported to North Park, they paraded them thru downtown Pittsburgh for the citizens to see

·      **South Park still keeps 9 to 11 bison today and there are usually a few babies born in the spring; visitors to the park can participate in public feedings at the game preserve; look for details about dates and times on the Allegheny County Parks website

·      **An American Indian from Montana, Chief Big Beaver, and his family were brought to North Park to take care of the bison; they were given a house and a salary; the children went to Ingomar Elementary School

  **The Grotto along Kummer Road known as the Fountain of Youth was built in 1938

 **The boathouse was built before the man-made lake was created; a garage was constructed at one end of the boathouse for the police boats

**The gatehouse is one of the most photographed structures but, it was never constructed to be strong enough to be walked on by visitors

**The swimming pool was once thought to be the largest public pool ever built and holds 2 ½ million gallons of water

 

There are many more structures in North Park which have been there since the early years of the park such as the firehouse, observation tower, log cabin, schoolhouse shelter among others.  Ranger Deaglan and his colleagues continue to discover and unearth old structures throughout North Park by studying old photos and maintaining the vegetation in the park.  Please visit the following website for more information History of North Park | Allegheny County Parks.

See more online: AlleghenyCounty.US/NPhistory

 

 

February 28, 2023 Meeting and Program Notes

            

President Nancy Madeoy welcomed members to the second meeting of the year and the first topic that was addressed was What's blooming in your garden? With the beautiful spring weather we've been experiencing for most of the winter it comes as no surprise that members have Dutch iris, crocus and hellebores in bloom in their gardens. Helen Dean brought forced branches for our dessert table: Forsythia, Carolina Jassamine and Magnolia ‘Jane’.  Although Dianne Machesney was under the weather and couldn't attend the meeting she still contributed delicious pizelles, banana bread and cookies to the table. Thank you to our hostesses.  

    

 

Nancy reviewed the new text tree that will be utilized when we need to reach club members quickly. 

 

Treasurer, Denny reported that he paid the yearly room rental fee to Northmont church and that we are current on all other payments.

 

Mary Ann Kurtz, Program Coordinator announced some programs which she has arranged for the upcoming year.  In July we will be taking a tour of Sandy Csikari's Garden. The August program will be edible landscaping which will be given by a Penn State Master Gardener.  We'll be visiting a dahlia garden in West View for our September program. 

 

It's not too early to begin talking about our annual plant sale. Mary Anne reminded members to collect garden items for the free table at our May 20th plant sale. Again this year, we will NOT be selling the items. Club members are in favor of giving the items to plant sale customers.

 

Nancy reviewed the many upcoming garden events happening around the city. Please check your email for messages from Lynn Betts for details about the following: Orchid Society of Western Pennsylvania show on March 18 and 19, North Area Environmental Council seedling sale, seed swap at Phipps, online native plant sale and used orchid sale at Phipps.

 

LAGC received an invitation to set up a booth at the Sewickley May Mart on May 13th where we would sell plants or garden themed items. This idea was discussed and no members were in favor of having a booth. The thought is that club members would rather focus the attention on our own plant sale. Nancy will decline the invitation. Members may support the May Mart by attending the event on their own.

 

Program: Lawn to Nature

Speakers: Ken Knapp and Leah Fulton 

 

Here is the link to order a Lawn to Nature packet and to review additional information.

https://www.naecwpa.org/lawntonature

Our speakers are from the Latodomi Nature Center located in North Park which was established in 1969 on a former 250 acre working farm. The center provides educational programs about nature to the public of all ages. 

 

The Lawn to Nature program launched by the Latodomi Nature Center in 2022 is about encouraging property owners to convert lawn space to plant habitat. The ways to accomplish this is by removing the grass and invasive plants from a 100 foot square section of your lawn and replacing it with wildflowers and native plants. Also, reduce chemical use to improve water quality and boost insect population. Leave brush piles and dried leaves and dead trees for the birds. Ken suggested that we install bird houses and bee houses and provide water and food sources such as suet and seeds.

 

The idea behind the program is based on the teachings of author and naturalist Doug Tallamy's book entitled "Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard."  Communities are already implementing changes to public spaces to bring in more birds and insects but, it's not enough. The thought is that we can do better by making changes in our private yards by reducing our lawns and planting an area of wildflowers. 

Ken mentioned that it's important to have a native "keystone" species plant in the landscape so it's a host to a variety of insects and birds. He gave an example of the oak tree for our area which is like a cafeteria for birds and the many different insects for the birds to eat. 

 

Ken mentioned that it's important to have a native "keystone" species plant in the landscape so it's a host to a variety of insects and birds. He gave an example of the oak tree for our area which is like a cafeteria for birds and the many different insects for the birds to eat.

 

Ken suggested that we prepare an area in our yard now so that the soil is ready to be planted in the spring. The seed mix contains both annual and perennial plant seeds so you should see some flowers this year while the perennials are getting established. The Lawn to Nature website has complete video instructions on how to prepare the garden plot and plant the wildflower seeds.

 

In follow up, Ken suggested that we track what kind of birds and insects come to our yards using an app such as iNaturalist and we could consider pursuing one of the certification programs for wildlife habitat.

 

We were pleased to have 2 door prizes this evening. A guest won a Lawn to Nature packet.

Our treasurer, Denny won a sturdy bluebird box that was donated by our speaker Ken Knapp. 

 

Special mention to Arcadia Native plants in Washington, Pennsylvania, to purchase native plants and to Ernst seeds who provides the seed mix for the Lawn to Nature program.

 

 

 

 

 

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