Longvue Garden Club Meeting April 27, 2021

 On a lovely Tuesday evening, Colleen welcomed garden club members to our first meeting in our usual location.  Northmont will continue to be available to us for our meetings, unless things change again.  They have also agreed that the monies we paid last year will cover this year and the first 2 months of next year.

Colleen begins the meeting

Dorothy M and RoseMary chat before the meeting

Board members have all agreed to continue their terms for an additional 2 years, many thanks to them.  Committee Chairs have all also agreed to continue their terms for an additional 2 years, with the exception of our Hostess chair, we are looking for someone to fill this position, but are unsure of exactly what it will look like.

 

A member is needed to step up and assume responsibility for programming.  You can partner up with one or more members to make it a little easier. Please contact Colleen to get more information if you are interested. Holding office or chairing a committee is a great way to get involved.  In the interim, let Colleen know if you know of any presenters or potential tours for future meetings.

 

Our May meeting will actually be our annual picnic to be held at Lynn Bett’s home on June 1.  Think about which of your favorite dishes or desserts you would like to bring.  Details will be forthcoming as we get closer to June 1.

 

On June 22, we will be touring the Wilpen Rose and Perennial Garden in Sewickley Heights.

 

On July 27, we will be touring the Millvale Community Garden.

 

Suggestions are being sought for August, September and October meetings.

 

As a reminder, there will be no membership dues for 2021, as we only had 2 meetings prior to the pandemic and have gotten a late start this year.

 

Passavant sign-up sheet to weed/deadhead the white garden in front of the chapel is at the sign in table.  If you did not attend the meeting, please contact Evan Fingal to signup for a week.

 

Overview of plant sale was presented by Mary Anne.

 

It will be held rain or shine of Saturday May 15.  Pray for rain the prior day, and sun for the day of.

Thanks to Claudia who has already taken care of the publicity for the plant sale.  She will also bring tables and tent covers on the day of the sale.

Linda will bring name tags, Denny will act as cashier for the entirety of the sale, and Dianne will provide the seed money.

 Mary Anne will take care of placing the signs.

 

Your plants should be potted by now, so they will look nice and healthy on the day of the plant sale.  Use 4 – 6” pots and the value of the plant must be at least $2.  Even if you cannot come to the actual plant sale, please pot up some plants and arrange for them to be dropped off with a fellow member.  This is our only fundraiser of the year, and we did not have it last year.

 

Plants should be dropped off in the church parking lot between 7:30 and 7:45 on the day of the plant sale.  For those working or available to assist our customers with plant selection, “apple green” t-shirts are our uniform.  

 

Sign-up sheet is at the sign in table.  If you were unable to attend the meeting, contact Mary Anne to sign up as a pricer, stager or cashier, for either the first or 2^nd half of the morning.

 

Currently, there are lots of flowers blooming in member yards, Daffodils, Tulips, Hyacinths, Forget-me-Nots, Violets, Primroses, Viburnum, Salvia and Irises. 

 

Dianne provided a treasurer’s report.  We started out with $3,639.56.  After speaker fees, room rental and supplies totaling $237.51, our ending balance in the checking account is $3,402.05.  Adding petty cash in of $48.87, our total cash available to the club is $3,450.92.

 

 Jane MacCredie brought Daffodil bulbs for club members to take home and plant in their yards.

“Pressed Flower Art”  by Andrea Maire

This was an activity for club members to create a bookmark, card or framed photo using pressed flowers, wax paper, tissue paper and a water/glue mix.  Club members are invited to snap a photo of their creation and send to Rosemary who will post it to our blog.  Complete instructions follow the pictures.

Andrea gives instructions above and below

Andrea brought dried flowers and leaves for us to use

Members select dried flowers for their cards and bookmarks

Jane works on her card

Pressed Flower Cards

 

You will need:

A piece of cardboard

3 paper clips

card stock

waxpaper

Kleenex

Elmer’s glue

Water

Soft brush

Dried flowers and leaves

An iron

Double sided tape

 

1.     Place the piece of cardboard on the table.

2.     Open the card and place on top.

3.     Position a piece of waxpaper, slightly larger than the card on top of it

4.     Fasten steps 1 to 3 with the paper clips

5.     Arrange your flower design on top of waxpaper. You can fasten some pieces with a dab of glue.

6.     Carefully lay one layer of tissue paper over the picture

7.     Mix ½ glue and ½ water in a bowl.

8.     Beginning at the center of the design, gently brush the liquid onto the tissue. Use your free hand or a paper weight to hold things in place. Continue brushing up and down.

9.     Remove the paper clips and the card and cover the remaining corners.

10.  Let dry over night.

11.  Remove flower design from cardboard with a knife.

12.  With a warm iron press card, (I press both sides).

13.  Attach design to card with double sided tape.

14.  Trim the paper to fit the card.

Picking and Pressing Flowers

 

Picking

 

Pick your material for pressing on a dry day; even on a fine summer morning wait for the dew to dry. Damp flowers and leaves put straight into the press will grow mold. Observe how the plant growx, how the stem stands up from the ground and how the leaves grow in relation to it. Above all, notice the angle at which the flower hangs on the stalk. When you cut for pressing, take one flower on its stem, a single leaf from one plant, and another flowering stem and perhaps a bud from a second plant.

            Never pick old material.

            Never pick damp material.

            Never pick damaged material.

Always get your fresh material into a press as soon as possible after picking.

Pressing

Telephone directory: Preserving flowers by pressing them is an age-old process that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike, and can be as complicated or straightforward as you wish. One of the simplest ways to press flowers is to place them between pages of a telephone directory and then put more weights on top.

Flower press: A slightly more sophisticated method involves using a standard flower press. Most books suggest to use blotting paper. I did not have good luck with it. I use eight to ten sheets of newspaper, a layer of tissue paper, on which I put the flowers, a sheet of waxpaper, followed again by newspaper. That way you can just slide the whole arrangement out. Dorothy Schuette puts her flowers between two sheets of waxpaper and they dry well. It takes between 10 to 20 days for flowers to dry. 

You can make a homemade flower press out of two 12 x 15 inch pieces of plywood and two 12 inch long bungee cords.

Microwave: Pressing flowers in a microwave oven will give better color retention. Take two pieces of 10 x 8 in hardboard and two pieces of blotting paper that are slightly smaller in size. Lay out a piece of hardboard, place a sheet of blotting paper on top, and arrange the flowers. Cover them with the other sheet of blotting paper and then the second sheet of hardboard. Using five very strong elastic bands, hold the two pieces of board together by stretching three elastic bands along the 10 in length and two along the 8 in length. This should hold the “sandwich” together very tightly. Place the package in the microwave on the lowest setting available to you (defrost or lower) and cook for approximately five minutes. The timing needed will vary according to the thickness of the material. Leave the bundle to cool when it comes out of the oven and then check to see whether it is completely dry. If not, wrap again and cook for two to three minutes longer.

Plants that dry well: Violas and pansies, buttercup, snow drops and tiny daffodils (cut in half), basket of gold, lily of the valley, bee balm (individual petals), candytuft, clematis, coral bells, coreopsis, cosmos, delphinium, ferns, forget-me-not, fruit blossoms, goldenrod, grasses, honesty, larkspur, leaves, lobelia, phlox, Queen Anne’s lace, verbena, little yellow clover blossoms (in lawn), thyme, lavender, individual chive blossoms, glory of the snow, columbine, lobelia, sea thrift, fritallaria, pea shoots, tendrils from peas & squash, epimedium and whatever else you think might press well.

 

LAGC Meeting Summary January 28, 2020

The first meeting of the year.  Colleen opened up the meeting by welcoming the members and 17 guests (wow).  Kudos to our publicity team, Claudia and Jane.

2020 Member handbooks were distributed. Please review and check to make sure your contact information is correct.  If not, please notify Linda Brown and/or Ellen Dvorsky.

Special note that the July meeting will be the 2^nd Tuesday, not the 4^th Tuesday of the month.  Also, make sure you add May 16 to your calendars, this will be the date of our annual plant sale.

Dianne presented the budget.  The board is looking for ideas on how to spend down the excess.  We are starting out the year with a balance or $4,748.55.  This is approximately $2,000 more than we need, and also prior to anything we make from our plant sale.  Please e-mail your ideas on what, if anything should be done with the excess to Colleen Fingal, or text her at 412 225-3691.  We will discuss/vote on at the February meeting.  Some ideas that were presented were making 2021 a dues free year, for anyone who is a member as of 1/1/2020, Subsidizing the Christmas festivities, Adding color to each page in the directory and a Photo Contest.

Soergel’s is having a seed starting class on 2/20, at 6:30. Visit their web-site to sign up if you are interested.

As you can see from the member directory, we are still looking for some topics for some months.  Please coordinate your ideas with Jenna / Colleen.  April, May, September and October are the open months.

Martin had attended the Phipps Orchid/Bonsai show and indicated that it is an excellent show to attend, well worth planning a visit.

Bill gave an update from the Master Gardeners.  Unfortunately, the Spotted Lantern Fly has been spotted in Allegheny County.  All gardeners are asked to be extremely vigilant, report any sightings to the PSU extension offices, and to undertake any measures you can to control them, i.e. scraping eggs into a container and drowning them, is the best. Remove host plant from your property.

Anita provided the lovely arrangement and the delicious desserts were provided by Evan Fingal (well, let’s be honest, really Colleen), and they were yummy.

Dianne Machesney presented “Gardening to Attract Butterflies”.

Why garden for butterflies?

            You will have a variety of plants in your garden.

            Butterflies don’t bite, sting, claw, scratch or infect.

            Butterflies are threatened by loss of habitat.

            Butterflies are very beneficial for your garden.

Typically, a butterfly will lay its egg(s) on the underside of a leaf.  Once the egg(s) hatch, they turn into a caterpillar, then a variety of instars before moving into a chrysalis stage from which they will emerge as a butterfly.

Each butterfly has its own specific host plants to lay eggs on.  Each time they shed their skin, it’s called an instar.  A butterfly will go through 5-7 instars in their life cycle.  They eat many times their body mass, are considered eating machines.

When a butterfly is in the pupa stage (chrysalis), they are very vulnerable, as they are unable to defend themselves.  When they emerge from the pupa, fluids need to be pumped into their wings, which then need to dry out before they can fly.  This process takes several hours.

To entice butterflies:

Try to plant natives as host plants.

Plant for early spring, late spring, early summer, late summer and fall blooms, as there are different host/nectar requirements for the different species.

            Create a sunny corner out of the wind and weather, where a butterfly can bask in the sun

            They need shelter to escape the weather, a border of shrubs will do the trick.

Don’t tidy everything up in autumn, many larvae will overwinter under leaves and in other “dead” material.

            “Layer” your plantings, both in height and bloom times.

            Avoid use of chemicals in fertilizers and pesticides.

Top 10 plants:

1)    Milkweed                    6)    Blazing Star (Liatris)

2)    Butterfly Weed            7)    Joe Pye Weed

3)    Mountain Mint            8)    Ironweed

4)    Monarda Species         9)    Goldenrods

5)    Purple Coneflower      10) Asters

Dianne had many beautiful examples of different species of butterflies, such as swallowtails, monarchs, sulphurs, skippers … etc, both the butterfly as well as their caterpillar.  Most of the photos were her own photographs taken from her garden or hikes.

Below are a few of Dianne's pictures:

Monarch Caterpillar on milkweed, a host plant.

Dun Skipper Butterfly on Milkweed

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

 Chrysalis of Monarch Butterfly

FYI: Below are a couple of pictures showing some quick differences between moths and butterflies.

Stinging Rose Moth Caterpillar. Moths in this stage are spiky, hairy, and often irritate our skin.

Polyphemus Moth Cocoon. Notice moths often incorporate dead leaves in their cocoon.

Following the butterfly presentation, Dianne gave a short presentation on the “Spotted Lantern Fly”, to refresh member memories and educate our guests.  It was much appreciated.

 

Next Meeting: February 25, "Native Plants for Challenging Spaces" by Roxanne Swan of Western Pennsylvania Audubon Society.

April 23, 2019 Meeting Summary

Colleen Fingal, president opened the meeting up by welcoming all members and guests.

Iris, Hyacinths, Tulips, Daffodils, Forget-Me-Not, Dog Tooth Violet, Columbine, Primrose, Pulmonaria, Helleborus, Lilacs, Korean Spice Viburnum, Serviceberry currently blooming in member gardens.

Old Business:  

Plant Sale May 18, Saturday– A member to assist with pricing is still needed.  Claudia volunteered to assist with staging in the 10:30 – noon time slot and Colleen will pick up balloons.  At this point, all members should have plants potted. If not, please pot in the next week so plants will look good for sale.  Plants should be delivered between 7:30 and 7:45 to parking lot, with all dead material removed so they look their best. For those volunteering, remember to wear your apple green shirt.

Community Service Projectfor Ross Township at Denny Park – 4/27 at 10 am.  There was interest in some club members to volunteer. Involves teaching participants how to plant in a rain garden.

2019 Garden and Landscape Symposium & Marketplace– 4/27 – donation was mailed

New Business:

·     Dianne Machesney presented the treasurer’s report.  After expenses of donations and speaker fees ending balance is $2,316.23.  Dianne did some research and found that the club is not required to collect PA sales tax at our plant sale.  She is considering applying for a refund of sales tax paid in prior years, as far back as will be allowed.

·     Public Relations Report – Claudia and Jane developed a spreadsheet outlining contact information for various publications (on-line and print) to get various notifications into the publication. Easy to track who/when contact was made.

·     Anita reported on Facebook page. So far, 27 have ‘liked’ the page. After 100 likes, she can get tracking statistics.  If you use Facebook please go to our club site and “like” so we can get over the 100 level. So far, the most popular posts were the link to the Asian Jumping Worm information and bird nests.

·     Signup sheet for Passavant Chapel Garden was passed around, for members to weed/deadhead at the garden for 2 week time periods.

·     Lynn Betts brought Spirea “Little Princess” if interested.  Contact her if you missed the meeting and are interested in the Spirea or any other plants, she may have in abundance.

·     Marlow Madeoy brought to our attention that a wonderful nursery in Beltsville, MD is closing – Bengies Nursery of Greater Washington

·     There is a gardening event with a Silent Auction at the Phipps Mellon Center in Shadyside on 5/3.  Begins at 6, non-members $35, members $30.  You can register on-line.
Plant Sale May 18, Saturday– See above under old business for details. Many hands make the work light.  Tell your friends, neighbors, fellow gardeners. If you have questions, contact Mary Ann Kurtz. 

Thanks to Colleen Fingal for the delicious desserts (cherry bar recipe added to blog) and Nancy Madeoy for the beautiful arrangement.

Linda's wildflower sweater made using overlay stitching

Kurt Malecki from Best Feeds Garden Center on Babcock Boulevard presented “Ponds and Pond Gardens in Containers”

Key takeaways:

·     Can be as small as a birdbath to a large pond with waterfall features.

·     Create as a “balanced” eco-system pond 

·     Important to have all the components in your pond that you would normally have in nature.

·   When planting, use sand or pea gravel or stone as your potting medium, to stabilize the plants.  Dirt makes the water murky.

·     Need adequate plant material under water (create oxygen), as well as above water.

·     If you don’t have fish, will end up with a mosquito problem, can use ‘Dunks’ to control, and will also need to fertilize.

·     Barley straw naturally removes algae from water

·     Plants like low water movement.

*   Don’t use roofing material as a liner, it has a built in algaecide in it.