President Nancy Madeoy welcomed members to the March 28, 2023 meeting. We started the meeting with the question of what's blooming in your garden? You could feel the enthusiasm in the room about the arrival of Spring by the responses of our members. Members mentioned having daffodils, primroses, star magnolia, hellebores and forsythia in bloom right now.
Nancy announced that we have a new member. Welcome to Amy Foreman! We're glad to have you join the club.
One of our members, Ellen Dvorsky passed away from an illness on 3/2/2023. She was an LAGC member since 2001. A card was circulated for members to sign and it will be sent to Ellen’s family to share our condolences.
Two programs have been confirmed for the summer months. The July 25th program will be a tour of Sandy Csikari’s Garden. We visited Sandy’s garden a couple of years ago and it was fabulous. We’re looking forward to seeing what she’s growing now! The August 22nd program will be “Edible Landscaping” presented by Penn State Master Gardener, Pat Morgan. I’m sure it will be an interesting program.
Mary Anne Kurtz talked about our annual perennial plant sale to get us organized for Saturday, May 20th. Please mark your calendars and plan to spend a fun morning with fellow members. We’d like everyone to participate to help make it another successful plant sale. Be sure to bring your 15-20 potted and labeled plants to Northmont church on the morning of the sale between 7:30 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. Paper reminders which can be given to family and friends with all the details about the plant sale were distributed. Denny and Linda, Claudia and Evan volunteered to share the task of bringing boxes for customers to carry their plants. Mary Anne asked members to let her know if you know of any community gardens that might benefit from some of the leftover plants from our sale. Please give the name and contact information to Mary Anne. We talked about a few ways to make it easier to count the number of plants that are for sale. No decision was made and we will talk about it again before the plant sale. We were reminded to be alert for jumping worms as we are digging up our plants to pot up for the sale.
Terry Sarver brought the arrangement which was a beautiful show of Spring flowers featuring mini daffodils, hellebores, hyacinths and an Easter bunny. Colleen Fingal brought delicious carrot cake and red velvet cake balls (see recipe at end of these notes) along with chocolate bar cookies. It was a beautiful table!
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| Dianne Machesney showing one of her favorite reference books. |
Program
“Tree Diseases” by Dianne Machesney, Penn State Master Gardener
Our fellow club member, Dianne Machesney gave a very informative talk about some of the disease producing agents which cause stress and or death in trees. She talked in depth about 20 different diseases which can be caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses or insects. We learned about the Spotted Lanternfly in one of her previous talks so she didn’t include it in this program.
Dianne’s presentation covered a number of diseases and tree pests that are somewhat familiar to us such as Emerald Ash Borer, Eastern Tent Caterpillar, Woolly Adelgid, Japanese beetles, Fire Blight and Oak Wilt. She also put a name to some of the diseases that we may have seen but, couldn’t identify such as Amillaria Root Rot, Anthracnose and Verticillum Wilt.
Below I've listed a few of the facts that I found most interesting.
One insect that we used to see create a lot of damage to our trees is the gypsy moth which is now called the spongy moth. There is now a natural fungus that is curing the problem so the spongy moth is not considered to be such a big problem anymore.
One of the newest issues is Beech Leaf disease which was detected in Allegheny County in 2017 and is currently being studied to find a cure.
If you want to get rid of Japanese beetles then, it's recommended to treat the grass for grubs. The Japanese beetle traps that are sold in stores are not a good control because they have pheromones in them which attract beetles from your neighbors’ areas to your yard.
Some diseases may only cause superficial damage and others can eventually kill a tree. It’s important to do your research to identify what is causing the problem with the tree and then discover what is the best treatment. There are many great resources available and Dianne has recommended the Penn State Master Gardener website as a reputable source of information.
It was a great talk by a knowledgeable speaker. Garden club members will benefit from the knowledge that was gained from the presentation and will hopefully, be more confident about identifying problems in their own gardens.
Thank you, Dianne!
(Meeting notes by Colleen Fingal, pictures by Rose Mary Highman)
Cake Balls Recipe
A recipe for cake balls that uses cake mix, frosting and candy melts to
create fun and festive bites. Cake balls are perfect for gift giving and
they're easy to turn into cake pops!
Course Dessert Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 30 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour Total Time 1 hour
Servings 36 Calories 116kcal
Author Sara Welch
Ingredients Instructions
1 box cake mix flavor of your choice
eggs, oil and water as called for on cake mix box
1 cup + 2 tablespoons canned frosting flavor of your choice
1 pound candy melts (I recommend Ghirardelli Melting Wafers)
1/2 cup sprinkles
1. Prepare cake mix with the amount of oil, water and eggs directed on the box. Bake in a 9”x13”
pan according to package directions.
2. Let cake cool completely, then break apart and crumble until fine crumbs form.
3. Stir in the frosting until a dough forms. If the dough seems dry, you can add additional
frosting, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
4. Roll the cake mixture into tablespoon sized balls. Place the balls on a parchment lined baking
sheet and chill for at least one hour.
5. Melt the candy melts in a bowl in the microwave, heating in 30 second increments, and stir
until completely smooth.
6. Place each cake ball on a fork and use a spoon to pour the candy melts over the cake ball.
Tap against the side of the bowl to remove excess candy melts.
7. Place each ball on a parchment lined sheet pan. Top with sprinkles.
8. Repeat with remaining cake balls and candy melts. Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
Can be made up to 3 days in advance.
Calories: 116kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 116mg | Potassium:
11mg | Sugar: 15g | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 0.3mg
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| Two types of delicious Cake Balls. |
