On a lovely Tuesday evening, Colleen welcomed garden club members, and one guest who came specifically to hear Bill’s presentation. Blooming in member gardens: Zinnia, Ageratum, Dahlias, Phlox, Verbena Bonariensis, Sweet Autumn Clematis, Black-eyed Susan, Mexican Sunflower and more.
A recording secretary is still needed for the next term. Duties are to record the meeting minutes and highlights from our speaker or tour. The notes then get sent to the Vice President who then forwards it on to our blogger. If the recording secretary is unable to make the meeting, they just need to notify the President who will make arrangements for another member to take notes for that meeting. This is a great way to be involved in the club. If interested, please reach out to our current president, Colleen.
Saturday, August 27, members will meet at Pittsburgh Botanic Gardens to tour the gardens and have lunch afterwards. The tour is expected to take approximately 2 hours. You can choose to either pack a lunch or purchase lunch at their café. If carpooling, plan on meeting at the church at 9:10. We will depart promptly at 9:15, to ensure we can begin when the gardens open at 10.
Our September meeting will be given by April Claus, a Herpetologist. The topic is “Creatures That Hop Creep and Slither in Your Garden.” April plans on bringing caged amphibians with her, so this should prove to be a highly interesting topic.
The October meeting will be a craft, details still being worked out with Victoria and more information to be provided as we get closer to the October date.
Member dues of $15 are due in September.
Reach out to Andrea if you are interested in any strawberry plants for your garden. They are from the community garden where she volunteers. Also, if you want any milkweed, she has a bunch of babies that grew this year and are yours for the taking. They are either common milkweed plants or swamp milkweed.
The lovely arrangement was provided by Debbie Stayduhar and the delicious desserts by Linda Brown.
Dianne provided a treasurer’s report. Nothing was disbursed in July, therefore, total cash available to the club is still $5,970.21.
Bill Goff presented “The Planting and Care of Butterfly Weed (Asclepius Tuberosa)”, which proved to be very informative. At the June picnic, those in attendance all received a Butterfly Weed plant from Bill which he had started in his garden this year, from his seeds, using the winter sowing method.
As a reminder, there is a garden hotline run by Master Gardeners that can be called with any and all questions related to gardening. If they can’t answer you immediately, they will get back to you with an answer. The number is (4120 482-3476.
Bill educated us on the plight of the monarch. The monarch butterfly has just been listed as an endangered species, as have all pollinators. The Eastern population has declined by 80% since the 90’s, due in part to climate change, urban sprawl, pesticide use, and habitat loss.
The migration of the monarch butterfly is one of the great wonders of the natural world. The journey is upwards of 3,000 miles, and they make it using an internal compass. When they land in Mexico, there can be 1 billion or more butterflies, which is surely a sight to behold.
A group of monarchs is called a Kaleidoscope. A female can lay up to 1,000 eggs in her lifetime. A male has a black spot on each wing.
Without Milkweed, the monarch would cease to exist. There is the common milkweed, swamp milkweed and butterfly weed which is also a milkweed. First the eggs are laid, then they hatch and become a caterpillar, then they form a chrysalis and then become a butterfly. Seeing a milkweed stripped of its leaves is a great sign, as it means the caterpillars have been feasting on your plant. The toxicity from the plant enters the caterpillar as they are feasting, making them unpalatable to predators such as birds.
When growing any of the forms of milkweed, you must be patient, as the plants are very slow to break dormancy in the spring. The best growing conditions are full sun with good drainage and moderate fertility. When you plant, make sure you plant it where you want it to grow, as milkweed develops a very long taproot. Bees and hummingbirds love milkweed, as do the butterflies.
When starting any of the milkweeds from seed, you will need a period of cold stratification. The is is one of the reasons why Bill was so successful in starting seed using the winter sowing method. Very Important: Do not use pesticides in your garden.
The 2 main things we can do as gardeners to help the monarchs are:
Vote for environmentally conscious politicians
Plant Milkweed
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| Monarch butterfly feeding on milkweed. |
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| Milkweed pod with seeds ready to be blown by the wind. |
Following Bills presentation, Colleen demonstrated how to make herbal salves. Colleen started making herbal salves several years ago. Prior to this, she had been making other body care products using her plants for soaps and sugar scrubs.
Colleen provided all attendees with a sample of the calendula salve she had made. The recipe she provided goes a very long way. A great tip she gave us for drying herbs was to just use a lunch bag, fill with herbal material and place in a dry location. Within 2 days, your herbs will be dry.
Colleen showed how to make an herbal salve.
Some resources:
