February 2015 Meeting Notes

Business Meeting
February 24, 2015

Claudia Hickly welcomed all in Mary Ann’s absence on another cold and snowy night. She especially noted Esther Nagy and her work on the LAGC blog. Denny Brown presented the budget for 2015. This was approved after some discussion about an addition of $200 for our 65^th anniversary event(s), an additional donation of $50 for a brick at the new McCandless Museum, and the Northmont Church room rental contract. Sharon Walston has had no answer to date on the latter. Members approved the $45 picnic pavilion rental fee for North Park’s Grant grove for our annual picnic. Members briefly discussed the possibility of landscaping the new McCandless History Museum when it is completed in 2016.  Members expressed an interest in creating and installing the museum landscaping, but are not interested in maintaining the garden.  More information is needed before making a final decision.

LAGC’s 65^th Anniversary:  Denny Brown read the names of former members and speakers whom we would invite to the anniversary celebration. Other suggestions included invitations for municipal officials from Ross and McCandless and their Pennsylvania House representatives. Since we are celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Passavant white garden (planned, planted, and maintained by the efforts of Helen Dean and Peggy Elizeus), an invitation would also be extended to a Passavant Hospital Foundation representative. Other anniversary plans include a slide show which Helen’s son-in-law Bill, Helen and Claudia are preparing, articles in local papers, and a few greeters dressed in 1950’s attire— dresses, hats, gloves, and carrying typical purses of the era.

Other: Thank you to Linda Brown for desserts—note the pictures of desserts with one celebrating winter and one spring. Thank you to Esther Nagy for the arrangement with a lovely blooming amaryllis which she grew. 

Program

Landscaping in Deer Country:  

Claudia introduced  speaker Dianne Machesney, a Master Gardener, dedicated naturalist, gardener, and leader.  Dianne retained her composure as computer glitches were solved so her wonderful slides could be shown.  The slides showed deer groups, fawns, landscape damage, and colorful deer-resistant examples.  A handout of deer-resistant plants grouped by category such as full sun, shade, herbs, evergreens, etc. was provided.

Take home points:

·        Gardeners must be the adapters, not the other way around.

·        Deer are browsers, smart, and adaptable. They have a wide field of view vision, see well at night, and reproduce throughout their lives with one to three fawns yearly. When times are tough, they will eat less desirable plants to survive.

·        No silver bullet exists to completely lower deer numbers, but a combination of high fencing, avoiding deer-candy-plants, using deer-resistant plants, raised beds, netting, deer sprays, slippery or noisy pathways, and containers near homes can lessen damage.

·        Deer tend to avoid plants with fuzzy leaves, heavily thorned stems, and aromatics such as sages and monarda.

·        A few of the plants recommended are: daffodils, ageratum, lamb’s ear, snap dragons, dill, fennel, blue salvia, ornamental peppers, lung wort, cosmos, obedient plant, yarrow, Shasta daisy, foxglove, monarda, marigold, cleome, Oregon grape holly, lilac, spicebush, serviceberry, many varieties of ornamental grasses, pin oak, and magnolias.  Many others can be used.

·        Further reading: “50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants”, “Deer-Resistant Landscaping” and “Deer Proofing Your Yard and Garden”

These are the deer repellent recipes from Dianne:

Doug Oster's Recipe
4 ounces of Grannick's Bitter Apple for Dogs
2 tablespoons Wilt Pruf
Spray on plants, when temperature is above freezing

Pittsburgh Rose Society's Recipe for Deer Repellent
2 large heads of garlic, halved
2 large strong onions, halved
Simmer in 4 quarts of water for 4 hours (outside if possible)
Let cool and strain
Add 1/2 can of hot Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon of dish soap
Spray on plants three times a year or when needed: April, June and July

Next meetings:

March 24 - “Rain Gardens” by Debra Rudolph

April 11 - Saturday, Field Trip Tour of Pittsburgh Botanic Gardens, 10 a.m.

April 28 - “Pruning 101” by Sandy Csikari

May 16 - LAGC Plant Sale