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 2nd Tuesday, not the 4th 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
2) Butterfly Weed
3) Mountain Mint
4) Monarda Species
5) Purple Coneflower
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:
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| Monarch Caterpillar on milkweed, a host plant. |
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| Dun Skipper Butterfly on Milkweed |
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| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly |
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| Chrysalis of Monarch Butterfly |
FYI: Below are a couple of pictures showing some quick differences between moths and butterflies.
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| Stinging Rose Moth Caterpillar. Moths in this stage are spiky, hairy, and often irritate our skin. |
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| 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.
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