May 4, 2017 Meeting

 All Members Night A Tribute to Chuck Tague.

20 plus members ( and one well-behaved dog) brought slides, photos and memories in honor of our past-President, Chuck Tague.  Attendees shared a nice array of snacks and cookies as they reminisced.   What a great way to celebrate the life of a man who has done so much for nature and our environment and especially for the Wissahickon Nature Club.

This was the last meeting of the season.  See you in September!

April 20, 2017 Meeting 7PM

June Bernard presented Magical Monarchs.

We discovered interesting facts about the life cycle of  these bright orange and black butterflies, their amazing  metamorphosis and their incredible annual 3,000-mile tricountry  migration. Monarchs begin to arrive from Mexico in our
area mid-May to early June. June provided information on
where to find eggs and caterpillars, examples of simple
equipment needed to raise and release them and gardening
tips on which nectar and host plants will attract them.  We learned
how we can become  citizen scientists by tagging and
releasing Monarchs for the fall migration through the University
of Kansas’ Monarch Watch program. Monarch butterflies are in
decline due to rapid loss of habitat across North America.

Trip Report: Cedar Creek April 1st

The rains held off and eight of us had a very successful walk in the Cedar Creek Gorge.  We were delighted to meet Holly Peck, whose grandfather Werner Buker was a longtime member of the Botanical Society.
He volunteered at the Carnegie Museum herbarium for 40 years and collected thousands of specimens.  Holly has all his slides, each is identified.  I Hope we can talk her into giving a talk and show!
We saw 20 some blooming flowers, the highlights were Snow Trillium, Harbinger of Spring, Hepatica, Twin Leaf and Blue Bells.  We saw at least 20 not-blooming or non-flowering plants, most notable were Few-flowered Valerian, Blue-eyed Mary, Liverwort, Scarlet Cup and Crowded Parchment mushrooms.  We also saw several Mergansers and Spring Azure butterflies.

Submitted by Judy Stark, Trip leader

April 6, 2017 Meeting

Doug Oster presented Getting Started Early in the Garden. . Even though he was battling a scratchy throat, Doug gave a great presentation, using lots of examples from his own home garden.  He recommends all organic gardening, lots of mulch to keep the weeds down, using homemade compost and starting seeds early under grow lights. Peas were planted on St. Patrick’s Day and radishes last winter for microgreen addition to salads today.   Corydalis lutea is a nice early blooming perennial.   Check out his newsletter at http://everybodygardens.triblive.com/newsletters/