PLANT WNY MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Lavocat’s Family Greenhouse & Nursery, 8441 County Rd,
East Amherst, 14051
The meeting was called to order at 6:32pm by Ryan McMillan, president.
Crystal O’Hara, treasurer, presented the financial report PLANT WNY. The financials were emailed to the membership prior to the meeting and included the profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
Due to the amount of time needed to discuss Plantasia set up and show information, the Plantasia report was given first.
Committee Report
Plantasia 2025 – Jordan Simone reviewed the set up information for the landscape gardens and noted several points of interest new for this year. North doors will have very limited use and you must notify Kim Schichtel or Jordan Simone before entering and only then will you be let in. Going to try for having just three yards of mulch delivered. Landscapers were advised there are things you can do to minimize mulch use. No dumping or scraping bulk material off newly paved areas. Plastic will be made available for those who need it. Judging will be Thursday morning. Landscapers are to have a representative available to answer questions from the judges. Gardens will not be anonymous and can have their signage out during judging.
For tear down, no breaking down until 5pm. Do not bring anything in unless by hand. Set aside and keep all your plants at your garden space as the plant sale will be in a different location inside the Event Center. Volunteers will come and get your plants.
Education Day – We had a good turnout for both days. If anyone has ideas for speakers, please let Roger Restorff know. Our keynote speaker for 2026 – Vincent Simeone
Foundation – The largest budget item the Foundation has is for Education Day. They funded $9,000 for 2025. It is a great benefit to the membership. The Foundation has currently around $610,000 in assets. Matt Dore recently met with our accountant, Tronconi Segarra & Associates, about public contributions and what the Foundation must do to keep their charity status.
Historian – Lou Sardo, Roger Restorff and Matt Dore met to begin the process of sorting historical documents. There are documents that go back to 1913! Assistance is needed for going through letters, documents, photos, and if interested please let Matt Dore know.
Media/Marketing – Maria Provenzano gave stats of engagement and views for Facebook and Instagram – both are up. Most active days are Mondays. She is going to design a sign that will be used at Plantasia to get people to like our page. Reminder to membership to continue to like and share our posts.
Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens – The Gardens are getting close to breaking ground on the new building. The new tropical orchard exhibit was opened and there has been a great response from the public. Currently working on a new children’s garden exhibit which will make the exhibit more hands-on and interactive.
Buffalo Zoo – Nathan Huff thanked Plantasia for the donation of palm trees. They are planted in the rainforest exhibit. The Zoo is celebrating its150 year. There will be a lot of special events with a lot of promotion. Very large plantings this year will take place and will even include a “150” planting. The Zoo has established a relationship with McKinley High School and is thankful for the introduction.
SUNY Niagara – Melissa Moore thanked the membership for opening their doors to the students. SUNY Niagara will have a booth at Plantasia, students will volunteer at Plantasia and are available to help where needed.
New Business
- Plans are coming along for the meat raffle to take place in November. We will be looking for sponsors shortly. One suggestion for the meat raffle proceeds is to use it for digitizing historical documents.
- The Executive Board voted to make Dave McIntyre a lifetime member. Recognition will be awarded at the Harvest Dinner.
- Bob Smith announced there is a movement to change Arbor Day to the second week of April. This is partly due climate change and the yearly conflict with Earth Day.
- Barb Henry suggested CNLP Day be held every other year and make it a bigger event.
- Next membership meeting will be held on July 23 at Lakeside Sod Supply Company. It will include a tour and demonstration.
Ryan McMillan asked for a motion to accept the minutes of February 6, 2025. Roger Restorff motioned to accept the minutes of February 6. The motion was seconded by Kim Schichtel. All were favor.
Ed Dore made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Bob Smith. Meeting adjourned at 7:39pm.
Respectfully submitted: Joyce Janson