Category: Garden tips

Garden tips for the Buffalo area.

daisy fleabane in Amherst NY backyard

Weed or volunteer in your WNY garden: daisy fleabane

by Connie Oswald Stofko Sometimes we get plants that just show up in our gardens. If we want to keep those plants, we call them volunteers. If we don’t want those plants in our garden, they’re weeds. An interesting plant arrived in one of my garden beds this spring. I didn’t know what it was and wasn’t sure whether it was going to be a volunteer or a weed. It grew about five feet tall and got pretty little daisy-like…...

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Aug 9, 2022
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leaves with beech leaf disease

Beech leaf disease found in all of Western New York; report affected trees

Beech leaf disease (BLD), which affects all species of beech trees, has been identified in in all eight counties of Western New York. DEC is asking the public to submit reports through NYimapInvasives if they encounter a beech tree showing signs of BLD. The main symptom to look for on beech foliage is darkened striping between the veins, which is best seen when looking up through the canopy. Leaves with severe symptoms can be heavily banded and crinkled, with a thickened leathery…...

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Aug 9, 2022
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greenhouse whiteflies on leaf

Whiteflies in your WNY garden? Don’t worry

by Connie Oswald Stofko Here’s a message I got from a reader: Hi Connie, Would you consider adding the tiny whitefly infestation and organic solutions to rid garden of them in your next newsletter? In the garden, they are everywhere, likely thirsty! Wishing for rain tonight! Thank you, Brigitte Wagner-Ott, Eggertsville I didn’t even know what whiteflies were, and since Wagner-Ott lives down the street from me, I figured I should find out more. She saw something online, but wanted information…...

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Aug 2, 2022
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amaryllis blooming inside in Amherst NY

Reminder for WNY: Bring amaryllis inside soon so it blooms at Christmas

by Connie Oswald Stofko If you want to force your amaryllis to bloom inside around Christmas, bring it inside around the middle of August. That’s the advice from David Clark, CNLP, who teaches the horticulture classes at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. See our previous article here to find out about the timing for amaryllis. Find out more about growing amaryllis here…....

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Aug 2, 2022
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healthy plants at Mike Weber Greenhouses in West Seneca NY

How to choose healthy plants in Western New York

by Connie Oswald Stofko You’re at a garden center and you have found the variety of plant you want. There are several specimens to choose from. You pick up a pot. Is the plant you hold in your hand healthy? If it has something wrong with it, how would you even know? Jen Weber, vice president and manager of Mike Weber Greenhouses, 42 French Rd., West Seneca, explains what you should look for when buying garden plants.   Perennials and shrubs…...

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Jul 26, 2022
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snow peas in November in Amherst New York

Plant now in WNY: cool weather veggies

by Connie Oswald Stofko There’s a whole group of herbs and vegetables that you can grow now–from seed! These herbs and vegetables may take a month or two–even three months– to reach maturity. By then the weather will be cool, cold or freezing, but these plants like it that way. If you’ve never tried planting a crop of vegetables that you harvest in autumn or winter, try it this year. There are so many cool weather herbs and vegetables to…...

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Jul 19, 2022
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hose slowly watering plant

Reminder: Water when it rains & water when it doesn’t

by Connie Oswald Stofko I once saw a garden that was the kind I wanted to have. It was full of healthy, vibrant flowers. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the plants in that garden were the same ones I already had in my own garden. “Why doesn’t my garden look like yours?” I asked the gardener. “What are you doing that I’m not doing?” Her response: “Water when it rains; water when it doesn’t.” Think about it. You might…...

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Jul 5, 2022
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wandering dude hanging baskets at Mischler's in Williamsville NY

Recharge houseplants outdoors while they fill in your landscape

by Connie Oswald Stofko Several weeks ago, the folks at one garden center suggested I do an article about houseplants–in summer! That’s an odd topic for this time of year, I thought to myself. Then another garden center suggested the same thing. When a third garden center brought up houseplants, I knew I had to find out more. Here are some reasons to pay attention to houseplants in summer: Healthier houseplants Your houseplants will grow better outside because they can…...

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Jun 28, 2022
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mock orange at Graycliff in Derby NY

Graycliff in bloom: fragrance & color with (kind of) native plants

by Connie Oswald Stofko Choosing native plants for our gardens seems like a recent trend, but native plants were used in landscaping about a hundred years ago. Ellen Biddle Shipman, the pioneering landscape architect who worked on the gardens at historic Graycliff from 1929 to 1931, chose native plants for the picking garden. The plants she used were native somewhere in North or South America, but not necessarily native to Western New York. For example, she chose lantana, which is native…...

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Jun 28, 2022
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hairy bittercress weed

Hairy bittercress & more in WNY Gardening Matters

Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) is a weed you may see at this time of year, said Carol Ann Harlos in WNY Gardening Matters, produced by the Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Erie County. This plant and other ephemeral spring weeds pop up when the earth warms, quickly bloom and produce seeds. When the seeds are ripe, they shoot out and wait until autumn to germinate and grow. Depending on the conditions, several generations of plants can occur before…...

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Jun 28, 2022
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