Cash prizes offered in Jamestown Audubon Society’s photo contest The Jamestown Audubon Society’s Nature Photography Contest offers prizes in three categories and two divisions. The youth division is for ages 8-18 or still in high school and the adult division is for ages 18 and over or post-high school. Youth and adult winners in the categories of landscapes, plants, and wildlife will all receive a $100 cash prize as well as free photo finishing. “Every winner receives a cash prize,”…...
Category: Garden tips
Garden tips for the Buffalo area.
Luxuriant gardens in Clarence were built slowly, filled with perennials
Grassless front yards aren’t seen only in the City of Buffalo. A profusion of flowers fills most of Catherine Klein’s front yard in a semi-rural area of Clarence. “You don’t need grass,” she said. “Grass is green. Flowers are colorful.” As you’re planning your garden for this summer, take inspiration and some tips from Catherine. Catherine and I are related. Her father-in-law and my late father were cousins, which makes me and Catherine second cousins by marriage (or something). I…...
Order now to get ‘hot picks’ at Botanical Gardens sale, & more news
‘Hot picks’ available during Botanical Gardens plant sale Alstromeria ‘Inca Ice’, seen above, is one of the “hot picks” offered this year as part of the Great Plant Sale of the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. Only a limited number of specimens of each hot pick will be available. The hot picks must be ordered online. The deadline to order is April 5. Plants will be available for pick-up at the Botanical Gardens during the Great Plant Sale on…...
Wild weather– Should we worry about our Buffalo gardens?
Last week the temperatures were in the single digits. This week it may be in the 50s or even 60s. Should we Western New York gardeners be worried? “I’m probably more concerned that folks don’t have much snow cover,” said John Farfaglia, extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Niagara County. Snow is a good insulator and can protect plants against damage that can come from these wild fluctuations in temperature. This is the second year in a row that…...
Hypertufa: additional tips on using this material to make planters
Hypertufa is a concrete-like material that you can use to make planters that can stay outside all winter. In December, Anne Brierley of the Parkside area of Buffalo took us through the steps of making a hypertufa planter. But she had so many great tips, we couldn’t squeeze them all into one video. In the video below, Brierley gives tips on using leaves to make impressions, talks about coloring hypertufa and goes into more detail on the process of making…...
Check on your amaryllis and other items too good to miss
I walked into my basement this weekend and was surprised to see that my amaryllis bulbs were leafing out. I shouldn’t have been surprised; this is precisely what they were supposed to do. I am forcing them to bloom indoors so I can enjoy gorgeous flowers in the middle of winter. But out of sight, out of mind. I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice their activity until the leaves were quite long and I had a flower bud. If…...
Carnation is the birthday flower for January, but it gets no respect
The birthday flower for January is the carnation, which is one of my favorite flowers. It has everything you could want in a flower– a beautiful shape, a wide variety of colors and a delightful fragrance. But some people look down on the magnificent carnation. “The carnation got a bad reputation,” said Maggie Wittmer, floral designer at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses in Williamsville. “There’s no reason to hate the carnation. That’s a bum rap.” In addition to being beautiful, the…...
Hypertufa: What it is and how to use it to make a planter
Back in the 1930s, it was found that some Alpine plants grew well in tufa, a porous rock formed when water seeps through limestone. Tufa was scarce and expensive, so a few gardeners worked to find an inexpensive and accessible alternative. The product they came up with is called hypertufa. Hypertufa is similar to concrete, but lighter and more porous. You can use it to make planters in whatever size or shape you need. Anne Brierley of the Parkside area…...
‘Bloom where you are planted’ is motto of Buffalo gardener
When Carol Franklin is outside watering her garden on Prospect Avenue in Buffalo, people will stop and tell her what a good job she’s doing. They don’t expect to find city areas to look as good as this, she explained, but you can have a great garden wherever you are. “Bloom where you are planted,” Franklin said. I visited Franklin this July during Garden Walk Buffalo. Her welcoming front garden wraps around the side of the house and can be…...
Seeds make great stocking stuffers & more items too good to miss
Seeds make great stocking stuffers Seeds are already available at some garden centers including Arbodale Nurseries & Landscaping, 480 Dodge Road, Getzville. Slip a packet into a Christmas card for a gardening friend, or use them as a stocking stuffer. Get some seeds for yourself, too. As soon as the holidays are over, I’m always aching to get into the garden, but there’s not much to do when the ground is frozen. That’s why I love this tip on how…...