Garden tips for the Buffalo area.
Did you know that the beautiful amaryllis you have been enjoying indoors this winter can rebloom next year and the year after that, too? “I’ve been using the same bulbs through the years,” said Doug O’Reilly, horticulturist and head gardener at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. He has to make sure he has amaryllis flowers– and lots of them– blooming every year for the annual Amaryllis and Cymbidium Exhibit. The exhibit continues through Feb. 20 at the Botanical…...
Carnivorous plants are fascinating because they do something so unusual: They eat animals. You can grow carnivorous plants in your Buffalo-area home if you pay attention to their needs in three areas: water, minerals and food, said Kenny Coogan of Kenmore. Coogan, along with Ryan McGhee, co-founded the Western New York Carnivorous Plant Club. The club will meet from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1 at Menne Nursery, 3100 Niagara Falls Blvd., Amherst. The topic will be the butterwort,…...
Here’s an over-the-top decorating idea for the holidays: Make your yard feel more Christmasy by planting holly bushes in the Buffalo area right now! “It’s been such a mild December,” said Teresa Buchanan, general manager of Lockwood’s Greenhouses, 4484 Clark St., Hamburg. “That’s the only reason you can get away with planting holly now. Normally, it would be too cold by now.” This is the time of year when holly bushes look their most splendid, adorned with their red berries, often…
Right now you may be able to name all the plants in your garden, but next season, will you still know what’s what? Make these sturdy plant tags and you’ll definitely be able to keep track of your perennials. You can keep the tags outside all winter and, unlike flimsy plastic tags that get trampled by rabbits or pushed over by heavy snow, these wooden plant labels will still be standing in spring. Best of all, they’re so pretty that…...
Whether you’re looking for wonderful gifts to give to your gardening friends, or wondering what you should put on your own wish list this year, you’ll find some wonderful suggestions right here. Poinsettias: Beautiful, traditional, convenient A gift of poinsettias from Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses is beautiful and traditional. It’s also fast, easy and convenient to have poinsettias delivered, which is great at this busy time of year. Home-grown under ideal conditions in Mischler’s greenhouses, the plants are fresh and…
Autumn keeps hanging on in the Buffalo area. My niece Carrie picked a rose from her garden last week! Unfortunately, we know that wintry weather is inevitable, and our outdoor gardening will soon come to an end. Don’t let it get you down, though. When we lose our outdoor flowers, it just means we have more time for our indoor blooms, such as African violets. If you’ve never grown African violets, or if you haven’t grown them well, check out…...
This is another one of those articles I like to think of as potpourri– a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I hope you find something that’s useful or entertaining. Light up a gazing ball. These instructions for making a lighted gazing ball, like the one you see at left, come from Kathi and Craig Schwab of Kenmore: “We used an extra LED light that we had, put it inside the globe and connected the lighted gazing globe…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The image at left is lovely if it’s on a Christmas card, but aggravating if it’s actually happening in your garden. I’ve written before about ways to keep deer and rabbits out of your garden. Even if you read those articles when they were published, take a second look and make sure you take a look at the comments sections. Readers have followed up and shared great tips! I think it’s time to address the…...
“All plants are sensitive to smoke,” David Clark said in answer to a question during a recent horticulture class at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. Thursday, Nov. 17 is the 36th Great American Smokeout. Protecting your houseplants is one more reason for you to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day. If you smoke, you probably notice that you have to wash your windows and mirrors…...
Here are three helpful tips for autumn, courtesy of the free newsletter from Heimiller Greenhouses. Tip #1: How to deal with tar spot When it comes to tar spot, there’s bad news and good news and more bad news. The bad news is that tar spot is an ugly black fungus that seems to infect Norway maples, to a greater or lesser degree, every year, according to Lisa Heimiller of Heimiller Greenhouses. The good news is that while tar spot…...
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