by Connie Oswald Stofko I love Western New York gardeners. I tried waiting out the rain Sunday, but it just kept getting worse, so around 1 p.m. I made my way out to the Snyder-CleveHill Garden View, a garden walk that covers parts of Amherst and Cheektowaga. I stopped at the home of Terrie and Jerry Newman at 194 Lamarck Dr. The description on the map said they had struggled with clay soil, something that a lot of Western New…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The backyard of Barbara and Anthony DiMino of Lockport has one feature I’ve never seen in any other garden landscape. Because they’re situated on the Niagara Escarpment, their property ends at the top of a steep incline that shoots up three or four stories high at the back of the yard. You can see this unique landscape during the 10th Annual Lockport in Bloom Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 12 and…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko This weekend is probably the biggest shopping weekend for gardeners. Our gardens should be dry enough to dig in by now, and by the end of May, the danger of frost should have passed, so we’re all excited to buy tender plants and put them in our gardens now. To help you get the most out of your shopping excursion, take a look at these tips. Decide what you want to get out of your garden…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko So many of us are looking forward to the start of the 2014 gardening season, but Claudia Kolbe-Hawthorne of the Cleve-Hill section of Cheektowaga is already enjoying the third wave of color in her flower beds. First there were the hyacinths, which were followed by daffodils. When I visited her last week, there were masses of colorful tulips. But even after the tulips are gone, there won’t be a lack of color. The perennials, such as…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko A lot of beautiful potted flowers were sold this past week for Easter by Lockwood’s Greenhouses, 4484 Clark St., Hamburg. But when the flower falls off, what do you do with the plant? “People don’t know what to do with flowers they get at Easter,” said Teresa Buchanan, garden center manager. “A lot of those flowers will come back.” Here are tips from Buchanan on how to handle those wonderful potted flowers so that you can…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko In other years you might have been able to work the soil and plant some cool-weather annuals in your flower beds at the beginning of April, but not this year, said Mark Yadon, vice president of Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville. “It’s crazy,” he said.”It’s been too cold. “My advice for this year is to do your early plantings in containers.” Even if this past weekend’s snow has melted from your yard,…...
Tuesday, April 1 is the pre-order deadline for the Great Plant Sale taking place at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. All pre-orders placed for the Great Plant Sale can be picked up at the sale Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18. Order online by clicking here, or call for an order form at (716) 827-1584, ext. 204. Plants will not be shipped and are only available for pick-up at the Great Plant…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko I know most of you are dreaming of spring right now. You can’t wait to get outside and arrange perennials in a garden bed or mix annuals in a container. Don’t just pout and wait for spring. Here’s a gardening project you can do right now: Create a container garden of succulents that you can grow inside. A project like this allows you to use your creativity, but if you’re a beginning gardener (or a lazy…...
I got this question from a reader: I bought some perennials that I didn’t get a chance to plant: leopard’s bane, hardy aster, cone flowers and Munstead lavender. It has already frosted once I believe. Is it to late too plant outside? If so, can I store them indoors in the same containers that they came in? Thanks, Deborah In the two days since I received this question, Western New York has had snow as well as frost…....
by Connie Oswald Stofko How the hosta ‘Niagara Falls’ was created is the fascinating story of an artist with a love for family and her country. Olga Petryszyn, the world renowned hosta hybridizer who bred ‘Niagara Falls’, will speak at the meeting of the Western New York Hosta Society on Sunday, Nov. 10 at the Aurora Senior Citizens Center, 101 King St. near Oakwood, East Aurora. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. and the meeting starts at 2 p.m. The event…...
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