Gardens Buffalo Niagara 101

Left to right: Cornell Cooperative Extension Erie County Master Gardeners Sally Cunningham and Phyllis Witherspoon Lobbins; Jess Abbott and Barbara Cavanaugh at Garden Walk Buffalo; Martin House curator Susana Tejada, garden writer and historian Abra Lee, East Side Garden Walk participant Walter Myles, and GBN emeritus board member Catherine Lincoln. It’s not just garden tours, it’s a blooming movement By Lauren Newkirk Maynard As the new steward of Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, Gardens Buffalo Niagara (GBN) is going all in. We’re serious about…

Get your flower fix early at Open Gardens Spring Weekend

By Elizabeth Foy Gardeners and visitors asked, and Gardens Buffalo Niagara delivered! The first-ever Open Gardens Spring Weekend is happening Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17. This is your opportunity to visit 16 private, regional gardens throughout Erie and Niagara counties earlier in the season.  “Open gardeners put a great deal of effort into having their gardens ready for the July opening,” said event co-chair Mike Shadrack. “This year, many have opted for an additional May tour and are…

Experience butterflies up close at the Botanical Gardens

By Elizabeth Foy From May 16 through July 19, the popular Butterfly Experience returns for a second year to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens this summer, offering visitors the opportunity to learn about the important role butterflies play in the ecosystem.   Housed in the Tropical Orchard greenhouse and featuring a variety of native butterfly species—including Swallowtails, Monarchs, Painted Ladies, Red Admirals, and more—the exhibit is included with admission.  “We’re excited to offer the Butterfly Experience again this year,”…

Grants plant seeds of community change

By Jim Charlier This year, Gardens Buffalo Niagara granted $39,695 in Lunenfeld Beautification Grants to 33 block clubs and community groups for garden projects across Buffalo.  Since the program launched in 2004, more than $200,000 has supported more than 300 projects—a living tribute to Marvin Lunenfeld, founder of Garden Walk Buffalo, who passed away in 2012.  The grants, up to $1,500 each, fund community gardens, street-side planters, rain gardens, raised-bed gardens, hanging baskets, and more. To be eligible, projects had…

Deep roots: Gardens Buffalo Niagara will offer even more resources

by Lauren Newkirk Maynard Starting in May, you’ll see changes at Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com! “Gardens Buffalo Niagara has rescued this magazine,” said Connie Oswald Stofko, who built Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com from scratch and is happy to step down and retire after almost 20 years. “They can do more than I could do by myself.” The first thing you’ll notice that it will be a monthly publication instead of weekly. We think you’ll enjoy it because we have a new, larger team of editors and…

A new chapter for Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com

by Lauren Newkirk Maynard Next month, Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com will change hands when Connie Oswald Stofko, publisher, steps into retirement after 16 remarkable years at the helm.  To make sure you continue to get great gardening information for Western New York, I’m happy to share that Gardens Buffalo Niagara (GBN) is stepping in to continue the magazine. GBN is the non-profit that brings you Garden Walk Buffalo, East Side Garden Walk, Open Gardens, the Garden Art Sale (and a lot more). I’m…

prize from Henry's Gardens for 2026

TUESDAY, APRIL 14 was the last day to enter prize drawing

There are just a few hours left to subscribe to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com and have a chance to win a prize package worth nearly $500! You must be subscribed at Level 2 or 3. Sign up now! Then watch your email. If you are chosen as a winner, you will be notified via email by Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. If we don’t hear from you by 7 p.m. Friday, April 17, we will choose another winner! There will be three winners for the prize packages–each winner will…

flower outside at Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens

What you get with this online magazine, & what you might win!

Get information you can use in your own garden when you subscribe to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, the online gardening magazine for Western New York. You’ll get practical gardening tips, full-color photos of amazing gardens, and the most comprehensive calendar of gardening events in Western New York. Subscribe today and the newest issue will be emailed to you so you won’t miss a thing! Level 2: You may be a winner Annual subscription for $22.79 When you subscribe at Level 2, you might…

Lakeside Sod logo 2026 Big Yellow Bag

Our prize drawing returns—with a package valued at nearly $500!

by Connie Oswald Stofko Do you already have a membership at Level 2 or 3? (Level 2 is the annual subscription for $22.79 and Level 3 is the Celebrity Level for $29.79.) If so, you have automatically been entered into this year’s prize drawing from Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. There will be three winners for the prize packages–each winner will receive a prize package worth nearly $500! An extra chance at the Celebrity Level If you are at the Celebrity Level and aren’t…

lesser celandine and a door hanger

Get the word out about–ugh!–lesser celandine

by Connie Oswald Stofko If your neighbors have lesser celandine, you will soon have this horrible, but cute, plant all over your gardens and lawn. What can you do? Talk to your neighbors–in a nice way. That’s what Devon Southall of Tonawanda did. Southall had some lesser celandine in her backyard, so she asked her neighbor if she could check along their shared fence. Yikes! Along the fence, Southall found a carpet of lesser celandine about 75 feet long. That…