If you want something in your garden that your neighbors don’t have, try native plants, suggests Ken Parker, CNLP, native plant specialist and manager of trees, shrubs and perennials at Lockwood’s Greenhouses. He will talk about native woodland plants that you can grow in your own garden at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 5 at Lockwood’s Greenhouses, 4484 Clark Street, Hamburg. The fee is $10. He will also be one of several speakers at a Native Plants Day at Lockwood’s on…
Awhile back, I got a flurry of comments on the photo at left. People wanted to know how to make this leaning tower of pots that I photographed in Cherie St. Pierre’s yard in Eggertsville. It turns out that St. Pierre didn’t make hers; she bought the inner workings at a garden show. What she got was a long bar with a large fork at the end to be placed in the ground. The fork prongs give the rod more…
“I took a plot where even grass wasn’t growing because there was too much clay and turned it into this,” said Marilyn Rodgers of 81 Johnson Park, Buffalo. She shared her colorful garden during Garden Walk Buffalo last year. This year the event will be held July 28 and 29. Rodgers’ garden is another example of grassless front yards that are so charming. They seem to be turning into a symbol of Buffalo-style gardening. Her front yard was mostly clay,…
Gardeners treasure the chance to get outdoors and work with plants. They feel the rhythms of the seasons. They’re in tune with nature and want to make their corner of the world a better place. Earth Day is coming up this Sunday, April 22, so this seems like a good time to review ways we gardeners can be more effective in helping the environment. Many of the tips on our list today are things we’ve talked about in previous articles,…
Vertical gardens are a great way to add color to a fence or wall. They’re terrific if you don’t have much space for gardening. With vertical gardening, you could install an herb garden right outside your kitchen door, and vertical gardens can be used inside, too. The trick to the vertical garden is the container. It’s basically a shallow box divided into smaller cells. Each cell has a slanted bottom that keeps the soil and plant in place.You can buy…
An interesting new event called the Earth Bowl Festival will take place at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 30, at the Riverside Salem United Church of Christ Environmental Cottage, 3449 West River Road, Grand Island, NY, overlooking the scenic Niagara River. Parking is available along the river. The Earth Bowl Festival features a delicious, full course vegetarian dinner including entrees, salads, breads and desserts, with vegan, wheat-free and dairy-free options. Dinner will be served in beautifully designed, hand-thrown artisan bowls, created…
There’s nothing like a freshly picked tomato, and tomatoes are easy to grow everywhere in the Buffalo area. You don’t even need a garden– a very simple container will do. Thomas Mitchell, a horticulture teacher at Niagara County Community College, shared tips on growing vegetables during a presentation at Plantasia, Western New York’s premier garden and landscape show held in March. Mitchell’s number one point was that you have to have good soil. I demoted that tip to number two…
Garden Walk Buffalo announced grants, including a $2,500 grant to Re-Tree WNY, at its Beautification Awards event held last night at D’Youville College in Buffalo. “With the grants we’re giving out, we’re sort of spinning green into gold,” said Jim Charlier, president of Garden Walk Buffalo. Garden Walk Buffalo is a free event that brings visitors into Buffalo from across the country. The nonprofit organization raises money for its expenses through the sale of merchandise and through corporate sponsorships. The…
Vendor applications for the seventh annual Lewiston Garden Fest are now being accepted by the Lewiston Garden Club, which sponsors the event. Businesses and vendors who sell items related to gardening, horticulture and the outdoors, including nurseries, landscapers, garden artists, builders and others who enhance beauty in the garden, are encouraged to apply. The Lewiston Garden Fest will be held Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24, along Center Street in Lewiston. Interested vendors can contact Sharon Low at 716-297-5925…
We’ve had record-setting high temperatures in the Buffalo area. There have been long strings of warm–even hot–days. All of our spring plants are two to four weeks ahead of schedule. It felt as if summer weather was here to stay. But it’s still only March, and we knew the warm weather wouldn’t continue. In an article last week, we warned you that we would still get frost, and that happened last night. It probably won’t be our last frost this…
© 2012 Buffalo-Niagara Gardening. All rights reserved.