soap is way to repel deer

Deer eating your garden? Tips offered by East Aurora Garden Club

Commercial products, homemade mixtures and soap on a rope were among the methods to repel deer shared by Chris Hartmann, a member of the East Aurora Garden Club, in an educational exhibit called “Deer at the Corner of the House.” The exhibit was part of the Poetry & Posies standard flower show held by the East Aurora Garden Club Saturday and Sunday, July 31 and Aug. 1. Soap on a rope, hair and Mylar Hanging strongly scented soap near your…

cancer ribbon garden at Buffalo train terminal

Event to benefit Breast Cancer Awareness Garden in Buffalo

A fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Awareness Garden at the Buffalo Central Terminal will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7 at the former train terminal, 495 Paderewski Dr., Buffalo. The garden, a project of the Buffalo Federation of Women’s Clubs, is an open garden for the National Garden Festival and was featured by Buffalo in Bloom. (It’s also not far from the Front Yard Competition on North Parade in Buffalo, so you might want to…

visitors to East Aurora Garden Club flower show

Get great ideas for container plantings

by Connie Oswald Stofko Container plantings are so versatile. If your outdoor space is limited to an apartment balcony, a container can serve as your entire garden. Containers can also decorate porches and patios, or fill in bare spots in a larger garden.  They can be created in any style. Visitors got lots of great ideas for container plantings at the Poetry & Posies standard flower show of the East Aurora Garden Club on Saturday and Sunday, July 31 and…

view of right side 36 N Parade Buffalo

Winners announced in Front Yard Competition

by Connie Oswald Stofko The voting is done, and the front yard of the large Victorian at 28/36 North Parade in Buffalo won the first place People’s Choice Award for large gardens in the Front Yard Competition of the National Garden Festival in Buffalo. It was designed by The English Gardener, Ltd. Professional landscapers donated their time and materials to transform 19 front yards as part of the Front Yard Competition, the first event of its kind in the country….

keep rabbits out of gardens in Western New York

Keep rabbits out of your garden

by Connie Oswald Stofko Our yard is overrun with rabbits. They chomped on my gladious. They decimated my delphinium. I planted four straight, healthy, nearly perfect sunflowers along the fence, as well as two scrawny, twisted specimens. The rabbits ate the four perfect plants and sidestepped the others. I kept seeing my campanula toppled over, and discovered the rabbits had built a nest right in my garden, trampling plants as they made their way in and out! We used to…

front garden on West Ferry in Buffalo

Lush gardens featured on West Ferry during Garden Walk Buffalo

by Connie Oswald Stofko Lynn and Alan Stout have lived at 801 West Ferry, Buffalo, for 20 years, and they have built their lavish gardens bit by bit. They shared their work with the public during Garden Walk Buffalo on Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25. About 350 gardens were displayed on Garden Walk Buffalo, making it one of the largest garden tours in the nation. Visitors to the Stouts’ home were treated to large, full gardens in both…

South Buffalo side garden

Border garden provides privacy in South Buffalo

by Connie Oswald Stofko A new border garden gives a South Buffalo backyard more privacy. The gardens at 222 Cumberland Ave. were on display Sunday, July 18 during the 10th annual South Buffalo Alive garden walk. Dave Testa, who lives in the corner property with Jack Tontillo, envisioned the kind of mixed border you might see at a big English house. “I hate the formality of straight lines,” he said, explaining the curved design he used. When choosing plants, “I…

Lancaster front

Lush perennial borders accent Lancaster home

by Connie Oswald Stofko When the Hagemans started gardening nine years ago, they had nothing but bushes. Now perennial beds fill both their front yard and backyard. “Every year my husband says he’s not going to make me another border, and every year he makes me another border,” Debbie Hageman said. She and her husband Cliff shared their garden at 73 Grant St. with visitors  during the 7th Annual Lancaster Garden Walk on Saturday and Sunday, July 17 and 18….

inside front garden Amherst

First garden walk held for Town of Amherst

by Connie Oswald Stofko The gardens of Lois Weinstein, master gardener, were among those displayed Saturday, July 17, in the first Amherst Garden Walk. Weinstein initiated the walk because while Eggertsville, Snyder and Williamsville are represented on garden walks, the rest of the Town of Amherst had no garden walk.  Her husband, Barry, who is town supervisor, encouraged the idea–as long as it didn’t cost the town any money.  (It didn’t.) There were 32 houses on the garden walk. Lois’s…

Clarence garden fountain

Clarence homeowners build prize-winning gardens

by Connie Oswald Stofko Suzanne and Bob Wiepert built their “backyard oasis” by doing a little bit each year, starting in 2006. This year their gardens at 9525 Melinda won first place in Clarence Hollow in Bloom, a garden walk held Saturday, July 17 by the Clarence Garden Club. The Wieperts bought the house for its large backyard, just under an acre, which had big trees and boulders. From there, they built separate gardens and gave them names. At right…