by Connie Oswald Stofko I was chatting with one of my subscribers at Plantasia and she mentioned that she has seen trees– Japanese maples as well as other trees– that didn’t lose their leaves over the winter. The leaves are brown, but still attached. “I’m scared because the trees don’t have buds yet,” she said. I noticed the same thing in my neighborhood, so I talked to John Farfaglia, extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Niagara County. Don’t worry,…...
The PLANT WNY Foundation is offering scholarships to students who want to pursue careers in the nursery/landscape industry. The next application deadline is Monday, June 18 for the fall 2018 semester. Get more details and application forms here. Winners of spring 2018 scholarships are: Cheryl Krisnosky, recipient of the Mary and George Schichtel Scholarship Alora Angelina Brusino, recipient of the WNY Nurserymen’s Association Foundation Scholarship Sean Beckinghausen, recipient of the WNY Nurserymen’s Association Foundation Scholarship Carrie Everett, recipient of the George O. Adams…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko I know there are literally thousands of people out there waiting to hear who won our drawing for a gardening prize package worth $200. There will be three winners, and each winner receives the entire prize package! I created a randomized list of all my subscribers on Wednesday, March 28. I notified the first three people on the list that they were winners. Two of the winners got back to me promptly. But the third winner…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko I am fortunate that so many Western New Yorkers share gardening tips with me. People often share tips with me after I give a talk. Unfortunately, I am so busy scribbling down notes about the tips themselves that I don’t always get the name of the person who shared the tip. My apologies. Today I’ll share a few of the tips I’ve accumulated. If you have a tip that worked for you, you can share…...
A sale of rain barrels and compost bins is being held by the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning, the City of Buffalo and the Western New York Stormwater Coalition. Prices are 50 percent off retail. The deadline to order is May 25. Quantities are limited. You have to pick up your items on June 7. The pick-up sites are in Buffalo and Tonawanda. See more details here. This is the third year the organizations have held the sale. Some…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko During the summer, we spend more time outside, even after the sun goes down. Visitors to Plantasia got ideas for gardens in general and more specifically for viewing them at dusk with this year’s theme, “Cityscapes into the Night.” Garden lighting was a big feature of the displays. Street signs, traffic lights, a fire hydrant and a manhole cover added to the feeling of being in a big city. Plantasia is the garden and landscape show…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko After about 20 years of adding trees and garden beds to their Grand Island landscape, Pat and Gary Scott are slowing down and even reducing the size of some beds. “We have to tone it down a little because it’s a lot of work,” Pat said. “If the gardens get too big, it’s overwhelming.” I visited the Scotts on last year’s Grand Island Garden Walk. This year the Grand Island Garden Walk will be held from 10…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Tell your friends that they have until midnight tonight, Tuesday, March 27, 2018, to enter to win a gardener’s prize package worth more than $200. All they have to do to enter is to subscribe to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. And it’s free to subscribe! It was wonderful meeting so many new people this past week at Plantasia. If you subscribed with us at Plantasia, you were automatically entered into the prize drawing! And if you were already subscribed before Plantasia,…...
Volunteers are needed to help with an ongoing gardening project sponsored by the Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County at the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village, 3755 Tonawanda Creek Rd., Amherst. They plant and maintain demonstration gardens and give gardening education in this museum, set up like a village from the 1800s. You can learn from Master Gardeners as you work side by side with them in a variety of gardens: herb garden, dyer’s garden, native plant garden, Peace…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko “I finally got fed up with the baloney I saw on the Internet,” said Carolyn Stanko, associate professor of horticulture and biology at Niagara County Community College and a senior CNLP. She’d see posts of bogus gardening information, but other readers would think it was true and share it. “I finally had to stand up and preach the truth!” she said. She will help you separate gardening fact from fiction when she presents “Garden Myth Busting –…...