The Genesee County Master Gardeners will hold monthly Garden Talk programs in person at the Cornell Cooperative Extension office, 420 East Main St., Batavia, or via Zoom. The programs will start at noon on Thursdays and can be 30 to 60 minutes long, depending on the topic. This free series is open to all, but registration is required. For a Zoom link, click on the link for the program you want to attend. A Zoom link will be sent to your…
by Connie Oswald Stofko As 2023 comes to a close, it’s time to take a look at the year in gardening in Western New York. Let’s start with events. There were classes, workshops, exhibits, plant exchanges, sales and garden club meetings—all helpful and fun. (All the garden club meetings on my Events page are open to the public.) Then there were the garden walks and Open Gardens. More than 400 gardens were open for you to visit—for free! Garden Walk…
Trees are valuable in many ways, and it really hits home when you link numbers to the value. Here are just a few of the statistics in the article “The Value of Trees By the Numbers” in the newest edition of The Optimistic Gardener: The Optimistic Gardener is produced by the Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. Find the newsletter on the gardening page of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Chautauqua (on the lefthand side) and in Cattaraugus (on the…
Garden Walk Buffalo is looking for submissions of original artwork to promote the 2024 event, its 30th anniversary. This is an opportunity to share your artwork with hundreds of local gardeners and tens of thousands of visitors from around the U.S., Canada, and abroad. Entries are due Wednesday, January 31. Here are the submission guidelines: Email your entry to aclark@gardensbuffaloniagara.com. Include ART ENTRY in the subject line. If possible, zip your files or use a service like wetransfer. See past posters here. See more information…
Urban Roots Cooperative Garden Market in Buffalo will host a free discussion series called Gardeners Give and Take starting in January. Urban Roots is also partnering with Grassroots Gardens and the Massachusetts Avenue Project for a series of free classes and workshops. More workshops will be announced in February. Gardeners Give and Take An informal discussion on everything gardening will take place at 10 a.m. Saturdays on Jan. 6, Jan. 20, Feb. 3 and Feb 17 at Urban Roots, 428…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Every month, when I ran out of my prescription medicine, I would get a new supply of pills in a new bottle. Then I would throw the empty bottle from the previous month into the trash, and it would end up in a landfill. I would throw out another bottle the next month. And the next month. And the next. I hated to throw out the bottles, but the recycling company in our area doesn’t take…
Welcome holiday visitors with an arrangement of evergreens for outdoors. You can find an assortment at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville. The greens are set into Mischler’s Mix, the same potting mixture they use for growing plants. By the time the cut greens have lost their lustre, you can remove them and plant spring pansies in the pot. Use the evergreen arrangement as is or set the pot into an urn. Display it on your porch,…
Be a citizen scientist and join one of the many Christmas bird counts that the National Audubon Society will hold from Thursday, Dec. 14 to Friday, Jan. 5. The Christmas bird counts have been taking place for more than 120 years. The information from these has been used in hundreds of analyses, peer-reviewed publications and government reports over the decades. One thing that scientists have discovered from the bird counts is that the number of birds has decreased dramatically in…
by Connie Oswald Stofko “We’re reimaging everything,” said Joe Mannion, director of Horticulture & Operations at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. The multi-million-dollar expansion plan that the Botanical Gardens started several years ago is gaining momentum, and Mannion gave me a sneak peek at the next transformation: Greenhouse 12 will become the home for a new collection of fascinating edible plants. Other revamped exhibits will include a seasonal pollinator exhibit and a family play space inside the existing…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Experts will discuss the latest research and opportunities in cannabis at the second annual, two-day 2024 SUNY Cannabis Conference to be held January 8 and 9 at Niagara County Community College and the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute. Sessions include plant genetics, sustainable practices, medical cannabis research and human resources. See speakers here. You don’t have to be a professional to attend. Culinary uses of cannabis A half-day program on the culinary uses of cannabis will take…