If you didn’t get around to ordering any of the enticing plants in the Great Plant Sale held by the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens, you’re in luck– The deadline to order has been extended to this Sunday, April 16! In addition to shrubs and grasses, you can pre-order annuals, such as Dianthus Super Parfait ‘Crimson Star’. The Super Parfait series is known for large blooms and early flowering. ‘Crimson Star’ is a bicolored bloom. Oh, and it attracts butterflies! See the…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko If you want to use candles in your yard, they don’t have to stand on a table and they don’t need real flames. Those were a couple tips I got in August when I visited the yard of Sue Tronolone during the Black Rock & Riverside Tour of Gardens. It was daytime when I visited her, but she shared her gardens on the evening Starry Night Garden Tour as well. While the lighting adds ambiance to the…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Please help me congratulate the three lucky winners in our recent drawing held by Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. They are: Dave Niedzwiecki of Buffalo Peggy Metzger of Strykersville Linda Kleinschmidt of Buffalo The names were drawn at random. Everyone who was subscribed to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com by March 28– even those who signed up years ago– were entered into the drawing. I’m happy to have so many new subscribers, and I love my loyal readers, too! Each of the winners receives a $250 prize package…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Sometimes readers send me questions that they’d like to get some opinions on, so I share their questions with my readers. Here’s one. Hi Connie, I was given a philodendron in a basket with other plants as a gift over 10 years ago. I give it 20/20/20 every watering which is weekly. For over a year, there is a stalk about 1 inch in diameter supporting extra-large leaves. They are bigger than my hand, so approximately…...
The Green Sun Seed Library will hold its first seed and plant swap from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 9 at Sewing Souls Studio, 356 South Elmwood Ave., between Trinity and Tupper, Buffalo. Parking is available in the rear off West Tupper. You must use the West Tupper entrance; get to it from the back via the driveway on Tupper. It is hosted by Albert Brown and Heron E. Simmonds-Price. You are invited to share your seeds, plants, spring…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko A shrub that has different looks from spring through summer is just one of the exciting plants that is being offered through the Great Plant Sale of the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. Hurry and order– The deadline to pre-order is Friday, April 7, and some of the popular plants get sold out. See the entire pre-order list and place orders online. No orders will be shipped; you will pick up your plants at…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Tell your friends that they have until midnight tonight, Tuesday, March 28, 2017, to enter to win a gardener’s prize package worth more than $250. All they have to do to enter is to subscribe to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. And it’s free to subscribe! It was fun meeting so many new people this past week at Plantasia, but it was so busy that we might not have told you about our prize drawing. If you subscribed with us…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko One of the great things about Plantasia is that no matter what the weather is like outside– snowy, windy, cold, rainy or gloomy– it’s always spring inside, thanks to the great landscapes on display. It’s a great way to get ideas for your own landscapes. The People’s Choice Awards, voted on by visitors to Plantasia, were announced on Sunday. First place went to the landscape created by Chevalier Outdoor Living and Buffalo Treehouse. Second place went…...
You can learn new skills and become more self-sufficient through a food preservation certificate course and homesteading classes being offered this spring by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Niagara County. Food preservation certificate course Certified master food preservation experts will host a three-day master food preserver class from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, May 2-4 at the 4-H Training Center, 4487 Lake Ave., Lockport. This comprehensive training program will go beyond the basics and teach participants how…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko We buy plants with our eyes, said Ken Parker, CNLP, native plant expert and consultant. But when we choose plants that are edible as well as beautiful, we make our garden functional. “Plants are not just for aesthetics,” Parker said. And the edible plants that he recommends also attract pollinators, “so it’s win, win, win.” In this article, he shares some recommendations for trees and plants that that not only look attractive in our landscape, they…...