by Connie Oswald Stofko I will present “45 Gardening Tips in 45 Minutes” at the meeting of the the Amherst Garden Club at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 25 at St. John Lutheran Church, 6540 Main St., Williamsville. Those attending will also participate in a plant exchange, allowing each person to take a plant to the meeting and bring one home. In my presentation, I’ll share some of the best tips I discovered as I have interviewed home gardeners and gardening…
You can plant impatiens in your shady garden if you want to play the odds
by Connie Oswald Stofko If you want to plant impatiens this year, you can take steps to decrease your chances of having your flowers killed by the blight called downy mildew, said Margery Daughtrey, senior extension associate with the Section of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University. One thing you can do is to plant your impatiens in hanging baskets where they might be more sheltered from the disease. You can also plant them among other plants so…...
Go early to get best picks at Great Plant Sale; see container demonstrations, too
by Connie Oswald Stofko In a new feature this year, you can see free demonstrations on creating great mixed containers at the Great Plant Sale to be held in the Administration Building of the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. Admission to the sale is free. The sale will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 19, 20 and 21. (I’ll have a table there, so stop by and say hello!) Thursday is for volunteers…...
Hear ‘Get Crafty in Your Garden’ at Cinderella Isle Garden Club meeting
by Connie Oswald Stofko I will present “Get Crafty in Your Garden” at the meeting of the Cinderella Isle Garden Club at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 19 in Trinity Lutheran Church, 2100 Whitehaven Rd., Grand Island. In my presentation, I’ll show you tips on crafts you can make for your garden as well as from your garden. One of the crafts is the inexpensive and easy-to-make glass mushroom decoration for your garden seen here. Like all the events we list…
Coneflowers with aster yellows disease: Keep healthy plants, but pull diseased ones
by Connie Oswald Stofko Here’s a question from a reader: Hi Connie, Last summer we were warned about aster yellows destroying coneflowers. My coneflowers were all infected but I didn’t remove the plants from my garden. Now I’m watching them sprout and I’m wondering if I should be worried. Should I take them out now? Thanks, Eileen Welborn Buffalo Yes, if you saw symptoms of aster yellows disease last year on your coneflowers and you didn’t pull out and carefully…...
Garden walks in Lancaster & Ken-Ton are seeking gardeners; Hamburg wants vendors, too
The garden walks in Lancaster and Ken-Ton are looking to sign up gardeners who want their gardens listed on this year’s event, and Hamburg is looking to sign up vendors as well as gardeners. As we told you previously, Sunday, May 15 is the deadline to sign up for Garden Walk Buffalo. For more information on other garden walks, see our Events page. Hamburg Garden Walk: vendors & gardeners The Hamburg Garden Walk is looking for gardeners to show their…...
Evening in the Garden begins May 18 in Jamestown
The first Evening in the Garden of the season will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 18 in the demonstration garden at the Frank Bratt Ag Center, 3542 Turner Rd., Jamestown. The events are held by the Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County. Each session includes a talk or demonstration as well as a question-and-answer session. This month’s session will be a demonstration of container planting. It will cover different examples of plants that can be…...
Public can participate in ‘bioBlitz’ to document species at Reinstein Woods
A 24-hour “bioBlitz” will be held to find and identify as many different species of organisms as possible at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve, 93 Honorine Dr., Cheektowaga. It will take place from Friday evening through Saturday, May 13-14. It is being held by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in partnership with Friends of Reinstein Woods. Starting on the evening of Friday, May 13, field teams of local scientists and volunteers will work together to seek out…...
Now is time to look for red lily leaf beetle in WNY; watch for brown marmorated stink bug
by Connie Oswald Stofko Last year we told you about two invasive insects that could cause problems in your garden: the red lily leaf beetle and the brown marmorated stink bug. The red lily leaf beetle is the one that causes the most concern right now. It eats lilies and did extensive damage in some gardens last year. If you had lily leaf beetles last year, expect to have them this year. Start watching for the red lily leaf beetle…...
Gardening gift ideas for Mother’s Day– Save this list for Father’s Day, too
by Connie Oswald Stofko Hanging baskets and gift certificates. Those were the items suggested most frequently when I asked my Premium Partners what the most popular gift items were for Mother’s Day, which is coming up on Sunday, May 8. (And these gifts work just as well for gardening dads– Use these suggestions again when Father’s Day rolls around on June 19!) “The weather’s nice and people want something for outdoors,” said Dan Meyer, greenhouse associate at Mischler’s Florist and…...