We need to protect peat bogs. Learn more about that in the article “Peat Moss and Sustainability” by Kathy Contrino, Master Gardener in Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension. Peat moss, which is used to help soil retain moisture, is grown in peat bogs. However, peat moss grows slowly and it grows only if the conditions are perfect. Peat bogs are also an environment for native carnivorous plants, so harvesting peat moss can disrupt that ecosystem. There are alternatives to peat…...
Our soil is still frozen, so there’s not much to do outside right now. But there’s plenty to do inside during the Spring Preview event at Mischler’s Florist & Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville. The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 7 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 8. Here are highlights of this exciting event: Plant sale: Add to your collection of indoor plants! All houseplants and succulents will be 33…...
Connie Oswald Stofko, editor of Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, will present “45 Gardening Tips in 45 Minutes” at the meeting of the Orchard Park Garden Club. The event will take place starting at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 6 at the American Legion Post, 3784 Ellis Road, Orchard Park. Stofko will share some of the best tips she has learned while interviewing home gardeners and experts. She has to average one tip per minute, so it’s fun to see if she can squeeze them…
by Connie Oswald Stofko If you want to start raising chickens for eggs, don’t be scared off by avian flu (bird flu), said Amy Barkley, the subject matter expert on avian influenza at Cornell University. However, you may face a different problem: finding chicks and pullets to start your flock. (Pullets are females raised by a farmer until the bird is about ready to lay eggs.) “I think it’s going to be more challenging to find chicks and pullets this…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko You may already have some milkweed and other native plants in your summer garden. Can you try for a loftier goal? Here’s a suggestion from Kim Eierman, an environmental horticulturist and ecological landscape designer: Have three native plants blooming in your garden at any time throughout our entire growing season. “Pollinators don’t all wake up on the same day,” Eierman said. “What if all you had in your garden was milkweed?” In early spring, when we…...
The Orchid Fest by Niagara Frontier Orchid Society will be the big finale of the Orchid Exhibit at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. Orchid Fest runs from Friday, Feb. 28 to Sunday, March 2. See it during Orchids After Dark on Friday and Saturday or during the day on Saturday and Sunday. This event features award-winning orchids, special displays and showcases, and orchid experts. Vendors are:…...
Here’s a tip that you help you move from one article to another without having to use your password each time. When you log in, click on “Remember me.” That should do the trick. You will have to use your password every so often, but it should be much easier this way! If you have questions, contact connie@buffalo-niagaragardening.com…....
by Connie Oswald Stofko “It was just a makeshift thing,” said Kim Kaiser, talking about the wooden stakes that her husband Seth set up to try to keep deer out. “It was kind of ugly,” she said. “But the fence is too low, so I had to think of something. I could put up a better fence, but I don’t want to disturb the clematis on the fence.” Wooden stakes, the kind you would buy to stake trees, were set…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko There’s snow on the ground and more snow to come. As I write this, the temperature might reach a high of 16 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill as low as -5. Brrr! That’s the forecast in the Buffalo area, but the weather is pretty much the same in the rest of Western New York. Yet despite the weather, the beginning of gardening season is here! Now is the time to get your supplies, equipment and…...
Sedges are as close to a carefree perennial as you can find, according to Lyn Chimera in the article “Sedges: Amazing and Hardy Perennials.” Native sedges have all the interesting features of grasses for your garden and much easier to care for. Other articles in this issue: WNY Gardening Matters is produced by the Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Erie County…....