Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, which has won awards for its own container designs, gives you a chance to show off your talent and possibly win a great prize in its new Container Design Competition to be held Saturday, Aug. 2 at Mischler’s, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville. It’s free to enter. The first, second and third place awards are gift certificates from Mischler’s for $100, $50 and $25, respectively. The first place winner gets an additional honor: the opportunity to…...
By Connie Oswald Stofko Linda and Jaime Klubek of 48 Cadman Dr., Williamsville, have so many gardens they have named them. There’s the Asian garden featuring decorations influenced by that part of the world; the art garden, which features original glass creations made by Linda as well as statues and recycled items; the frog garden, home to many playful statues of frogs; the shoe garden, which contains a collection of shoe-shaped planters, and the grotto, a quiet and secluded spot for…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The backyard of Barbara and Anthony DiMino of Lockport has one feature I’ve never seen in any other garden landscape. Because they’re situated on the Niagara Escarpment, their property ends at the top of a steep incline that shoots up three or four stories high at the back of the yard. You can see this unique landscape during the 10th Annual Lockport in Bloom Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 12 and…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko “Before, it just looked like a collection of plants,” said Elaine Clutterbuck of 728 Crescent Ave., Buffalo. “Now it looks like a garden.” What did the trick? Pathways. “I think the pathways are what made the garden,” she said, looking around her attractive backyard. “Before, it didn’t look like it had any unity.” I visited the gardens of Elaine and her husband Don during the Parkside Garden Tour on June 29 and learned so much. You…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The most interesting thing about the landscape of Gordon Ballard and Brian Olinski– and trust me, there are many interesting things packed into this space– is that you can’t see straight through from the front to the back. When you step inside the gate, you follow a path lined with tall plants. There are are bushes, tall perennials and ornamental grasses; vining plants climbing up trellis and arbors, and flowers of all kinds displayed in large…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko “We never throw anything out,” said Ken Haberman of 39 West Ave., Hamburg. He and his wife Shirley have found ways to use scrap material in their gardens. When a driveway was put in, the extra topsoil became raised beds at the front of the house. Broken concrete was used to hold the soil in place and create a lovely terraced effect. When a chimney had to be torn down, they used the flues as tall…...
Summer is here and so is the hot weather. Even though this is what we’ve been waiting for all winter, sometimes we need a break from the heat. Teresa Buchanan, garden center manager at Lockwood’s Greenhouses, 4484 Clark St., Hamburg, recommends the Neckbandoo. It’s made by Blubandoo and contains non-toxic polymer crystals that quickly expand to a gel when immersed in water. According to the company, Blubandoo products quickly dry to the touch, but stay hydrated, keeping the wearer cool…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko I’ve been hearing from subscribers who are puzzled because they signed up for Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, but don’t seem to be receiving it. I was puzzled, too, because from my end, I could see that the emails were delivered with no problem. Then I noticed a pattern: These folks had Gmail addresses. You may not be aware of it, but Gmail now sorts all your incoming email into categories: primary, social and promotions. You may be looking at…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko I’m excited to be part of a new feature this year at the ninth annual Lewiston GardenFest: Garden Talk demonstrations. The Lewiston GardenFest is held by the Lewiston Garden Club and kicks off the garden walks of the National Garden Festival. I’ll be giving a new presentation, “Get Crafty in Your Garden,” at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 21 in the Community Tent located in the center of the festival on Center Street in Lewiston. (Part of…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko When you grow garlic plants in Western New York, you don’t harvest the bulbs until late summer, but you can harvest the scapes right now. Your hard neck garlic plants have probably developed curlicue stems called scapes, which are the flower stalks. While they look great in your garden, if you leave them in place they will divert the plant’s energy from the underground bulb. If you want a nice large head of garlic, cut off…...