Walk through an enclosure filled with monarchs and other native butterflies during Monarch Madness from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 8 at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. The exhibit will include native plants that the butterflies need to eat, to lay their eggs on and, in short, to survive. Folks from the Eastern Monarch Butterfly Farm in Clarence will be on hand to talk about the butterflies. There will also be…...
Thanks for making Western New York’s online gardening magazine so successful!
by Connie Oswald Stofko Thanks to my loyal readers, Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com has once again received a Constant Contact All Star Award! “The standards for becoming an All Star this year were tougher than ever,” said the folks at Constant Contact, “and that you managed to do it for consecutive years is quite an accomplishment.” Constant Contact, a marketing and email company, works with more than half a million small organizations worldwide, so to be given this award is an honor for…...
5 tips for shopping for plants this weekend in Western New York
by Connie Oswald Stofko This weekend is probably the biggest shopping weekend for gardeners. Our gardens should be dry enough to dig in by now, and by the end of May, the danger of frost should have passed, so we’re all excited to buy tender plants and put them in our gardens now. To help you get the most out of your shopping excursion, take a look at these tips. Decide what you want to get out of your garden…...
Get spectacular spring color without sacrificing summer splendor
by Connie Oswald Stofko So many of us are looking forward to the start of the 2014 gardening season, but Claudia Kolbe-Hawthorne of the Cleve-Hill section of Cheektowaga is already enjoying the third wave of color in her flower beds. First there were the hyacinths, which were followed by daffodils. When I visited her last week, there were masses of colorful tulips. But even after the tulips are gone, there won’t be a lack of color. The perennials, such as…...
As you take photos, keep Western New York contests in mind
If you like gardening, you might like taking photos of gardens and nature. And if you’ve got some lovely shots, why not enter them into a photo contest? The deadline for the Jamestown Audubon contest is coming up quickly– June 30– but you have until Dec. 31 to get shots for the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens contest. Jamestown Audubon Society Anyone from beginners and professionals can enter their images in the fourth annual Nature Photography Contest held by…...
Heirloom tomatoes aren’t pretty, but can be fun to grow
by Connie Oswald Stofko Heirloom tomatoes may look weird to you. They’re purple or creamy yellow or even striped. And that’s why some people like them. “From that angle, they’re really fun,” said Jen Weber, retail manager at Mike Weber Greenhouses, 42 French Rd., West Seneca. You can buy heirloom tomatoes now at Mike Weber Greenhouses, and if you want to plant them now, go for it, Weber said. She has checked with Western New York farmers and they are…...
How to find a garden center that has the plant you’re looking for
I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from readers who want to know where they can buy certain plants. Whenever you want to know what garden centers have a particular plant in stock, it’s best to contact them directly. While some common plants might be carried by all garden centers, you’d be surprised at how widely the stock varies from shop to shop. In addition, garden centers will try out new plants each year and stop carrying other plants…...
Grow tunnel and herb garden under leaves: Did the plants survive this cold winter?
by Connie Oswald Stofko In November, Caesandra Seawell, garden manager, showed us how she extends the growing season in the Pelion Community Garden at City Honors School in Buffalo. She insulated the herb bed by adding a thick blanket of leaves and, after two frosts this fall, the parsley was still green. On another raised bed with a grow tunnel, the broccoli, kale and cabbage were still doing well even though the temperature had dipped to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. But…...
Find a good home for your extra plants by donating them to nonprofit gardens
When you’re thinning out your perennials, you probably feel sad when you have to throw those extra plants on the compost pile. Two Western New York organizations that would be delighted to find a good home for those plants are the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford and Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo. Genesee Country Village & Museum The Genesee Country Village & Museum recreates a 19th-century country village with costumed interpreters in restored historic buildings. This season the gardeners…...
Update: Impatiens might do okay in WNY this year, or they might not
by Connie Oswald Stofko If this summer is like last summer in Western New York, you might be able to plant impatiens and have them perform well, perhaps into August, anyway. But there are still a lot of ifs involved, and there are certainly no guarantees. Margery Daughtrey, senior extension associate with Cornell University who co-wrote a fact sheet on how downy mildew affects impatiens, gives us an update on what Western New York gardeners might expect from impatiens this…...