In Western New York, should you bring your fish inside for the winter or leave them in your pond? That’s one of the questions Jeff Salmon, president of Arbordale Nurseries & Landscaping, will discuss during presentations on closing your pond for the winter. A free class will be held at Arbodale, 480 Dodge Rd., Getzville. The class is about 45 minutes long and will cover what to do with pond equipment, fish care, cleaning, plant care and more. It is…...
Now is the time to plant cold tolerant annuals, spring bulbs
You can add color to your autumn garden now with cold tolerant annuals. You can find many varieties, grown on site, at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Amherst. Winter pansies, seen here, are popular. They’re frost tolerant and capable of withstanding our unpredictable fall weather. If you plant them in containers, they’re annuals, but if you plant them in the ground, they might come back in the spring. Ornamental kale and mums are favorites for autumn, but…...
Horticultural classes start Sept. 28
Horticulturist David Clark will present two series of horticultural classes at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. Designed for beginners that would like to know more than garden basics, Horticulture Certificate Classes I & II are a great way to enhance gardeners’ skills and confidence. Clark is a wealth of knowledge and is able to convey his subject with infectious enthusiasm. Participants can enroll in a full series for a certificate or take individual…...
Local growing is one topic to be discussed at environmental summit at Daemen College
“Food for Thought: Safe and Green for the Future” is the theme for the Western New York Environmental Summit to be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 in the Wick Student Center of Daemen College, 4380 Main Street, Amherst. The event is free and will include presentations, vendors, exhibits and tours of LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) energy efficient buildings on campus. You can also drop off your old electronics to be recycled. The…...
Celery update: I’ve harvested some & it’s tasty
by Connie Oswald Stofko Remember my experiment with celery stumps? Well, I harvested some stalks and they taste delicious. I got the idea from posts on Pinterest. When you’ve finished off a bunch of celery, instead of throwing the stump on the compost pile, you root it. Set it in just enough water to cover that ridge at the base of the celery where the roots come out– See the photo at left. I first tried rooting celery this winter,…...
Tree festival, plant sale set at Botanical Gardens this weekend
The fall plant sale and a new Tree Festival are among the attractions this weekend at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. The Succulent Show continues through Oct. 6. In September, the Medicinal Garden focuses on Cholesterol Awareness & Men’s Health Month. Fall plant sale The fall plant sale will be held 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13 and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14 in the new administration building…....
Welcome to our new subscribers & thank you to our current readers
First I want to welcome all the folks who subscribed to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com this past week at Lockwood’s Fall Garden Festival and at the 47th annual rally of the Western New York Gas and Steam Engine Association. I’ll work hard to keep you up to date with gardening information in Western New York. In fact, I’m in the midst of making some changes to the website to make it more streamlined and more useful to readers. I’ll tell you more about…...
Get inspired to express your personality in your Western New York garden
Join me, Connie Oswald Stofko, publisher of Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, when I present “Express Your Personality” at the meeting of the Silver Creek Hanover Garden Club at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14 at the First Baptist Church, 32 Main St., Silver Creek. I’ll show you photos of creative ways that other gardeners have expressed their personalities in their landscapes. There’s the gardener who chooses plants with names that are found in the Bible, the artist with a verdant backyard who spends no…...
Cornell & apple industry group introduce two new varieties of apples
Cornell University, in partnership with the New York Apple Growers, a new industry group, has developed two new apple varieties of apples, SnapDragon and RubyFrost, that will be available this fall at a few farmers markets. The apples were developed by Cornell University breeder and Horticulture Professor Susan Brown. They are being grown by 140 apple farmers throughout New York State. The two varieties have been a decade in the making, and how they’ve gone to market is a first…...
Watch local cooking challenge & learn to cook with native plants
Sumac, a native plant, is pretty this time of year with its large red, cone-shaped flowers. You can see these small trees in parks or in the wild, and they make a great landscape plant. But did you know sumac is edible? There are quite a few native plants you might want to start growing for food– If you know how to cook with them. In this article we’ll tell you about two events where you can get ideas on…...