You’ll be impressed by grand show pieces at the first ever Succulent Show at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, and you’ll come away with ideas that you can use on a smaller scale in your garden or inside your home. The show opens this Saturday, Sept. 10, and runs through Oct. 2 at the Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors & students,…...
By Sally Cunningham As the kids go back to school and the calendar page turns to September, many gardeners and homeowners seem to hear a bell that says “The End. That’s it. Close up the garden.” And that’s just wrong. We have to change the paradigm. We can do so much in the late summer garden. I’ll be discussing “The Autumn Yard and Garden: To Do and Not To Do” during the Fall Garden Fair on Saturday, Sept. 10 at…...
If your garden has ever been bothered by slugs, you probably already know this great tip about beer. Take an old pie tin, splash in some beer, and set the tin near your affected plants. The slugs crawl in and meet their doom. What you may not know is that slugs prefer Budweiser. At least that’s what Kathryn Olmstead found in her admittedly unscientific study, which she described in an article for the Bangor Daily News. Olmstead edits and designs…...
Children on Buffalo’s East Side have a wonderful place to learn about gardening and nutrition, thanks to the teenagers on the Green Team, an environmental job training program for high school students run by Groundwork Buffalo. The Green Team created a teaching garden at the African American Cultural Center, 350 Masten Ave., Buffalo. In the photo above, Chans Dean, 8, left, and Akilah Broadwater, 17, show off the new raised perennial beds that the teens created to line the fence…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Buffalo-area gardeners are familiar with the Japanese beetle. These bugs are pretty, but so damaging to our gardens. As you might guess from the name, Japanese beetles come from Japan, where they’re not much of a nuisance because their natural enemies keep them in check. In our area, grubs damage lawns by feeding on grass roots. The adult beetles attack the foliage, flowers or fruits of more than 300 different ornamental and agricultural plants. Unfortunately, Japanese…...
The right tool for the job can make your work easier. If you grow herbs, check out the fun selection of herb tools available at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd. (between Main St. and Wehrle Dr.), Williamsville. Cut your sprigs into strips or mince away with a multiblade scissor. Use the rocking blade and concave cutting board to work on larger batches of herbs. Mash up and serve a refreshing mojito (a minty cocktail) with a traditional tall…...
The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens is offering a Horticulture I Certificate Program, with the first class set for Oct. 1. The program is for the serious gardener as well as for those who just want to know more than gardening basics. To earn the certificate, you must attend all six classes. (Basic Botany is a prerequisite for the other five classes, which may be taken in any order. The classes will be repeated in 2012 if you need…...
Beginning and experienced gardeners alike enjoy daylilies. Daylilies are a great choice for beginning gardeners because they’re so easy to grow in the Buffalo area. (Heck, a plant that’s easy to grow is something we all love!) The experienced gardener who’s always looking for something new can appreciate the wide range of colors and shapes of the daylily. Plus, hybridizers are constantly working on new varieties. The Buffalo Area Daylily Society will hold its annual Public Daylily Sale from 9…...
In May, my garden was so boggy I thought I’d never have to water again. In June, my garden was hard as a rock. In July, we had that hot, dry spell. During the past week, we finally got some rain, but there wasn’t much. You should have been watering, too. If you can’t keep up with the erratic watering needs of your garden, you may want to consider an underground sprinkler system that operates automatically. There are several advantages…...
“I love the lights,” said Rosie Dubravac of 74 Simon St., Buffalo. That’s why she opened her yards for the Starry Night Garden Tour, the evening portion of the Black Rock & Riverside Tour of Gardens on Saturday, Aug. 6. It was the last garden walk of the season in Western New York. Dubravac welcomed many visitors, who enjoyed the well-lit front and back yards. The tall lighted ornament you see in the front yard above left is a sunflower…....