Genesee County Cornell Cooperative Extension is offering a free lunchtime gardening series. This month’s talk is on container gardening. Container gardening with annuals offers you the opportunity to create some eye-catching displays for a punch of color all season long. Join Master Gardener Jane G. as she demonstrates the basic steps to create and maintain successful container gardens using flowering annuals. Jane will share her tips to help your containers flourish all summer. Registration is required. For more information and…...
Tag: Annuals
Keep your garden looking colorful into autumn
by Connie Oswald Stofko “We don’t do the usual; we do the unusual. We pride ourselves on that,” said Brian Olinski. That’s why so many people visit him and and his husband, Gordon Ballard, during Open Gardens. You will find plants in their landscape that no one else in Western New York has. And their “Bird Avenue Gardens” are big, situated on a double lot in Buffalo, with plants everywhere you look. But you don’t need a gigantic garden or…...
Houseplants on summer vacation? Time to bring them back inside
by David R. Clark, CNLP If your houseplants have been outside this summer, start preparing now to move them indoors. Here are some of my tips to get them ready for the move. When to move houseplants inside Move your houseplants to a shady place outside for one to two weeks to get them acclimated to the lower indoor lighting conditions. Bring your houseplants inside before you turn on your furnace. If the plants are outside in cool daytime temperatures,…...
Reminder: Keep watering, weeding & harvesting
by Connie Oswald Stofko I was shocked when I saw the pitiful state of my impatiens. The flowers were limp, the leaves were sagging and the plant looked miserable. I don’t know when I had watered them last, but, obviously, it was too long. I felt bad. Luckily, impatiens spring back fast. I checked back a few hours later and they were perky and happy again. But don’t wait until your plants start wilting to let you know that they…...
Cottage garden in Lancaster is colorful in three seasons
by Connie Oswald Stofko “My garden has color from spring to fall,” said Elaine Bialecki, founder of the original Elaine’s Flower Shoppe in Depew. What does it look like at this time of the year? Watch the video below, made by Jay Jinge Hu of Williamsville at this time last year. Hu has shared many of his videos with us, and you can see them here. He has also welcomed visitors to his own wonderful garden on Open Gardens. While…...
Random gardening tip: plants on shelves
by Connie Oswald Stofko When I visited the gardens of Nancy Townsend (Bachman) in North Tonawanda, I was drawn to what looked like a vertical garden, but the plants were simply set on shelves. I wrote about her landscape back in 2020, but the idea about the shelves didn’t fit into the article about the 360-degree views of her gardens. Since it had been awhile since I had seen her gardens, I gave her a call to see if she…...
What does this hot summer mean for WNY gardens?
by Connie Oswald Stofko “This year seems to have been running ahead of schedule from the beginning,” said John Farfaglia, extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Niagara County. “We had a mild winter, early spring and and early summer.” And summer has been hot! What does this mean for our gardens now? Tomatoes and other food plants With the higher temperatures we’ve had, your tomato plants and other vegetable plants may have started fruiting earlier than usual, Farfaglia said…....
Enjoy acres of flowers in bloom at Henry’s cutting gardens
by Connie Oswald Stofko “Bring your children. Bring your mom,” said Barb Henry, referring to the scenic cutting garden at Henry’s Gardens in Eden. “Take a photo out in the field; we’re not charging.” Even professional photographers are welcome; they are just asked to tag Henry’s Gardens on social media. Last year, a man proposed in the cutting garden, said Barb Henry, who founded Henry’s Gardens with her husband Martin. A yoga group also met for a few weeks in…...
White stones instead of lawn: see it on South Buffalo Garden Walk
by Connie Oswald Stofko “I hated mowing,” said Peter Nightengale, “and I wanted my yard to look like nobody else’s.” That’s why he got rid of all the lawn in his South Buffalo property. In the front yard, white stones cover an area that used to be grass. There isn’t any lawn in the backyard, either. Even the hellstrip (the area between the sidewalk and street) has no grass—it’s all flowers. You can see this landscape and many others on…...
What you didn’t know about zinnias; get them at Henry’s Gardens in Eden
“When a customer asks to purchase zinnias, my first question is, ‘Which one?’” said Barbara Henry, who founded Henry’s Gardens with her husband Martin. Not only can you find a wide range of colors in zinnias, there is a wide range of heights as well. Enjoy these annuals ranging in size from 12 inches to 50 inches. You can buy zinnias to plant in your own garden or buy cut zinnias for a flower arrangement. Both are available at Henry’s…...