I don’t know why everyone doesn’t grow the Jerusalem artichoke, also known as sunchoke. This plant starts out from nothing and grows a dramatic ten feet tall in one season. It flowers in September, adding autumn interest to your garden. You can plant it in fall, so it gives you a chance to putter in your garden now. If that weren’t enough, it’s a food plant. The roots are delicious! I hadn’t heard of this marvelous plant until I got…...
The chrysanthemum has been enjoyed for thousands of years. It was cultivated as a flowering herb in China as far back as the 15th Century B.C., according to the National Chrysanthemum Society. The City of Buffalo is a mere upstart compared to ancient China, but we have enjoyed chrysantheums throughout our history, too. For more than 100 years, the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens has held its annual Chrysanthemum Show, which is the longest running tradition at the Botanical…...
“All of this is to teach our children where food comes from,” said Tricia Miller, volunteer coordinator for the Giving Garden at Union-Pleasant Elementary School in Hamburg. “If children grow it and taste it, their willingness to eat it and try more things grows.” The garden at Union-Pleasant Elementary School started three years ago because parents were concerned about food in the schools, Miller said. They decided a garden would be a good way to educate children about healthy food…...
The sunflower is wonderful in so many ways. If you’re not growing them now, there are many reasons why you should consider growing sunflowers next year. They have beautiful flowers. Sunflowers grow rapidly and reach a magnificent height. They offer food for people and wildlife. They blossom from summer to fall. You start sunflowers from seed, so they’re cheap. They’re easy to grow. Here’s one tip that you can use now, and two more tips for growing sunflowers next year…....
Garden mums aren’t annuals, but they’re not exactly perennials, either. They will come back next year– if you take the proper steps and are lucky. “They’re called garden mums (rather than perennial or hardy mums) because sometimes they don’t winter over,” explained Ron Heimiller, president and head grower at Heimiller Greenhouses in Newfane. Whether garden mums will survive the winter depends on a number of factors, including your soil conditions and how harsh the winter is, Heimiller said. But there…...
Yes, Labor Day is over, but there are still new flowers to plant! If you forgot to water this summer and your flowers are fried, or if you just need a spot of color here or there for fall, look for winter pansies. Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Amherst, has them in a four-packs, 6 1/2-inch pots and combined containers. The winter pansies, grown right at Mischler’s, are frost tolerant. They’re capable of withstanding our unpredictable fall weather…....
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…...
“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…....
The gladiolus, which is blooming in many Buffalo-area gardens now, is the birthday flower for August. I’m told you’re supposed to plant gladiolus bulbs in spring. That explains why they didn’t come up the first time I planted them– I planted them in the fall. After that fiasco, I again planted gladioluses (the plural is gladioluses, gladioli or sometimes gladiolas). The only reason I tried them again was because I got bulbs as a gift. (Technically, gladioluses have corms, not…...
Gardeners in the Buffalo and Western New York area have more plants to choose from than they did just a decade or two ago. The plants are genetically better, too. This is one of the big trends Ron Heimiller has seen in his career as president and head grower at Heimiller Greenhouses in Newfane. The business is celebrating its 30 anniversary. Breeders searched the world for plants that might do well in the United States and bred them for color,…...
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