by Connie Oswald Stofko Sometimes we get plants that just show up in our gardens. If we want to keep those plants, we call them volunteers. If we don’t want those plants in our garden, they’re weeds. An interesting plant arrived in one of my garden beds this spring. I didn’t know what it was and wasn’t sure whether it was going to be a volunteer or a weed. It grew about five feet tall and got pretty little daisy-like…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko You’re at a garden center and you have found the variety of plant you want. There are several specimens to choose from. You pick up a pot. Is the plant you hold in your hand healthy? If it has something wrong with it, how would you even know? Jen Weber, vice president and manager of Mike Weber Greenhouses, 42 French Rd., West Seneca, explains what you should look for when buying garden plants. Perennials and shrubs…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The Great Plant Sale will again be on site in the Administration Building at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. There is no admission charge. Your online gardening magazine, Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com, is proud to sponsor the Great Plant Sale! I’ll have a table there, too, so please stop by and say hello! The Great Plant Sale will take place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, May 13 and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m…....
by Connie Oswald Stofko Tender plants, such as tomatoes, peppers and some flowers, need warm temperatures to thrive, so you want your seedlings to be ready to transplant ouside when the weather is warm. If you plant your seeds inside too early, the weather might still be too cold to transplant outdoors. When should you plant seeds inside to have the plants ready for your garden at the right time? It depends on what you are planting and where you…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Pansies are in bloom now and can add color to your garden, porch or patio. While cold temperatures won’t kill pansies, temperatures in the 20s Fahrenheit can damage the blooms, said Jessica Limardi, who is on the staff at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville. Nightime temperatures may get that low in the coming week. “Without a good thick blanket of snow, the flowers can get damaged, so pull them close to the…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko We’ve talked about winter sowing before, and here’s another method for planting seeds outside during winter. I got this great tip from Linda Blyth of the Town of Tonawanda. “This is what we do with poppies, cleome, datura, bells of Ireland and a few others: sprinkle these seeds on top of the snow,” Blyth said. “Why? Because they all need a period of cold in order to germinate! Have you ever tried planting seeds in the spring…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko There’s a lot to see in Pat Gurney’s large Orchard Park landscape, but what surprises many people when they visit during Open Gardens is her use of annuals. Gurney uses annuals to add color to shady areas, to fill in areas when perennials are done blooming and to add height or interest in an area. She uses a lot of containers, setting them wherever they are needed. Though she uses annuals, trees and perennials are the…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Yes, I know there’s snow on the ground and temperatures have been in the single digits here in Western New York. But here’s a gardening task you can do outside now: plant seeds. It’s called winter sowing. You do it by making a mini-greenhouse and using seeds that take cold temperatures. Plant the seeds in your mini-greenhouse, set it in a sheltered area (such as against a fence) and wait for spring. When the temperatures get…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Poinsettias are wonderful for all the winter holidays, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. You can use them to decorate your home or give them as gifts. The colorful part of the poinsettia that looks like a flower petal is actually a bract, a kind of leaf. Poinsettias come in many different colors. Here are just three from Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses in Williamsville: ‘Autumn Leaves’, which has bracts in autumny orange tones ‘Princettia’, the whitest poinsettia…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Julie Wood liked the house on a corner lot, but the tiny front and side yards needed some TLC. There was an area that was supposed to be lawn, but grass couldn’t grow. And there were thorny bushes by the sidewalk. “Why put thorny bushes there?” Wood wonders. “So people wouldn’t cut through the grass?” The landscape has changed a lot since she and her husband Jason moved in about 10 years ago. She gave up…...
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