by Connie Oswald Stofko First I want to welcome all the folks who subscribed to Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com this past weekend at the Fall Festival and Agricultural Fair at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. Please join the conversation here by commenting on articles. And when your garden club or other gardening organization has events that are open to the public, email me the information at connie@buffaloniagaragardening.com and I’ll share it with our other readers on our Events page. At the Genesee Country…...
Tag: Autumn
A thought at the beginning of autumn in WNY
“Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.” ~ Samuel Butler, Victorian author …...
5 tips for your late autumn garden and more items too good to miss
Five tips for the late autumn garden There is still plenty that you can do in your garden, including planting! Here are a few things you can accomplish in your garden right now. They come to us from Jeff Salmon, president of Arbordale Nurseries & Landscaping, 480 Dodge Road, Getzville. The soil is still warm and you can still plant. Late fall plantings will continue to root and establish themselves, so you’ll be farther ahead if you plant now than…...
How to keep your canna lilies over the winter & 2 more tips
“I haven’t bought canna lilies in years because they multiply,” said Kristen Suto of Busti Avenue, Buffalo. We visited her lush front yard, which has a view of the Niagara River, during Garden Walk Buffalo in July. Suto has canna lilies in pots and in beds throughout her gardens. The yellow flower in the photo below is another canna lily. If you haven’t already brought in your canna lily bulbs for the winter, do it now. When Suto brings her…...
Don’t waste those leaves! 3 tips to turn autumn leaves into compost
by Connie Oswald Stofko Autumn leaves are so valuable for your garden. You can rake them onto garden beds to serve as mulch. This can help protect your plants during the winter. After that, many of us still have plenty of leaves left. These are great for compost. Here are three tips to make the most of your autumn leaves. Gather leaves up in a tarp. I used to rake my leaves into a pile. Then I would pick them…...
4 big tips for creating a garden with year-round interest
by Connie Oswald Stofko In the Buffalo area, when we talk about creating year-round garden interest, what we really mean is: How do I make my garden look good in autumn and winter? From May to August, it’s easy to have beautiful landscaping, flowers and lots of color. All the garden walks are scheduled during that period, so we can find plenty of inspiration for summer gardens. But what if we’d like our gardens to be pretty now and throughout the…...
Plant now for spectacular fall garden; here are 6 great options
Let me start out by saying that the gardening season isn’t over. You can have flowers and color in your Western New York garden in autumn. If your garden isn’t all you’d like it to be, you can plant things now! (Find out why fall is a great time to start a garden or add to your garden.) In this article, Sally Cunningham, CNLP, a well known gardening expert and consultant for Lockwood’s Greenhouses in Hamburg, shares suggestions for perennials,…...
Dealing with tar spot, plus two other timely tips for fall
Here are three helpful tips for autumn, courtesy of the free newsletter from Heimiller Greenhouses. Tip #1: How to deal with tar spot When it comes to tar spot, there’s bad news and good news and more bad news. The bad news is that tar spot is an ugly black fungus that seems to infect Norway maples, to a greater or lesser degree, every year, according to Lisa Heimiller of Heimiller Greenhouses. The good news is that while tar spot…...
Hurry and plant spring bulbs now. Plus, three other autumn reminders
Take advantage of this beautiful autumn weather we’re enjoying in the Buffalo area and tackle some gardening projects. Here are some reminders of things you can do right now. Reminder #1: Hurry and plant spring bulbs. If you want spring flowers such as tulips and daffodils, hurry and plant your bulbs now before the ground freezes. That tip is from the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, where today 16 volunteers and several staff members planted spring bulbs– 4,500 of…...
The coolest plant ever: Jerusalem artichoke (also known as sunchoke)
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…...