In the first year, Judy Horan planted eight pink geraniums. Now, just four years later, her garden encompasses the area from the front door of her Amherst condominium, around the corner to her deck. It continues beyond a huge evergreen where she has a small vegetable garden. Oh, and she has a garden on the other side of the driveway, too. “I was bored,” said Judy, who is retired. “But this is it. It’s not going to get any bigger.”…
When Jim Tarantino moved 22 years ago into his home at 1069 Eggert Rd., Amherst, there wasn’t much of a garden. His major concern was erosion in the part of the backyard that slopes down to what is now Kadimah School of Buffalo. He built the retaining wall and planted whatever he could to hold down the soil, happily accepting cuttings from other gardeners. In the photo at left, these lovely plantings are actually outside his fence; his yard is to…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Patience. That’s what you need if you want a yard and gardens like those at 84 Woodward, Buffalo, the home of Melissa and Bill Maldovan. The Maldovans’ gardens were decades in the making. The couple shared their lovely landscape with visitors during the 14th annual Parkside Garden Tour on Sunday, June 26. Both husband and wife have gardening backgrounds. Melissa has taken horticulture classes and Bill did landscaping in high school and college. When their three…
by Connie Oswald Stofko “Right now there’s not a lot of color with the perennials,” said Marlene Craft. She remedies that situation by making great use of clever container plantings. “I can move things around and get color where I need it,” she explained. Above, the large watering can is filled with licorice (light green) and coleus (red). The yellow plant in the small can is creeping jenny or goldilocks. Marlene also uses bird cages, carpenters’ tool boxes and other…
“I’ve been into birds for a really, really long time; probably six years,” said Nick Fratello, 11. That’s why he prepared an exhibit on garden plants that attract birds, which he displayed at a booth at headquarters for the Black Rock and Riverside Tour of Gardens on Aug. 7. He also handed out tip sheets. His tip sheet begins with hummingbirds. While there are hummingbirds in Western New York, the only kind you’re likely to find here is the ruby-throated…
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