“It’s like an extension of your house, an outdoor room,” Russ Polvino said of his fabric gazebo. “I love to sit out here and listen to music.” I visited during the Saturday Night Lights portion of the Ken-Ton Garden Tour held July 21 and 22, and visitors could see his gardens during the day as well. Polvino shares the home at 1237 Tonawanda St., Tonawanda, with Doug Dedman. The gazebo at the back of the house really does feel like an…...
Minted water is a refreshing summertime beverage For an easy and refreshing drink this summer, try minted water. I tasted this light beverage in the garden of Kathy and Ed Burke on Argyle Park during Garden Walk Buffalo. Simply place mint in cool water and let it set. Mint is easy to grow and spreads quickly, so this is a great way to use large bunches. It was hot during Garden Walk Buffalo and visitors appreciated this summertime treat. You…...
Learn lots of great tips– including how to handle cactus without getting the thorns in your fingers– in the great video above. Bob Bracikowski of Opportunities Unlimited demonstrates how to make a cactus and succulent garden. He covers plant selection, design and decorative touches and gives lots of great tips along the way. You can learn how to make other planters and arrangements with Bracikowski during hands-on seminars for the public at the Niagara Floral Center and Greenhouse at Opportunities…...
“You can put anything in containers and you can put containers anywhere,” said Walter Kozlowski, who grows even apple and peach trees in pots– and harvests fruit! Kozlowski shared his unusual container plantings, vegetable gardens and flower beds during the Black Rock & Riverside Tour of Gardens on August 4. The event also featured a Starry Night Garden Tour in the evening. Kozlowski grows colonnade apple trees, a type that grows straight up and stays short. You can see them…...
Mischler’s receives two awards in container design competition Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses was honored with two second-place awards in the ninth annual Kathy Pufahl Memorial Container Design Competition, held July 24 during the Floriculture Field Day at Cornell’s Bluegrass Lane Horticultural Research Facility in Ithaca. More than 130 floriculture professionals attended. In the open division, Mischler’s was honored for its “Perennial Memory Basket.” The large wicker basket is filled with containers of potted perennials of various sizes and trimmed with…...
“I’ve always had the best flowers and best hanging baskets on the street,” said Melissa, the tenant at 75 Crowley St., Buffalo. But after the staff from Lockwood’s Greenhouses finished the makeover of the front yard, she was happy to see that they had outdone her. The Front Yard Contest is part of the National Garden Festival in Buffalo. A block facing the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Riverside Park was chosen, and professional landscapers, Master Gardeners and teams from the Buffalo…...
In German, “garten” means “garden.” “It’s fate, I guess,” said Evelyn Garten. “I married a garden.” Her gardens surround a log home she and her husband built themselves, log by log, 54 years ago. She shared her gardens with the public during the Grand Island Garden Tour on July 14. The event benefitted the preservation of Historic Trinity Church. She and her husband were renting a place in Buffalo 54 years ago when he was downtown and saw a small…
Suzi Redino estimates that only 5 to 10 percent of the furniture and decorations in her yard were purchased. The rest were picked out of the garbage. Literally. Suzi specializes in trash to treasure in her interior design business, Cherry Tree Design. Her husband Rick’s family business is a junk yard, R & R Salvage. Almost every day he brings something home to her, and many of the items find their way into her yard. “That’s from the junkyard,” she…...
Brand new garden walk begins this year in West Seneca The West Seneca Garden Walk will take place for the first time from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 21 and 22. Get the map right here, and maps will also be available on the Burchfield Nature & Art Center website. You can pick up paper maps at Ebenezer Greenhouse, 1347 Union Rd., West Seneca. The West Seneca Garden Walk is being organized by Sharon and Dave…...
Container plantings add color to the garden surrounding the backyard patio of Mary Murrett, who shared her gardens at 178 Hirschfield, Williamsville, during the Village of Williamsville Garden Walk on June 30. She has fun designing her containers as she goes along. “I go nuts at the nursery,” Murrett said. “I take one of these, and one of these and one of these.” When she gets all her plants home, she sets a piece of plywood across a carpenter’s trestle…...
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