Two invasive insects — one that can make you sick and another that damages your lilies— are discussed in this month’s WNY Gardening Matters. The publication is produced by the Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Erie County. Lone star tick The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) is a scary tick that is now in New York State, according to Lyn Chimera in this article. The bite of the lone star tick can trigger a very dangerous syndrome called…...
Some flowers, such as delphinium, may need support so they stand up straight and won’t break in a strong wind. Jen Weber, vice president and manager of Mike Weber Greenhouses, gives us tips on how to do it properly. Start with a bamboo stake that is taller than your flower. (You can get bamboo stakes at Mike Weber’s.) When you’re placing the stake, make sure you’re not too close to base of your plant. The stake should be at least…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko How can you deal with standing water in your yard? What can you plant to attract birds and butterflies? The North Tonawanda Botanical Garden Organization wants to share what they know about these topics and more. “Our ultimate focus is community education,” said Laura Pecoraro, secretary. The group, which became a nonprofit in July 2018, is in its fourth year of rehabilitating a long-neglected park. It’s located at 1825 Sweeney St., North Tonawanda, along the Tonawanda…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko A gardener recently asked me how he could get grass out of his garden beds. It’s so difficult, he said, because when you pull up on the grass, you may think you’ve got it all, but the root just keeps going and going. All I could do was commiserate. I have stones lining my garden beds in an attempt to keep the lawn on one side and the garden beds on the other, but it doesn’t…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko In response to a previous article on lesser celandine, an invasive plant that can take over your yard, a reader left a comment with this question: What to do with the dug ups??? Same problem I have when removing poison ivy. Where can you put it that it doesn’t cause more problems? The best way to dispose of invasive plants or dangerous plants is to carefully place them in a plastic bag and set the bag…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko What do you do when your front lawn is hard to mow because it’s sloped at a steep angle? Turn it into a terraced garden! That’s what a gardener on Garden Walk Buffalo did. See more below. You can learn so much from the gardeners on Garden Walk Buffalo. The problem is that there are so many gardens and so little time. But you don’t have to wait until the weekend of the walk to get…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Three interesting dwarf shrubs are among the new offerings at the Great Plant Sale to be held this week in the Administration Building at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. Also new this year is a checkout process that should speed things up. “No more tallying plants in line,” said Kristin Pochopin, director of Horticulture. “Everything will be bar coded and scanned!” And Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com will be a sponsor of the…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Now is the time to start checking your lilies for the red lily leaf beetle, said John Farfaglia, extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Niagara County. A reader gave me a heads up a few days ago that she had spotted them on her fritillaria, an earlier springtime plant that the pests also damage. The red lily leaf beetle, which we first talked about in 2015, is a fairly new invasive species in Western New…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko We have talked about lesser celandine for several years, yet I see more and more of it in my neighborhood. If you see this pretty little plant in your yard, get rid of it! And tell your neighbors to get rid of it, too. If you don’t get rid of when you have just a few plants, it can take over your yard. Plus, it can get into wild areas and create havoc there. Lesser celandine…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko When you’re looking for plants, turn to your local garden centers. They often have interesting plants that you can’t get in the big box stores. More important, many of the garden centers are growers, too. They know about plants and have folks on staff who can answer your questions. For example, if you say you don’t want to spend a lot of time maintaining your garden, they’ll know to steer you to plants that don’t need…...
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