Tag: Garden tips

Four spectacular ways to use succulents in your garden or home

by Connie Oswald Stofko The wonderful shows at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens can give you lots of great ideas that you can use in your own garden or home. Here are four spectacular looks from last year’s succulent show that you could adapt for your own home. Get more ideas at this year’s succulent show to be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from Saturday, Sept. 7 to Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Botanical Gardens,…...

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Aug 13, 2013
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healthy impatiens in Lancaster NYJune 2013 closeup

How are your impatiens doing? Please let Cornell expert know

by Connie Oswald Stofko Margery Daughtrey, senior extension associate with Cornell University who co-wrote a fact sheet on how downy mildew affects impatiens, would like to know how your impatiens are doing. “I saw a photo last week of an impatiens in the Buffalo area with the distinctive white sporulation on the under-surface of the leaves– definitely downy mildew,” Daughtrey said. Daughtrey provided us last year with a photo showing the disease, which you can see below. “Have any of…...

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Aug 13, 2013
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sand by bar and pond in barckyard in Buffalo NY

‘Beachside bar’ is relaxing spot in Riverside backyard

by Connie Oswald Stofko With water, fish, sand and a bar, it’s like a vacation resort in the backyard of Jim and Linda Whittaker, 56 Evelyn St., in the Riverside area of Buffalo. The Whittakers  shared their gardens Aug. 3 during the Black Rock and Riverside Tour of Gardens, which included the evening Starry Night Garden Tour. This was the final garden walk of the National Garden Festival in 2013. The bar essentials, including a refrigerator and a draft beer…

Aug 6, 2013
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image for video on how to arrange flowers from your garden in Buffalo NY

Arrange flowers from your own garden with this how-to video

If you have perennial gardens, your showy flowers may be at their blooming peak. Learn how to arrange flowers from your own garden in this easy-to-follow video. Maggie Wittmer, professional floral designer at Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses in Williamsville, shows us how to select flowers from the garden and how to arrange them in a pleasing way. If you don’t have flowers to pick, now is the time to plant flowering perennials for next year. Stop in to Mischler’s to…...

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Aug 6, 2013
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coleus replaces impatiens in front yard on Garden Walk Buffalo 2013

Gardeners make substitutes for impatiens on Garden Walk Buffalo

by Connie Oswald Stofko During last year’s Garden Walk Buffalo, mounds of impatiens were flowering robustly at 689 West Delavan, Buffalo.  But just a few weeks later, the impatiens were dropping their leaves. By September, the impatiens were gone, a victim of downy mildew.  This year, Luis Martinez and Jeff Wilson were among the gardeners who had to find different plants to use in shady areas. I visited them during Garden Walk Buffalo, held July 27 and 28. With 376…...

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Jul 30, 2013
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gardens around inground pool with waterfall in Amherst NY

Amherst backyard with lavish gardens was setting for wedding

by Connie Oswald Stofko Pam Weinrieb  loved her home at 445 Lebrun Rd., Amherst, but she didn’t like how it looked in the front. So for years she concentrated her gardening efforts on the front. When her son decided to get married and wanted the 2011 ceremony in her backyard, she turned her attention to the backyard. The result is a 1.3-acre lot filled with lavish gardens. I visited during the Amherst Garden Walk, held July 20. Above you can…...

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Jul 30, 2013
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cactus in bathtub in Tonawanda NY

There’s a 9-foot cactus in a bathtub– & that’s just the beginning

A double-tub wringer washer, a bucket for a milking machine and a pan from a salad bar are some of the items that have been found new uses in the garden of Terry and Debbie Calway on Hampton Parkway in Tonawanda. The Calways’ garden was among the more than 50 gardens open to visitors during the Ken-Ton Garden Tour on July 21 and 22. In the photo at left, a huge coffee machine on the Calways’ front porch becomes a…...

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Jul 23, 2013
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Williamsvile gardener rescues plants from demolition sites

When a house or other building is being razed, wonderful flowers, shrubs, vines and bulbs are often destroyed in the process. Elise Fila of Williamsville doesn’t like to see those plants go to waste. She rescues the plants to use in parks as well as in her own garden. I visited Fila during the Williamsville Garden Tour, which was held Saturday, July 20. Watch the video below to get a few tips on how you can get free plants by…...

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Jul 23, 2013
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completed memory garden in Williamsville NY

Make arrangement of potted perennials, plus more news

Fresh flower arrangement lasts for years– it’s made of potted perennials! This arrangement makes a great gift for a gardener. Not only is it gorgeous, the recipient can actually have all of these flowers in his or her garden next year! That’s because these aren’t cut flowers; this is actually an arrangement of potted perennial plants. This idea comes to us from Mark Yadon, vice president of Mischler’s Florist and Greenhouses, 118 South Forest Rd., Williamsville. Last year he gave…...

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Jul 23, 2013
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border garden in Snyder NY

One project each year turns ‘wasteland’ into vacation spot

One project every year has turned a fixer-upper house with no garden into a relaxing getaway at 389 Berryman Dr., Snyder. I visited during the 11th annual Snyder-Cleve Hill Garden View, held Sunday, July 14. When Debbie Hanny moved in 13 years ago, “There was no garden. It was a wasteland.” The project in the first year was to install the fence in the front yard. This past fall, she and her partner Jerry Schultze put in the raised bed…...

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Jul 16, 2013
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