by Connie Oswald Stofko In other areas of the United States, there might be 15 private gardens to visit in one year. In Western New York, there are about 200 gardens to see this week alone! Open Gardens begin this Thursday and Friday, and six garden walks take place this weekend. Open Gardens Open Gardens start Thursday, July 7 and Friday, July 8. Like garden walks, you can visit these private gardens at certain times and days. Instead of being…...
See Graycliff’s gardens, grounds and the first floor of the main house at your own pace during the self-guided twilight tours from 4-8 p.m. Fridays, July 8, 15 and 22 at Graycliff, 6472 Old Lakeshore Rd., Derby. As the sun begins to set over Lake Erie, you can linger, reflect, look closer and soak in all of the details that make Graycliff so enchanting. While this is not a docent-led tour, volunteers will be on hand to answer any questions you may…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko You don’t have to know everything about gardening to enjoy a wonderful garden. “If you ask me the name of the plant, I have no idea,” said Jim Bardot, who has seven magnificent gardens in his front yard in Amherst. If you’re a gardener who doesn’t like to keep track of plant names, don’t let that hold you back. Get inspiration from what Bardot has accomplished. See an overview of his front yard here and see…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko When Kevin Lickers bought his West Side home in 2007, the small backyard had absolutely no gardens. “There was nothing here. I’m not kidding you. No flower beds,” he said while gazing at the colorful expanse of perennials that fill the yard now. What the yard did have was a big grill. “It was distracting, Lickers said, “and we don’t barbecue much.” He and his partner Ricardo Arce got rid of the large barbecue (they use…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko “I find a statue, then think, ‘What can I plant around it to accent it?’” said Jim Bardot. The statue that was the inspiration for this garden is the Chinese head, situated in the very center. “It sat by itself in the backyard for years,” Bardot said. “I placed it here, I placed it there, then I brought it out front and found other things to go with it.” This Asian garden is one of the…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Jim Bardot used to relegate gardening to his backyard until he realized: “I’m the only one who sees it. What’s the fun of that?” Now his gardens—seven of them—are displayed in his large front yard for the world to enjoy. “Why hide it?” said Bardot, who lives on busy French Road in Amherst. “It’s a thrill when somebody stops because they see me out there. One person said, ‘Thank you. For years I’ve been watching it…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Julie Wood liked the house on a corner lot, but the tiny front and side yards needed some TLC. There was an area that was supposed to be lawn, but grass couldn’t grow. And there were thorny bushes by the sidewalk. “Why put thorny bushes there?” Wood wonders. “So people wouldn’t cut through the grass?” The landscape has changed a lot since she and her husband Jason moved in about 10 years ago. She gave up…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko You may be a gardener who knows a lot about plants or a connoisseur who knows a lot about craft beers, but what do you know about hops? I learned a lot when I visited the gardens of Matt and Tashia Tribo on the Ken-Ton Garden Tour in July. Hops plants are easy to maintain; you don’t have to water them at all, Matt said. You do have to trim them back at the bottom so…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The last garden walk of the season in Western New York is being held Friday and Saturday, Aug. 6 and 7 in the City of Tonawanda with tours at night and during the day. The City of Tonawanda Friday Night Lights will be held from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6. The City of Tonawanda Garden Walk will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7. The tours are free and self-guided. Maps can be picked…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko You’ve seen it in winter, you’ve seen it in spring and now you get a peek at Tom Homme’s four-season landscape in summer. If you’d like to visit this Pendleton garden in person, you have one more chance this week. This is the last week of Open Gardens for 2021. Open Gardens take place Thursday and Friday. Like any other perennial garden, Homme’s garden changes throughout summer as one plant ends flowering and another comes into…...
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