by Connie Oswald Stofko When we want to grow food, we generally think of smallish plants that we would categorize as “vegetables” or “herbs,” such as tomatoes or zucchini or parsley. Today we’re going to challenge you to think bigger. When you think of food, think of trees and shrubs. The concept is called edible landscapes, said Fred Safford, who is in charge of trees and shrubs at Lockwood’s Greenhouses, 4484 Clark Street, Hamburg. It’s a way to work with…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko The temperature was in the teens this past weekend, but the vegetables in the grow tunnel at City Honors School in Buffalo are still going strong. In this video, Caesandra Seawell, garden manager, shows us how the grow tunnel can extend the gardening season, allowing us to grow vegetables in autumn and winter in Western New York. She describes how the grow tunnel was constructed, and it seems pretty easy. There have been some developments since…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Over the years, many changes were made to the landscape at Graycliff Estate, 6472 Old Lake Shore Rd., Derby. The historic landmark was designed by the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright as a summer home for Isabelle R. Martin and her husband, Darwin D. Martin, a wealthy Buffalo businessman. To bring Graycliff back to Wright’s original vision, the landscape has been restored to look as it did when it was completed in 1931. Reine Hauser, executive…...
The Amherst Conservation Advisory Council will be recognized for the Arboretum at Amherst State Park Project at the 2013 Conference on the Environment: A Bi-National Summit be held Thursday and Friday, Oct. 3 and 4, at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Buffalo. The conference is for environmental professionals and community leaders from the United States and Canada. The public can attend the conference’s opening event, an evening with Gord Downie, front man for the band The Tragically Hip, at 6…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Here’s a tip for designing a new perennial bed. You can use this tip now– Fall is a great time to plant perennials and start a new garden in Western New York. There’s still plenty of time for the plants to set roots. We all know one general design rule is to place taller plants in back and shorter plants in front. But Chet Okonczak of Cheektowaga, whose garden we saw in the spring, has interesting…...
What would Olmsted do now? That’s the question designers attempted to answer as they created a new landscape for the Richardson Olmsted Complex, a National Historic Landmark. The designers wanted to remain true to the original intent of acclaimed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted while addressing concerns of the 21st century. You can see the new landscape during an event for the public called South Lawn Celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at the complex, 400…...
by Connie Oswald Stofko Denis Uminski said he should put a sign in his backyard that says, “Look up!” Otherwise visitors can miss one of the newest and most interesting features of the landscape: a flower garden planted on the slanted roof of the Uminskis’ garage at 95 Columbia Blvd., Kenmore. He and his wife Mary Jane got the idea during a visit to Plantasia five years ago. They had the garden installed during the second week in June, so…...
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…...
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…...
Karen Deutschlander of 36 Stephens Ct., Lancaster, thinks that gardening is less about growing plants and more about decorating. That makes her gardens a welcoming backdrop to Art in the Gardens, the first of three mini-walks to be held by the Lancaster Garden Walk in conjunction with Lancaster’s Old Home Days. Art in the Gardens will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 30. Six artists will display their work in six gardens. Works of Conrad Borucki, a…...
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