by Connie Oswald Stofko If you want to use candles in your yard, they don’t have to stand on a table and they don’t need real flames. Those were a couple tips I got in August when I visited the yard of Sue Tronolone during the Black Rock & Riverside Tour of Gardens. It was daytime when I visited her, but she shared her gardens on the evening Starry Night Garden Tour as well. While the lighting adds ambiance to the…
by Connie Oswald Stofko It’s an Irish pub. It’s an outdoor living room. And it has gardens. That’s what you encounter when you visit Michael Ryan’s backyard on Englewood Ave., Tonawanda. It’s the party place for his family and friends. Visitors are amazed and assume he must spend lots of time maintaining his landscape, but he insists that he’s a lazy gardener who uses lots of short cuts. “It’s two weeks of work at the beginning of the season, then…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Jim Aichinger and Tim Kuntz’s gardens are lovely during the day. “But when the lights come on, oh, it’s wonderful back here,” said Kuntz. They shared their Cornwall Avenue landscape during the Night Lights portion of the Ken-Ton Garden Tour on Friday and Saturday, July 17 and 18. The daytime portion was held Saturday and Sunday, July 18 and 19. The front as well as the back is lit 365 days a year, Aichinger said, with…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Great lighting set the mood for a Moroccan-themed garden during the nighttime garden walk of the Ken-Ton Garden Tour held this past weekend. The event also included a daytime garden walk. Richard Levy of 122 Pickford Ave., Tonawanda, chose a Morrocan theme because his father’s family is from that part of the world. His grandparents were born in Istanbul. At left, a gazebo was draped with rich-looking colorful fabrics. He looked at 100 or 200 photos…
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…
“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…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Your garden in the Buffalo area might not have much color this time of year, but you can change that by making your own Plexiglass light toppers. You can decorate for Valentine’s Day and other holidays, show your support for the Buffalo Sabres or other teams, or express your personal interests with these simple lights. This idea comes from Ben Sperandeo of Buffalo, who shared views of his yard as well as his lights with visitors…
This is another one of those articles I like to think of as potpourri– a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I hope you find something that’s useful or entertaining. Light up a gazing ball. These instructions for making a lighted gazing ball, like the one you see at left, come from Kathi and Craig Schwab of Kenmore: “We used an extra LED light that we had, put it inside the globe and connected the lighted gazing globe…
“I love the lights,” said Rosie Dubravac of 74 Simon St., Buffalo. That’s why she opened her yards for the Starry Night Garden Tour, the evening portion of the Black Rock & Riverside Tour of Gardens on Saturday, Aug. 6. It was the last garden walk of the season in Western New York. Dubravac welcomed many visitors, who enjoyed the well-lit front and back yards. The tall lighted ornament you see in the front yard above left is a sunflower….
“We sit out here every night with a glass of wine,” said Kathi Schwab, as she surveyed her backyard. Soft lighting showcased tall flowers and reflected off the calm water of their inground pool. “Oh, it’s heaven,” Kathi said. The Schwabs shared their yard during Ken-Ton’s first “Saturday Night Lights” garden walk held July 23. Eighteen gardens participated in the evening walk. The nighttime event was part of the Ken-Ton Garden Tour, which held a daytime walk on both Saturday…
© 2017 Buffalo-Niagara Gardening. All rights reserved.