by Connie Oswald Stofko Looking at her yard when it was torn up during construction work, Pamela Rose was at first horrified. Then she stopped and thought, “What’s the opportunity here?” Turning a calamity into an opportunity is one of the tips she shared with gardeners on how to deal with household construction that damages your landscape during the Parkside Garden Tour on Sunday, June 25. You can also see the property on Open Gardens. She and her husband Joel…
Tag: Recent events
Magnolia tree to symbolize friendship between Buffalo & its Chinese sister city
by Connie Oswald Stofko A magnolia tree will be a symbol of the friendship between Buffalo and its sister city in China, Changzhou. A ceremony was held yesterday at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens to mark the gift. The event was attended by a 40-person delegation from China consisting of Changzhou’s government officials, performers, businesspeople and a Chinese television crew. The crew is shooting a documentary called “A Tale of Two Cities,” highlighting the cultural and arts exchanges…
‘Solution gardening’ encompasses several gardening trends
by Connie Oswald Stofko Gardeners aren’t looking for plants, they’re looking for solutions, Dr. Allan Armitage told the audience of professionals and Master Gardeners at PLANT WNY’s Education Day on Feb. 5 in Depew. Armitage, a perennial guru, wrote the books Herbaceous Perennial Plants, Armitage’s Garden Perennials and Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens. He also has a new app for Android and Apple devices called Armitage’s Greatest Perennials & Annuals. The advantages of the app over a book…
Botanical Gardens & partners dedicate new outdoor Healing Garden
by Connie Oswald Stofko Four years of planning and preparation have gone into the new outdoor Healing Garden, which was dedicated Sunday at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens by representatives of the Botanical Gardens, D’Youville College School of Pharmacy and Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Part of Catholic Health. Signs in the garden inform visitors about the medicinal properties of the plants, but the space also aims to be a place for meditation, contemplation and spiritual healing. It was…
Gardens bounced back from Snowvember Storm in time for South Buffalo Alive
by Connie Oswald Stofko I heard something on South Buffalo Alive that I’ve never heard from a gardener on a garden walk before. “Right now everything is just about perfect,” Peter Clancy said as he surveyed his yard at 39 Edgewood, Buffalo, on July 19. Often gardeners will tell me about the spectacular flowers that finished blooming the week before, or they will tell me how much better the garden will look in a few days when a different flower…
Containers decorated by gardener add charm to Lockport yard
by Connie Oswald Stofko The gardens of Pat Arnold are filled with many flowers, including 30 rose bushes, but if you pause to look more closely, you’ll notice other elements that add to the gardens’ beauty. You might call it Buffalo-style garden art, or you might dub it upcycling. “It’s artwork I do from odds and ends I pick up,” she said. “I just look for things that people put out at the curb, or things at Salvation Army or…
Ceremony marks Honorary International Peace Garden at Botanical Gardens
The existing Peace Garden at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens was designated in a ceremony today as an Honorary International Peace Garden. The designation was made by the International Peace Garden Foundation and the War of 1812 Bicentennial Peace Garden Trail. As an Honorary International Peace Garden, this garden will become part of an international registry, display a commemorative stone marker and have an interpretive panel linking this garden with other Peace Gardens along the 1812 Commemorative Trail….
Time-lapse video shows you fast growth of Morty the corpse flower at Botanical Gardens
Even if you visited Morty the corpse flower at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens before it opened and while it was in bloom, it is hard to appreciate how quickly the flower grew. You can get a better idea of the tremendous growth of this rare plant by watching a time-lapse video created by the Botanical Gardens, which you can see below. The time-lapse video starts at the end of July when Morty was placed on display and…
Morty update: See the working parts inside the rare corpse flower at Botanical Gardens
by Connie Oswald Stofko Has Morty the corpse flower been pollinated? Will it bear fruit? To get a better look at what is happening inside, horticulturists at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens actually cut a hole in the flower. You can take a look inside Morty, too. Morty will continue to be on display 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, probably through the end of August, at the Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo. No, the flower…
Morty the corpse flower bloomed
by Connie Oswald Stofko Morty, the corpse flower at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, finally bloomed! It opened in the wee hours of the morning Friday, Aug. 8. I went over around 10 a.m. and shot the video below. People were lined up Friday to see Morty and lines got longer on Saturday. The lines snaked through the various buildings at the Botanical Gardens, so there was plenty to look at along the way, plus volunteers were on…