Learn how to lead guided tours through the beautiful conservatory at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. As a garden guide, you’ll receive all the necessary training to share the history and indoor collections with visitors. The classes will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesdays starting June 3. Volunteers are expected to attend all four training sessions and commit to leading at least three tours a year. Full attendance at training is required to ensure you’re fully prepared….
The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy has created a new Invasive Species Eradication Taskforce. The taskforce aims to make people aware of invasive plant and insect species. The group is looking for volunteers to help the conservancy contain invasive species, and, when possible, eradicate them. Some of the invasive species the taskforce is looking at are phragmites, bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus, also called round leaf, Asian or Oriental bittersweet), buckthorn and spotted lanternfly. “It’s imperative that we make a concentrated effort to manage…
Graycliff, an architectural gem with historic gardens, will hold a series of gardening classes starting Saturday, March 25, at the Graycliff Estate, 6472 Old Lakeshore Rd., Derby. Graycliff is also recruiting volunteers to help in the gardens. An information session and tour will be held Wednesday, March 29 at the Graycliff Estate. The gardens at Graycliff were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright with contributions from Ellen Biddle Shipman, pioneering landscape architect. Garden Education Series Led by Graycliff Head Gardener Emma…
Volunteers are needed to help WNY PRISM remove Japanese stiltgrass, a high priority, early detection invasive species, from areas in West Seneca. Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) was recently found in parts of Western New York. It is an annual, short grass that quickly spreads to form extensive mats that harm native plants and plant communities. It can also alter soil nutrient cycling processes, facilitate erosion, inhibit tree survival and growth, and reduce habitat and forage for wildlife. The plant is simple to…
Graycliff is recruiting volunteers for its Green Team to help maintain the historic gardens and grounds. No experience is necessary. Graycliff will provide you with the tools and training to feel comfortable in the gardens. You will work with the English Gardener and Graycliff staff. You’ll learn about the historic landscape, designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman, while having fun and helping the nonprofit further its mission. The Green Team will work on Wednesday mornings….
Volunteers are needed to help maintain the gardens in a seven-mile section of the Erie Canalway Trail that has been adopted by Sandy Guzzetti and her husband Mike through the adopt-a-trail program of Parks & Trails New York. “Our unique approach to the trail is to plant gardens and put bike art in each trailhead/road intersection,” said Guzzetti, team leader. “No other place on the 338 miles of trail across New York State does this.” The gardens are attractive and they…
by Connie Oswald Stofko Be a citizen scientist and help the Pollinator Conservation Association with its BioBlitz through Dec. 1 on the Outer Harbor in Buffalo. Help to discover and identify flora and fauna there to improve conservation planning for future projects. The area includes Times Beach, Tifft Nature Preserve, the Union Ship Canal, and all of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation land and State Park land on the Outer Harbor. You can post pictures and observations on INaturalist.org….
Two WNY groups are seeking volunteers to help with gardening. North Tonawanda Botanical Garden Volunteers are needed for community work days with the North Tonawanda Botanical Garden Organization, 1825 Sweeney St., North Tonawanda. Meet at the gazebo. Sessions will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Dates are Sept. 12 and Oct. 3 and 17. Ongoing projects are weeding, mulching and setup of raised beds in the fenced-in perennial bed area. There are 11 acres to keep social distance. Any level…
__________ The Niagara Arts and Cultural Center (NACC), a nonprofit group, is looking for help to improve the landscaping on their campus, in turn beautifying their downtown neighborhood. They are looking for volunteers to help. The NACC is housed in the former Niagara Falls High School at 1201 Pine Ave., Niagara Falls. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The massive, neoclassic revival building served as Niagara Falls’s central high school until 2000 and was almost torn…
Volunteers are needed to help with the gardens at Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village, 3755 Tonawanda Creek Rd., Amherst. The gardeners work from 9:30 a.m. to noon Tuesdays, weather permitting. They start in May and work through October. You don’t have to be experienced; the group has Master Gardeners who are happy to share their knowledge. Please take your favorite hand tools. For more information, contact Rosalind Rivers at rdrivers123@roadrunner.com….
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