Here is part of the crowd of 70 garden bloggers at the Buffalo Botanical Garden. I was familiar with the blogs of some of these gardeners like Frances (lower left) of Fairegarden, and Susan (center in blue with hat) of Sustainable Gardening Blog, and Helen (in white under the camera) of Toronto Gardens. Susan is one of the Garden Ranters; she and I worked briefly for an Australian organic gardening website Organic Gardener which made us virtual colleagues!…
In 1985 (could it be that long ago?) Elsa Bakalar, my Heath neighbor and friend, and I started writing an article about color in the garden for Horticulture magazine. One summer day in 1986 the brilliant photographer, and gardener, Garry Mottau arrived in Elsa's garden at dawn. That's when I learned about the importance and desirability of that early morning light for photography. I even got to hold a piece of shiny Thermax to throw some gentle light on Elsa's…
After days of talking to the 70 other bloggers who gathered in Buffalo for a preview of the Buffalo Garden Walk I have a whole new appreciation for Bloom Day, created and hosted by Carol (who I got to meet!) of May Dreams Gardens. For other mortals talk about the weather is banal chit chat, but for us bloggers, and all gardeners, it is shop talk. It is a topic filled with endless fascination - and we see…
One of the gardens on the Buffalo Garden Walk had many dahlias - familiar varieties in familiar colors. But this dahlia is a doozy! I'm going to have to research a source. Has anyone seen this in a catalog?
We started off at the Erie Basin Trial Gardens for the All America Selections (AAS). The AAS helps gardeners by rating seed varieties so they can find some of the best flowers and vegetables to plant from seed. We all loved this brilliant red dahlia. Then it was off to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens which has a fabulous glass conservatory, modeled after the one in Kew Gardens in England. This building opened in 1900. The Orchid…
Gardens can change overnight, as many people learned after the great May storm that took down so many large trees. Those who had treasured their trees for the serene shade they provided, and the cooling they often brought to the house, found themselves in a new situation that could not soon be remedied. Marty and Jan McGuane’s cool shady garden became a hot sunny garden less dramatically, but with the same result. “We had a beautiful and very…
I couldn't wait to start showing you Buffalo's gardens. Yesterday evening, on our way to meet one of our hosts, Elizabeth Licata of Garden Rant, we visited several urban gardens. This garden smelled heavenly with a single magnolia still in bloom and banks of lilies. I have pink lilies and bee balm in my garden too. We saw plants I do not have like this amazing echinacea glowing in the late afternoon sun. When we arrived at the…
Daylily season is upon us. Even those who can't name many flowers recognize dayliles, those growing in glorious organce by the road side, and those in shades of cream and pink, coral, gold and deep reds and burgundies in cultivated gardens. Some daylilies have the classic simple trumpet shape and some are ruffled. Because daylilies are so hardy as well and beautiful in their variety, many small growers sell them in full bloom, dug out of the garden…
Who would not like to live on Pudding Hollow Road? It is clearly a road steeped in the history of Hawley, a town settled in 1760, and a unique pudding contest which took place in the late 1770s. Farms and food have always been important parts of Hawley’s history and culture so I could not resist the opportunity to visit the newest farm and an old established garden, both on Pudding Hollow Road, and both a part of…
With the Annual Rose Viewing only a week away, daughter Diane and her son Ryan came to help with preparations. There were big jobs like working with The Major to gett the tractor and wagon operational to fetch wood, and then be put out of the way. Ryan had to mow the lawns using the riding mower while Diane edged and weeded. And weeded. While weeding we discovered that deer had eaten my beautiful Casa Blanca Lilies that…