The first mirror in the garden I saw this past weekend was in one of the first gardens. I had already seen gardens with high brick walls that had 'windows' cut into them. When I glimpsed shining light in the wall in this garden I thought it was another windowed wall, which I thought was a charming idea. When I scrunched down to get a better idea, and a photo I realized I was looking at a mirror.…
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…
We not only didn't reduce the plans for today's itinerary for the garden tours, we added a drive through the rain to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park (designed long ago by Frederick Law Olmsted) to see who we would vote for in the Front Yard Garden Contest. The contest was set up by the National Buffalo Garden Festival and with support from the Olmsted Parks Conservancy. For more information about these totally renovated front yards and how…
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…
I'm in Buffalo, home of the Buffalo Garden Walk, the biggest garden tour in the nation. Over 350 gardens. Free. Along with 50 of my favorite garden bloggers I am getting a preview of some of these gardens - which you will also see right here. Soon.
Quietness is a Griffith Buck rose I saw last fall at the New York Botanical Garden. I knew I had to have it. I ordered it from Chamblee Roses, planted it this spring, and it is just starting to bloom. The pale color and beautiful shape are perfectly serene. I will be serene because Buck roses are very hardy. Other Buck roses in my garden are Applejack, Hawk eye Belle, Prairie Harvest and Carefree Beauty. I planted Buck's…
Not only the beans, but some of the first leaves of squash plants had been eaten. This is clearly bug damage, but what bug? I replanted the beans twice, hoping that whatever it was would have come and gone. Then I was talking to a friend and he suggested earwigs. Earwigs come out at night so of course, I would not see them during the day. Putting lime around the most desirable plants was one solution, but…
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…
All week we had been waiting for our daughter Kate and her family to arrive. We knew they had been at her husband's family reunion at a state park in NY, celebrating his parents 80th and 90th birthday - and their 60th wedding anniversary. I expected them to arrive mid-week, but there was no word. We called Kate's cell phone. We sent emails. We sent Facebook messages. No word. No word. No word. Had they been carjacked? We…