Bowling Balls, Wrought Iron and Tree Houses: Buffalo-Style Garden Art

One of the coolest things about attending garden walks and tours during the National Garden Festival in the Buffalo-Niagara area is checking out the garden art: sculptures, metal art, pottery pieces, paintings, even things you wouldn’t expect in a garden. We even have a Buffalo-Style Garden Art Sale in the opening weeks of the Festival.

Here are a few of my favorite art pieces from this year’s National Garden Festival (I visited gardens involved in five garden walks this year):

Metal hummingbird – I loooooooved this piece when I saw it – so much so that I looked for it at the Glen Park Art Festival a few days later…now it’s mine!

Bowling ball totem pole – yep, a bunch of bowling balls topped with a bunch of pins…our gardeners are creative!

Colorful homes – even the homes are pieces of art! Vibrant colors like these can be seem throughout the area of Garden Walk Buffalo.

Fun signs – this one was at the home of Art of Gardening blogger Jim Charlier.

Tree houses – this tree house was awesome! The homeowners also had a number of cool garden art pieces, like ants made from golf balls and a peacock of colorful bottles.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

Life imitates blog: A visit to the Art of Gardening Garden

When you see something enough in the online world, you sometimes have trouble realizing it really exists in the real world. That’s what happened on the recent Heart of Garden Walk Buffalo bus tour from Horizon Club Tours with Sally Cunningham.

Jim Charlier, former president of Garden Walk Buffalo and blogger behind Art of Gardening, and his wife opened their yard and gardens to us just before Garden Walk Buffalo weekend, and suddenly everything I saw on his blog was real…

 …the succulent frame…

…the Harry Potter garden…

…the garden art…

It was all right there to see with my own eyes – and my own camera.

As always, I take waaaay too many ideas away from other people’s gardens, and this one was no exception. Some of my favorite things:

Coleus and hostas in pots – if only the rabbits and deer didn’t like both soooo much…

The “rock garden”…

…complete with a list of where the rocks came from

Coleus with sweet potato vines in hanging baskets – BIG hanging baskets!

I would like to thank the Charliers for opening their yard and garden to us and many other garden junkies throughout the National Garden Festival and Garden Walk Buffalo.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

2014 Garden Walks in Buffalo

Here’s a preliminary list of this year’s garden walks and tours in conjunction with the National Garden Festival (not a full list!).

• Lewiston Garden Fest – June 21^st and 22^nd
• Parkside Garden Tour – June 29^th
• Town of Amherst Garden Tour – July 12^th
• The Buzz Around Hamburg Garden Walk – July 12^th and 13^th
• Lockport in Bloom – July 12^th and 13^th
• Village of Williamsville Garden Tour – July 19^th
• KenTon Garden Tour – July 18^th and 19^th – Night Lights, July 19^th and 20^th – daytime
• Garden Walk Buffalo – July 26^th and 27^th
• Black Rock & Riverside Tour of Gardens – August 2^nd