2015 Garden Walk Buffalo Niagara: June 20th through August 8th

Buffalo’s National Garden Festival is now Garden Walk Buffalo Niagara, and its purpose is to expose the area and the world to the great gardening ideas and destinations in the Buffalo-Niagara region. Garden Walk Buffalo Niagara gets underway Saturday and Sunday, June 20^th and 21^st with Lewiston GardenFest and ends on Saturday, August 8^th with the East Side Momentum Tour. Needless to say, this is my favorite festival of the entire summer!

There are 15 garden walks and tours scheduled for the 2015 event:

• Lewiston GardenFest – Saturday and Sunday, June 20^th and 21^st
• Parkside Garden Tour – Sunday, June 28^th
• Samuel P. Capen Garden Walk – Saturday, July 11^th
• Town of Amherst Garden Walk – Saturday, July 11^th
• Buzz Around Hamburg Garden Walk and Fair – Saturday and Sunday, July 11^th and 12^th
• Lockport in Bloom – Saturday and Sunday, July 11^th and 12^th
• Snyder-CleveHill Garden View – Sunday, July 12^th
• Lancaster Garden Walk – Friday through Sunday, July 17^th through 19^th
• Ken-Ton Garden Tour – Friday through Sunday, July 17^th through 19^th
• Grand Gardens of the Niagara Portage –Saturday, July 18^th
• Village of Williamsville Garden Walk – Saturday, July 18^th
• West Seneca Garden and Home Tour – Saturday and Sunday, July 18^th and 19^th
• South Buffalo Alive – Sunday, July 19^th
• Garden Walk Buffalo – Saturday and Sunday, July 25^th and 26^th
• The Black Rock and Riverside Tour of Gardens – Saturday, August 1^st

The annual Garden Art Sale will take place Sunday, June 28^th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Delaware Park Lodge – the same day as the nearby Parkside Garden Tour. More information will be available here closer to the sale.

On Thursdays and Fridays during July, Garden Walk Buffalo Niagara will feature open gardens in 13 separate areas in the region, as well as numerous public gardens. More than 90 private and public gardens will be available for viewing, with 20 new gardens for 2015 – find the list of open gardens, days and times here.

Also among the events are three motorcoach tours hosted by local gardening expert Sally Cunningham and Horizon Club Tours’ Great Garden Travel program.

• On Sunday, July 12^th, check out “Herb Gardens, Flowers and Pollinators,” including a trip to the Cats Tail Farm Herbal Center, a behind-the-scenes look at Mike Weber Greenhouses, a visit to Masterson’s bee yard and more.
• On Friday, July 17^th, “Famous Buffalo Gardens and Architecture” visits some of Buffalo’s famous gardens, as well as some of the area’s historical sites and architectural treasures.
• On Thursday, July 23^rd, “Fabulous Flower Gardens, Hamburg and the Lake Shore” explores private gardens and the professionally designed gardens at Wanakah Country Club along with a local daylily farm.

Each tour includes roundtrip motorcoach transportation and a meal, as well as all taxes and fees. For more information and to sign up for these tours and others offered by the Great Garden Travel program, visit the Great Garden Travel website or www.horizonclubtours.com.

Garden education is an ongoing topic of interest, even when there’s snow in the air and on the ground. A number of garden centers and nurseries, including Lockwoods Garden Center, Menne Nursery and Urban Roots Garden Center, have educational seminars going on right now – click here for the schedule.

Find more information about Garden Walk Buffalo Niagara at nationalgardenfestival.com. 

all photos: 2014 National Garden Festival - paulathompsonfreelance.com.

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

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