BUFFALO                        REGULAR CLUB MEETINGS African Violet & Gesneriad Society of WNY meets the third Tuesday of the month, September–August, at 7 p.m., Greenfield Health & Rehab Facility, 5949 Broadway, Lancaster. av*****@gm***.com .  Alden Garden Club meets the second Wednesday of the month (except July and August) at 7 p.m., Alden Community Center, West Main St., Alden. New members and guests welcome.…
8.07.2026
Dandelion (Taraxacum spp.) are known as a weed nowadays, but this member of the Asteraceae family has been used as an herb and for food throughout much of history. For detailed information about dandelions, see the May-June 2025 issue of Upstate Gardeners’ Journal. A few notes for this recipe: – Make sure you are using true dandelions—for instance, cat's ear…
8.07.2026
Male house Sparrow; photo courtesy Wikicommons CCSA 4.0: Rhododendrites Common Grackle at feeder; photo courtesy Wikicommons CCSA 3.0: Geoff Clarke One common question I receive is how to keep “bully” birds out of feeders and birdhouses. What makes a bird a “bully” tends to be in the eye of the beholder, but usually people are talking about Starlings, Grackles, and…
8.07.2026
A Norwood Avenue garden of incredible design and detail. A masterful use of a lawnless front yard to be enjoyed by passers-by. Back in 1995, no one knew that Garden Walk Buffalo would take on a life of its own. Jim Charlier, a Buffalo art director and designer who has been involved since the event’s humble beginnings, took an out-of-town…
8.07.2026
Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop) is a heat-loving perennial herb that brings in the pollinators. Persian Carpet (Mexican) zinnias (Zinnia haageana), a delightful mini-size zinnia that looks terrific in summer bouquets. It’s gearing up to be another steamy summer day, and in temperatures more than seventy-eight degrees Fahrenheit, my ambitions far exceed my energy for gardening. I find my habits in…
8.07.2026
Aerial view of the Floating Garden on the Erie Canal in Medina, NY. Photo by Amanda Reis STANDS BY ME APP The idea for the Stands By Me app took root during a bike ride through the back roads of the Finger Lakes. Many farm stands have wonderful things for sale, says app creator Brent Bivona, but often they only…
5.07.2026
Christine Green at the Isabella Stewart Gardener museum in Boston. Photo by Kelly Myers My garden is doing wonderfully this summer. The flowers are stunning due to the extra sun they get since we removed a large diseased maple tree. I made a small little container pond that I cannot get enough of—having coffee in the garden listening to the…
5.07.2026
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March/April, 2020 – Upstate Gardeners’ Journal

Spring migrants

by Liz Magnanti Male indigo bunting. Photo courtesy Flickr: Kelly Colgan Azar Mornings are starting to fill with the sounds of spring, and birds are beginning to be our alarm clocks as we progress into longer and warmer days. Over the next month or two, upstate New York will become a hotbed of migrating birds. …

Garden games

by Cathy Monrad Who doesn’t love lady bugs? Or bumblebees? Or a good game of Tic Tac Toe? This cute project from Alecia at chickenscratchny.com mashes up the three for a bit of garden fun for all ages. MATERIALSWood slice; 1-inch thick and 9–12 inches diameter10 smooth black river rocks; 5 round and 5 oblongAcrylic …

The beer garden

by John Boccacino Barone Gardens Having grown up on a family farm situated on South Bay Road in Cicero, John Barone admits that farming was probably “in his blood” from an early age. Producing mostly onions, Barone embraced his family’s ties to farming and started a retail farm market in 1987 that quickly morphed into …

Mr. Tilly’s garden: Laying down tracks

story and photos by Christine Froehlich Learning is designed to be fun here—the only hard part is deciding what you want to see first When Paul Tilly was a kid, he longed for a train set. “I grew up on a busy farm and there just wasn’t time for playing with trains,” he said. Besides …

Almanac: What to do in the garden in March & April

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