Western New York's 2009 Garden Tours
You asked, we delivered. June means the start of garden tour season across Western New York and there are plenty to choose from. These self-guided, often free, tours have become enormously popular. You’ll find plenty of ideas, get some exercise, meet other gardeners (and new plants, no doubt) and certainly have some fun. Here is a look at many of the upcoming walks and tours. Keep an eye on Friday’s Garden Notes listings for any additional walks and updated information.
Happening this month
The fourth annual Lewiston GardenFest, sponsored by the Lewiston Garden Club and the Village and Town of Lewiston, is dubbed “a walking garden festival.” And no wonder. Yes, you can poke around several private gardens, but there’s more to this family event.
Planners note some highlights: the opening of a Bi-National Peace Garden; 40 vendors; speakers; a “walking garden” along Center Street with a 10-foot floral rug, and more. The public also is invited to bring a favorite container garden to display.
The details: GardenFest will run from 11 a. m. to 5 p. m. June 27 and 28 along Center Street.
The Parkside Community Association’s 12th annual Garden Tour kicks off the season as well.
The number of gardens in this self-guided tour surpasses 60 – “from modest rock gardens to meticulous front-to-back landscaping,” planners say.
The details: The tour takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 28. It begins at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Jewett Parkway and Summit Avenue, where maps will be available. Donation: $5. For information, visit www.parksidebuffalo.org.
Coming in July For the second year, the Orchard Parkway Garden Walk will draw visitors to downtown Niagara Falls. It’s a self-guided walking tour, but you won’t have to walk far. More than 40 gardens on just two city blocks will boast their beauty, including new gardens not seen last year.
There’s even an allergy-free garden, as well as perennial gardens for sun, shade and everything in-between.
The details: The tour is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p. m. July 11. It starts at the corner of Orchard Parkway and Main Street, Niagara Falls. Just look for the white tent set up in the parking lot of the Health Association of Niagara County Inc., 1302 Main St., Niagara Falls. Free to the public; no tickets needed.
You can make a weekend out of it by heading out the next day to the seventh annual Harlem-Kensington-Cleveland Community Association’s Garden View. The tour takes place in the Snyder and Cleveland Hill neighborhoods and includes 20 or so gardens.
Best navigated by car or bike, this tour includes the 1920s “Audubon Terrace” neighborhood, the entrance to which, planners remind us, is distinguished by stone arches and wrought iron street markers with landmark status. Lots of vegetable gardens, too.
The details: The tour runs from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. July 12. The starting location is at the corner of Darwin Drive and Kensington Avenue, Snyder, in front of the Trillium Courtyard Florist, where maps are available tour day. Rain or shine, naturally. Donation is $3 per person. For further details, call Joan Schanley at 832-3905 or visit the association’s Web site at www.HKCCommunity.com.
The Village of Williamsville Garden Walk is now in its sixth year. Mayor Mary Lowther tells us that donations collected from previous years have been used to purchase five antique-style benches for the village’s business district.
At last count, 25 gardens will be featured in one square mile of the historic village. The walk is free; a $2 donation gets you a bottle of water and a ticket on a basket of gifts and gift certificates. Garden vendors will be there, and the walk coincides with the business district’s annual “Giant Sidewalk Sale.”
It’s getting late, but village residents who want to showcase their gardens can still call Lowther at 632-4120 Ext. 3006. Or send an e-mail: gardenwalkvow@aol.com
The details: The walk takes place from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. July 18. The starting point is Village Hall, 5565 Main St., Williamsville.
Save the last weekend in July for Garden Walk Buffalo. A true WNY tradition, this free, self-guided tour of 330 urban gardens is touted as “the largest garden tour in the United States” and has garnered plenty of national press.
The details: Garden Walk Buffalo will take place from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. July 25 and 26. This year’s headquarters for maps and restrooms days of tour: The Richmond-Summer Senior Center (corner of Richmond Avenue and Summer Street); Buffalo Seminary School (205 Bidwell Parkway), and AIDS Community Services (206 South Elmwood Ave.).
There is plenty more information at the Web site, www.gardenwalkbuffalo.com
Other garden tours in July:
• The Village of Hamburg’s fifth annual Garden Walk and Fair, which is free, kicks off from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. July 11 and 12. Pick up a free map and brochure at Memorial Park, corner of Lake and Union streets, Hamburg. Vendor sales of flowers, plants, garden art and plant advice will be available in the park. An art festival will be held July 12 as well.
Information is available at www . h a m b u r g g a r d e n -walk.com, Hamburg Village Hall, Hamburg Public Library, Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and Hamburg Recreation Center.
• Lockport in Bloom, the fifth annual citywide walking/ driving garden tour, this year will take place July 11 and 12. Watch for details.
• The Akron in Bloom garden walk is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. July 12. It's a fund-raiser for the Newstead Historical Society, which owns and operates the Rich-Twinn Octagon House in the Village of Akron.
Presale tickets are $5 (buy them at Bedford's Greenhouse, 6820 Cedar St., Akron); tickets are $7 the day of tour. The tour begins at the Octagon House, 145 Main St., Akron, where maps will be distributed. Rain or shine.
• Clarence Hollow In Bloom will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 18. On tour day, $5 buys you a ticket and a map; purchase them at the Pavilion at the back of the Clarence Hollow Farmers' Market. The market is located on Main Street between Ransom and Salt roads in Clarence.
Ticket sales begin at 9 a.m., which allows you time to shop the market.
• East Aurora Garden Club’s “Show and Tell Garden Tour” will take place from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. July 18. Tickets will be available from club members; from Vidler’s (after July 1) and on the day of tour at the Millard Fillmore House Museum, 24 Shearer Ave., East Aurora, where a rose garden can be viewed. In addition, five private gardens will be featured, including an eight-acre beauty, as well as a memorial garden at St. Matthias Church. Cost is $5.
• The Lancaster Garden Walk, a free, self-guided tour now in its sixth year, kicks off from 10 a. m. to 4:30 p. m. July 18 and 19 throughout the village and town. Free programs with a map and descriptions of all the gardens will be available beginning July 17 at the Lakeside Deli (corner of Lake Avenue and Como Park Boulevard) and the Broadway Deli (Broadway Street at Central Avenue). Each year there are at least 30 gardens.
It’s not too late to register your garden. Forms are available at Adam’s Nursery, Two Chicks and a Rooster, Broadway Deli or online at www.Lancastervillage.org. But do it before June 20.
• A tradition since 2002, the Samuel P. Capen Garden Walk will take place from 11 a. m. to 4 p. m. July 18.
The walk, which takes place in the University at Buffalo South Campus neighborhoods of University Heights, Eggertsville and Buffalo, is a joint community-building initiative between the University at Buffalo and local neighborhood partners.
Headquarters for maps: University Community Farmers Market on the South Campus on Main Street at Kenmore Avenue from 8 a. m. to 1 p. m. day of tour. They also will be available during walk hours at 22 Larchmont Road; 135 and 405 Capen Boulevard, and 67 Highgate Ave. The event is free.
• South Buffalo Alive’s Annual Tour of Gardens will be held July 19. The tour, which showcases the gardens of South Buffalo and the Old First Ward, this year honors the late Tim Russert, whose donations established the Children’s Garden located on South Park Avenue. See www.SouthBuffaloAlive.com (where you can still register your garden).
Coming in August
The Ken-Ton Garden Tour, sponsored by the Town of Tonawanda Environment Commission, began in 2002 and is going strong.
The details: The tour will be held from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. Aug. 1 and 2. Garden addresses and descriptions will appear in the 2009 Ken-Ton Garden Tour booklet. Booklets will be available at the Town of Tonawanda Aquatic and Fitness Center on the days of the event. In late July, the booklet will be available online at the Town of Tonawanda government Web site at www.tonawanda.ny.us.
The fifth annual Black Rock & Riverside Tour of Gardens will take place from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. Aug. 1 and 2. The free, self-guided tour features about 80 gardens. The Starry Night Garden Tour, from 8 to 10 p. m. Aug. 1 only, will include 18 gardens.
This year’s headquarters: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 311 Ontario St, and 416 Amherst St. (at Germaine Street). Maps also will be available at area businesses; by calling Councilman Joe Golombek’s office, 851-5116, or by downloading online at www.brrgardenwalk.com
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