Then off to Granger Place to see Carol Tom's garden. Then on to the Guercio's Victorian Garden on De

I was asked to be the tour guide for a "Best of Buffalo" garden tour organized by AAA of Western New York's Horizon Club Tours two weeks before Garden Walk Buffalo . It was put together by the volunteers of the National Garden Festival (thank you Marlene Rita!) and the local AAA office. It was an all day tour of about a dozen gardens, lunch included. And the bus? With only 50 seats, it has more legroom than other tour buses, it is VERY comfortable, restrooms for those willing to use a bus restroom, and wifi!
The day for bus driver Lee started bright and early (okay, orlando hotel deal maybe not bright at 5am) by driving from Buffalo to Rochester to pick up six people (and one of THEM had driven in from Syracuse!). Then he drove back to Buffalo and we made three stops picking up more garden gawkers along the way. The last pick up was in downtown Buffalo and it was a writer from Philadelphia, on assignment, tagging along to get a feel for the gardens of Garden Walk Buffalo. She and her husband were guests of Visit Buffalo Niagara .
It was a full bus! 50 people. So full in fact, that tour planners (and master gardeners) orlando hotel deal Marlene and Rita came along and had to follow the bus in a car. Marlene and Rita came along because I know very little about gardening, truly. Garden tourism and Garden Walk Buffalo? I can speak for hours (just ask my family). But actual horticulture? Not so much. People often ask me garden questions, assuming I'm the "garden guy." I can usually deflect change the conversation to garden tourism.
The day started orlando hotel deal off pretty drizzly with a "soft rain" that dissipated on and off. Lee offered to drive by pretty much anything I wanted to -- so we drove by the square orlando hotel deal that is a circle -- Niagara Square in front of Buffalo's City Hall. I was able to point out the great plantings and gardens around the Square -- but wish I'd had Marlene and Rita on the bus -- they actually planned and planted these gardens! We also did a drive-by of Buffalo's oldest orlando hotel deal tree on Franklin Street before heading over to the Rabine Terrace, a pretty little orlando hotel deal neighborhood in the shadow of City Hall with small cottage-like homes built in the 1970s.
My big mistake was having everyone visit the Banks garden first -- we had 52 people at this point trying to get into a garden that holds ten. Fortunately, one of the Garden Walk Buffalo committee members, Ginny, was at home across the street and opened up her cozy back yard for visitors, impromptu. That's how it is in Buffalo, if you stand around long enough, you'll get invited in to a garden.
We then went on to the Cottage District, which was wonderful, as always. orlando hotel deal Ellie was there to answer questions and entertain the group, doing some of her gardening stand-up routine. Didn't have access to many back yards on Summer Street, but the front yards are all great gardens and photo worthy. Have to tease people to come back for Garden Walk anyway! We did get over to Sixteenth Street to a VERY impressive garden there, and were joined by next year's Garden Walk Buffalo president, Cindy Loomis, who lives across the street. Next year I'll be "President Emeritus." Which always sounded nicer to me anyway.
Also joining us was Sally Cunningham, local garden guru (CNLP, garden book author, columnist, educator and media personality). She's always a crowd pleaser and was able to spend (kill) some time with comments and answers to questions on the bus since we were WAY ahead of schedule -- garden viewing went fast in the rain.
We headed over to Park Street - I hadn't been to the Park Street gardens in a couple years. There are a LOT of gardens on the Walk on this small street of great and beautiful homes. Again, there was only one garden open for our viewing, but a walk up and down the street with Marlene, Rita and Sally (and more than a few of the tour-takers) was like taking a master class in residential horticulture.
orlando hotel deal After a nice relaxing lunch at La Ti Da in Allentown, we headed off to my street, Lancaster Avenue. We didn't visit my garden -- no time -- but we did slow down as we drove by. We stopped up the street to visit two magazine-worthy gardens - Alec's immaculate garden and Anabelle and Jim's "Mary's Garden. "
Then off to Granger Place to see Carol Tom's garden. Then on to the Guercio's Victorian Garden on Delavan Avenue. In retrospect, I think we did a great job of building the tour to a nice climax -- going from small and modest to larger and grandiose.
We did end the tour on a relaxing orlando hotel deal note, visiting a park-like garden on St. Catherine's Circle. The Horrigan garden is a tranquil retreat -- and our first sight of an actual good-sized grass lawn all day. Part of the original Albright estate in a secluded, tony neighborhood, the Horrigan's have created orlando hotel deal a private, mini arboretum. Sally Cunningham loves this garden for its collection of great and unique trees. The one thing I learned is I would LOVE to have a Katsura tree.
Like I have said before, am in awe of this wonderful coming together of gardeners in Buffalo to share their gardens with the public. Kudos to Buffalo. Love that Katsura Tree!! Reply Delete Vicki B in OP NY August 14, 2012 at 9:41 AM
What a wonderful article, you ve captured the essence of the day. You were a great host, sharing the best of Buffalo. Kudos to Rita and Marlene for organizing a memorable tour, and to you for sharing your expertise. Reply Delete Connie Oswald Stofko August 14, 2012 at 11:21 AM