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Reggie Garner has about 250 potted plants throughout his front and backyard. He showed them off to visitors – and introduced his cat, Stache – during the East Side Garden Walk, which took place July 22-23. Libby March, Buffalo News
We garden on a scale not seen in most places, which is why Garden Walk Buffalo draws tens of thousands of visitors every summer, and is the largest free garden tour in the U.S. Garden Walk Buffalo is Gardens Buffalo Niagara’s most well-known event, and the one that started it all, but GBN has a full season of additional garden events…
Each Spring we publish a newsletter to fill you in on some of the garden events coming up in the summer months. In this years’ issue you’ll find:
Kate Welshofer interviewed Terra Dumas of Common Roots Urban Farm, Terra shared her passion and insights on growing food. Common Roots Urban Farm is one of the 18 farms featured on Gardens Buffalo Niagara’s Urban Farm Day on August 27, 2022.
When Pamela Rose talks about how she got into gardening, she recalls when a former landlord gave her a small, rectangular garden bed to plant. She was in her 20s and living in a rental apartment in the Village of Lancaster.
Since the East Side Garden Walk debuted in 2018, the focus has been on making connections between gardeners, neighbors and visitors.
“I think the East Side Garden Walk is something that’s beautiful because it’s a way to bring people who are like-minded together in order to share their love of gardening with people from inside and outside of the community,” said Sam White, chair of the garden walk.
A rite of mid-summer in Buffalo has returned, as Garden Walk Buffalo brought thousands of people from near and far this weekend to see what city residents can do with a green thumb and the right yard.
The event is so prominent it has spawned a string of other garden walks across the region and even in the city.
Sponsors don’t count visitors, but there were clearly a lot of them on Sunday. Headquarters Committee Chair Dorothy Weitz said they even included the former head of horticulture at Disneyland Paris.
Jinge “Jay” Hu’s passion for gardening goes far beyond his own meticulously maintained beds and exuberant container plantings. He enjoys talking about other gardens, including some from his past and others he recently discovered.
Walk through the gardens of East Buffalo, meet the people who planted them and learn about the culture and history of the city’s Black community. Print a map. And plan a route to the blooms and plantings at the private homes, community gardens and urban farms throughout the 70 listed stops on this year’s expanded, East Side Garden Walk from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, July 23 and 24.
Oh, there is ugliness on Box Avenue. This cannot be denied. On Box Avenue, boys fire machine guns at other boys. Men race four-wheelers in the too-tall grass. An empty house on Box Avenue, useless to the world, becomes to drug dealers a place of endless utility, its porch a stage for all-day parties, its weeds a place to stash heroin and hide stolen cars.
Anyone who knows anything about the local gardening scene knows that the last full weekend in July is reserved for Garden Walk Buffalo.
GWB has long been called “America’s largest garden tour.” It has grown from 29 gardens in 1995 to more than 300 this year. A little prep work can make your outing even more enjoyable.
How lovely it would be to have a survey of all the gardeners and visitors to answer, “What was different in the gardens and on the walks this year?” No such survey exists, and my observations can only represent my experiences and what I heard during my random July visits on garden walks and the Tours of Open Gardens.
Gardens Buffalo Niagara is committed to providing visitors, gardeners, shoppers, and volunteers with safe, rewarding experiences that adhere to the various regulations and recommendations set by local, state, and federal governments.
With your donation, both Garden Walk Buffalo and East Side Garden Walk maps will be mailed to you before the tours! Help beautify Buffalo – make your donation before June 15!
In light of current national and local social distancing restrictions, Garden Walk Buffalo will become Buffalo Garden Views: Sharing in July, a "virtual garden month." Each week will be packed with events that you can experience from home on social media, and when appropriate, in person.
If any changes need to be made from the current plan for the 2020 summer season, you will know as soon as we know. Please keep on the lookout for gardening event information by email, social media, and by visiting our website often.
Garden Walk Buffalo, America’s largest garden tour, is looking for submissions of original artwork to promote the 2020 event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, 2020.
Design a House, Build a Community! This was an open, one-stage, design-build competition in which entrants were asked to deliver a functional, contemporary pollinator house to be auctioned off to support both Garden Walk Buffalo and Buffalo Architecture Foundation’s programs.
Garden Walk Buffalo and The Elmwood Village Association, both celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2019, are celebrating with the addition of a joint mural project.
Garden Walk Buffalo's 25th Anniversary event has a poster illustrated by Buffalo-area artist, Jody Ziehm.