this very special book, Sally brings her extensive background in writing, gardening and landscape educating – and much tree hugging. And Jim brings his professional marketing, design and photography skills as well as being a gardener and garden tourism promoter – and a popular host-gardener on Garden Walk Buffalo).
How Buffalo-Style Gardens came to be: meet the authors
Sally
After an early and intense career in government and commerce in New York, I left that world, returned to my Western New York roots and was happily reborn in the horticulture profession – where I’ve thrived for nearly thirty years. My young family acquired thirty acres outside of Buffalo and named it “Wonderland Farm” (our daughter’s name being Alice). My first garden was 4,000 square feet of vegetables and flowers that buzzed with beneficial insects. But the day came when Alice was grown and my people weren’t eating so many vegetables. I turned my attention to perennials, shrubs and trees. I focused on ecological and ornamental landscaping, and began to help people design and care for their yards. But more than that, I was always teaching, whether on Sunday morning TV for twenty-three years, or in The Buffalo News and Buffalo Spree magazines, which commit significant space to gardening and ecological content. Among professional honors, I was thrilled to receive Buffalo’s Ambassador of the Year award, and to be named Person/Professional of the Year by the New York State Nursery & Landscape Association, by the Professional Landscape and Nursery Trades of WNY, and by the Western New York Land Conservancy.
In a logical progression, I was asked if I would lead some tours to those famous Buffalo gardens I talked so much about. Surely, I would… and tour buses started coming in from Canada, Pennsylvania and parts beyond. With AAA of Western and Central New York I developed Great Garden Travel, to design trips and take people to see and learn about gardens even farther afield in the U.S. and Canada, and to Europe. Garden tourists tend to be lifelong learners, so we looked and learned, and some of us figured out what lessons we could bring home with us.
How did all of this lead to the book you hold in your hands? Well, along with my friend Jim, who happens to be an amazing photographer already immersed (mostly buried) in tens of thousands of photographs of special gardens…it was simply time to share how wonderful private gardens can be.
How Buffalo-Style Gardens came to be: meet the authors
Jim
You’ll see more of my photos and fewer of my words here. If you’re looking for Latin names, plant lists and gardening know-how, I’m not your guy (Sally’s your person!). If you’re looking for inspiration, ideas, and you’d like to see gardens you may never have seen or would like to visit, my photos are for you. I was fortunate enough to have married a flight attendant. We’ve travelled extensively and have photographed private and public gardens throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Israel, and more.
I came to Buffalo for college and never left. Not exactly a natural-born gardener (so I thought), I had a conversion experience as an early participant in Garden Walk Buffalo and went on to become president of GWB (2006-2012) as it was growing to be America’s largest private-garden tour. I am also a cofounder of Gardens Buffalo Niagara (GBN), an umbrella organization that comprises about twenty garden walks, bus and bike tours, a garden art sale, and an Open Gardens program throughout July in Buffalo Niagara. About 1,000 gardens can be seen within a two-month period!
Garden tourism is an unusual specialty that has partially motivated this book. I’ve been told that I am the country’s second-leading garden tourism expert – by the country’s leading garden tourism expert, Richard Benfield. (Mostly, he says, because there is no one else!) As a result, I give talks about garden tourism and I consult with gardening organizations from around the U.S. and Canada to launch and promote their own garden tourism events. I have presented twice at the International Garden Tourism Network’s North American Conference, and in California for America in Bloom’s Annual Conference and Awards event.
I spent my “formative years” working in advertising agencies, and have had my own advertising design/marketing business since 2000 (JCharlier Communication Design). This time in advertising has helped in the promotion of Buffalo’s gardens and outreach. I like to think I’ve used these powers for good, and I won’t stop until Buffalo is recognized nationally as one of the great gardening destinations. This book is part of that campaign.
Now let’s look in on some of these Buffalo-style gardens and see how their owners did it. In these pages you’ll find lots of inspiration and practical tips for tapping into your inner Buffalo. May it roam free as you create your own uniquely wonderful garden!
P.S.: If you haven’t noticed by now, this is not going to be just another garden design book.
Most of the gardens you’ll meet in this book are from Buffalo and these surrounding Western New York towns. Some of the towns have names that are shared with other states, so if we talk about a garden in Boston or Amherst or Lockport or Lancaster, you’ll know it’s the one from around here and not the one in Massachusetts, Illinois or Pennsylvania…or the Pendleton that’s in ten other states as well. And when a caption for a garden photo gives only a town’s name but not the state, you’ll know it’s from here.
For a listing of the many garden walks and tours in the Buffalo Niagara area, and contact information, please see page 220.
PART ONE
Buffalo-Style Gardens: Where Creativity Meets Design
This book is about sharing some quirky, fabulous gardens, mostly from the Buffalo Niagara region. We’ll start with what “Buffalo-style” is, and how some special gardeners got there in their individual paths of discovery… and then look at some rules of the road – design principles – that underly these success stories.
Chapter One: Buffalo’s Gardens – a Living Laboratory
Chapter Two: Great Little Gardens and How They Grew (and some bigger ones that grew too)
