the yard. Solution: a colorful and charming tree house with a slide, rope swing, planter boxes, a vertical garden – all above a sandbox. It even has a ladybug-looking mailbox. Though the daughters are a bit too old for a treehouse now, it defines the backyard and is a visual treat for visitors. Ask anyone in Buffalo about the garden with the treehouse, and they’ll know exactly what house it is.
An extraordinary wall of wine bottles
A feature you’ll not find in any other garden, this colorful wall of wine bottles was an obsession for Miro to figure out how to make happen. After much experimentation (and the obligatory wine bottle emptying) he started with figuring out how best to drill into glass. He concocted a system of vertical cables onto which the wine bottles were strung. Under Sue’s artistic eye, they strung colorful bottles in random but purposeful positions on the cables.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a garden with more joy (and wine bottles) than the Hough/Sako garden. Gardener Sue Hough is an advertising art director and a past chairperson of Garden Walk Buffalo.
Uncommon accessories
Nearly every feature added to the garden was handmade, or made by people Sue and Miro know. A quirky peacock with wine bottle tail feathers, plant “ladders” for hanging baskets, tree stumps as planters, curvy window boxes on a fence, tall painted wooden flowers forming a lattice for climbing plants, and a stump cleverly forming a wine bottle tree (we’re sensing a theme here!).
Not everyone has the talents of Sue and Miro, but don’t let that stop you! Start with a small project you can do in a day or weekend – something that will give you some immediate gratification – and build from there. It’s the creative process that’s a thrill to experience. Dig in. Make something original. And do it big. Drama makes a garden memorable.
Many Ways to be Remembered
Incorporating some surprises, building in the whimsy, choosing unusual furnishings, adding dramatic effects: just a few of the ways talented gardeners have made their gardens special, Buffalo-style. We will be showing you several other paths toward the coveted comments… “Wow… I don’t believe it. Unforgettable!”
How have our Buffalo-style gardeners left their imprint on our visitors’ memories?
It’s about the gardeners themselves: Integral to many garden visits are the people who created the gardens – certainly true of the gardens you’ll encounter in these pages. It’s one thing to walk in and out of a well-designed garden; it’s another to hear Helen tell about her birdhouse collection on the side of the garage, and meet Carol and Tom (who explain the library ladder and tomatoes on the roof).
Creative gardeners Carol Siracuse and Tom Palamuso used a library ladder to make this rooftop vegetable garden possible.
You won’t forget talking with longtime gardeners like the Habermans (in their 80s and 90s) who still grow thousands of annuals from seed – and have for decades. And you’ll laugh at Peter Loomis’s chagrin, evident from his sign saying “This garden is tended by a sailor (this was his boat) turned reluctant gardener. Take pity on him!”
The Loomis garden is nautical but nice. Cindy is a former Garden Walk Buffalo president, Peter is still bitter about having to give up his boating days.
It’s the gardeners’ own stories that explain and add meaning to the gardens. Once you meet these people you’ll understand their gardens and you’ll feel it: Gardens are entwined intimately with their gardeners.
It’s about design: Some gardeners play with design elements. One changes the flow, the path through or around the garden, causing the visitors to look at it from a different angle. Another uses a disproportionate or misfit object (tree, shed, playhouse) that might be considered impossible to work with – and then makes it the most interesting thing in the garden. Others choose a unique piece of art and place it where it’s unseen at first, just around a corner, and then… There it is!…to the amazement or amusement of the unsuspecting visitor.
It’s about art and collections: Sometimes the garden or the gardeners have a great story that catapults the garden into our memory banks, like the wonderful “Mary’s Garden” of Jim and Annabelle. Other gardens reflect the interests or passions of the gardeners.
Many of the most-photographed gardens get the attention because of art and collections. The art and décor were chosen with love during the gardeners’ travels, or the items were made, re-purposed, or chosen because they were just right for that garden. They are all very personal.
Rich Groblewski’s unexpected Japanese-themed garden in Lancaster, in honor of a long-time pen pal of his youth.
Artists and Architects Left Big Footprints in Buffalo
Buffalo has deep roots in contemporary and classical art (The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, The Burchfield Penney Art Center, Hallwalls, the Castellani Art Museum), and a dedicated arts community. Many true artists are Garden Walk Buffalo hosts, using the space to showcase their work, and others are crafters, collectors, or are simply uninhibited about what they display among the plants.
The architectural heritage in Buffalo is also deep and rich – sometimes challenging, sometimes presenting opportunities. The region contains many Frank Lloyd Wright and H. H. Richardson buildings, a plethora of two-centuries-old houses (from cottages to mansions), and the landscape architecture influence of Frederick Law Olmsted. Buffalo gardeners aren’t afraid to play with the structures that surround them (including the neighbors’ walls) or to borrow stylistic touches from our architectural forefathers.
It’s about featured plants: Finally, we will talk about the great plants used, sometimes unexpectedly, in Buffalo-style gardens. Some gardens are absolutely defined by their plant collections, and the way the gardeners show them – and they are among the most memorable and impressive gardens on tours anywhere. We’ll be looking in on Kathy and Mike Shadrack’s “Smug Creek Garden,” and Marcia Sully’s “Hidden Gardens of Eden” (above), both hosta gardens that are visited by hostaphiles from all over the U.S., Canada and Europe. Anthony and Barbara DiMino, grocery store owners in Lockport, New York, put their time and love into a garden with thousands of lilies as well as moss-covered terrariums. Other gardens feature succulents, or bonsai, or dwarf conifers. Or it could be just one amazing plant that earns the photograph.
