The longest press release in garden tourism history...
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| One of the gardens that is on both a weekend garden tour and Open Gardens on Thursdays and Fridays. |
NATIONAL GARDEN FESTIVAL RUNS JUNE 21 TO AUG. 4
Buffalo’s fourth annual festival features 15 garden walks (including America’s largest),
workshops, open gardens, a Buffalo-Style Garden Art Sale and more
BUFFALO, N.Y. – May 20, 2013 – The fourth annual National Garden Festival will take place from June 21 to Aug. 4 in Buffalo, N.Y. and it is, by far, the largest garden festival in America.
The six-week-long festival offers something for anyone with (or without) a green thumb:
15 garden walks and tours throughout the Buffalo Niagara region, totaling nearly 1,000 private gardens. The most popular of the tours is Garden Walk Buffalo – the largest free garden walk in the country, with more than 350 private gardens on view – on July 27 and 28.
A series of luxury motorcoach tours, operated by AAA Western and Central New York’s Horizon Club Tours. Expert gardeners will provide behind-the-scenes tours of some of Buffalo’s finest gardens, from secluded private yards to the city’s Frederick Law Olmsted-designed parks. The tours each include a sit-down lunch.
Day-long seminars at local garden centers, such as Native Plants & Sustainable Landscapes at Lockwood’s Greenhouses on July 6 and a pair of workshops on Harvesting & Designing with Flowers and Medicinal Herbs at Urban Roots on July 13.
Buffalo-Style Garden Art Sale: Many out-of-town visitors have commented that Buffalo has its own style of gardening, in which gardeners mix brash combinations of flowers with art and funky found objects. The National Garden Festival is giving the public the chance to incorporate this style into their own gardens by purchasing unique and whimsical garden items from 40 vendors at the
Buffalo-Style Garden Art Sale on Sunday, June 30 at the Parkside Lodge in Delaware Park.
LEAF a Legacy Project: Call it Extreme Makeover: Traffic Circle Edition. The LEAF a Legacy project represents the evolution of the National Garden Festival’s Front Yard Contest, which provided free landscape makeovers to entire blocks of private homeowners on urban streets facing Olmsted Parks each of the last three years. With LEAF a Legacy, the landscapers will now be joining together each year in a non-competitive environment to give a facelift to a public space within Frederick Law Olmsted’s system of parks and parkways. The inaugural LEAF a Legacy project focuses on the Olmsted-designed traffic circle that links McKinley Parkway and Dorrance Avenue in South Buffalo and a stretch of McKinley Parkway that extends toward the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens. In spring, this space received some 115 new trees as part of phase one of the project. The work was done by a group of professional landscapers from the Western New York State Nursery and Landscape Association, staff from the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension and other National Garden Festival volunteers. Funding for the trees came from the Western New York State Nurseryman’s Foundation, the New York State Nurseryman’s Foundation and ReTreeWNY. Phase two, which will entail shrub and garden plantings, will take place from July 8 to 12.
Open Gardens: on Thursdays and Fridays throughout the festival, some 80 private gardens throughout the Buffalo Niagara region will be open to visitors. Locations, dates and times are listed in the Open Gardens Guide, a full-color book available for an $8 donation at www.nationalgardenfestival.com or the following locations:
Buffalo Niagara Visitor Center (two locations): Market Arcade Building, 617 Main St., Buffalo; on the secure side of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport
Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s Parkside Lodge: Delaware Park, Buffalo
Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo
Lockwood's Greenhouses: 4484 Clark St., Hamburg
Mischler’s Florist: 118 South Forest Rd., Depew
Urban Roots Garden Center: 428 Rhode Island St, Buffalo
Masterson's Garden Center & Aquatic Nursery: 725 Olean Rd., East Aurora
Queen City Garden Town Nursery: 4000 Harlem Rd., Buffalo
Spring Lake Winery: 7373 Rochester Rd., Lockport
Everything Elmwood: 740 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo
Omega 3 restaurant (two locations): 739 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo; 4445 Main St., Buffalo
AAA offices (two locations): 100 International Drive, Williamsville; 3475 Amelia Drive, Orchard Park
“Buffalo is quickly becoming a gardening mecca,” said National Garden Festival Director Sally Cunningham. “The National Garden Festival is a giant garden party that brings together six weeks of garden walks, tours, speakers, Open Gardens and special events. The festival has put Buffalo at the head of garden tourism in America and tens of thousands are falling in love with our colorful, creative and lush gardens.”
A full calendar of events and their descriptions can be found at www.nationalgardenfestival.com. Basic details are as follows:
Friday, June 21
AAA Motorcoach Tour: Favorite Buffalo Gardens – the Preview Tour
Saturday, June 22
Lewiston Gardenfest, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday, June 23
Lewiston Gardenfest, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m
Sunday, June 23
GObike Buffalo City Garden Tour by Bicycle, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m
Thursday & Friday, June 27 & 28
Open Gardens
Friday, June 28
Fairy Day Garden Festival at Menne Nursery
AAA Motorcoach Tour: Landscapes outside the limits – Fine Suburban Landscapes
Saturday, June 29
Fairy Garden Celebration at Menne Nursery
Sunday, June 30
Buffalo Style Garden Art Sale at the Parkside Lodge in Delaware Park, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Parkside Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday & Friday, July 4 & 5
Open Gardens
Friday, July 5
AAA Motorcoach Tour: Architectural Treasures and Fine Gardens – Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House, Forest Lawn, Rose and Japanese Garden and new plant introductions at the Erie Basin Marina Test Garden
Saturday, July 6
Grand Island Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Native Plants & Sustainable Landscapes at Lockwood’s Greenhouses
Sunday, July 7
Grand Island Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
July 8 to 12
LEAF a Legacy Public Space Makeover
Thursday & Friday, July 11 & 12
Open Gardens
Saturday, July 13
Buzz Around Hamburg Garden Walk, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lockport in Bloom, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lockport Twilight Garden Tour, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Niagara Falls Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Samuel P. Capen Garden Walk, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Urban Roots: Pathways to a Useful Garden workshops: Harvesting & Designing with Flowers; Medicinal Herbs)
Sunday, July 14
The Buzz Around Hamburg Garden Walk, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lockport in Bloom, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Snyder-CleveHill Garden View, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday & Friday, July 18 & 19
Open Gardens
Friday, July 19
AAA Motorcoach Tour: Farm Tour – From Alpacas to Blueberries: includes cut flower production and fresh produce
Saturday, July 20
Town of Amherst Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lancaster Garden Walk, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Williamsville Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ken-Ton Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ken-Ton Saturday Night Lights, 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 21
Lancaster Garden Walk, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
South Buffalo Alive Garden Tour, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Ken-Ton Garden Tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday & Friday, July 25 & 26
Open Gardens
Thursday, July 25
AAA Motorcoach Tour: Southtowns Bouquet – with the famous gardens of Mike & Kathy Shadrack, luncheon & tour at Lockwood’s Greenhouses, and new private gardens of Hamburg
Friday, July 26
AAA Motorcoach Tour: The Buffalo Style Garden – art and intimate outdoor living spaces
Garden Walk Buffalo's Wine & Roses Tour
Saturday, July 27
Garden Walk Buffalo, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, July 28
Garden Walk Buffalo, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Thursday & Friday, August 1 & 2
Open Gardens (outside of the city of Buffalo, only)
Saturday, August 3
Black Rock Riverside Tour of Gardens, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Black Rock Riverside Starry Night Tour, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Beyond Flowers Tour - Seven stops around Buffalo where the community has worked with Mother Nature, not against her, in reclaiming the land.
Several National Garden Festival partners will also be holding the following ongoing exhibits and special events:
BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY BOTANICAL GARDENS
June 19: Starry Night in the Gardens
June 15 to July 28: Celebration of Coleus and Color
June 9 to July 7: Garden Railway Exhibit
BUFFALO OLMSTED PARKS CONSERVANCY
July 12: The Olmsted Gala at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park
SHAKESPEARE IN DELAWARE PARK
June 20 to July 14: Hamlet
July 25 to Aug. 18: Measure for Measure
BUFFALO IN BLOOM
June 29 to July 21: Buffalo in Bloom scouts are scouting front yards all over Buffalo – Watch for the “Bloomed” signs and congratulate the honorees!
FOREST LAWN CEMETERY AND ARBORETUM
Every weekend, there are trolley and walking tours of this historic cemetery and arboretum
The National Garden Festival is a collaboration between the garden and landscape organizations of the Buffalo Niagara region. The festival is presented by Visit Buffalo Niagara, District 8 Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Garden Walk Buffalo, the Western New York State Nursery & Landscape Association, the New York State Certified Nursery and Landscape Professionals, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library and Forest Lawn Cemetery. Funding is provided by the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, the Western New York Foundation and the Buffalo Green Fund. Additional support has been provided by the Western New York Hosta Society, the Buffalo Area Daylily Society, the Peace Garden Project, Master Gardeners of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Buffalo in Bloom, the Iris Society of Western New York and Elizabeth Licata.
Visit Buffalo Niagara sells and markets our assets and attractions to visitors outside of the Buffalo Niagara region as a convention, tourism and leisure destination for the economic benefit of the community.
An event that has that many offerings needs a big message!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, if it was longer, I would not miss a word reading it. The scheduled events are not to be missed. I just returned from SE PA and talked with a family making a week of it here for Garden Walk Buffalo. The word is out and spreading.
ReplyDelete