Marina Garden Walk
The Olmsted Conservancy's MLK Greenhouse is a trial garden that houses samples of next year's up-and-coming plants. These flowers are new hybrid clones that are not currently available at your neighborhood garden center. The flowers have to prove their hardiness and popularity during rating events such as Garden Walk Buffalo, and none of the varieties seen at the marina will become available to the public until next year.
Ball Seed of West Chicago once again is the sponsor of the trial garden at the marina, and the main provider of the different varieties of hybrid clone flowers. This year, Ball Seed acquired a company in Holland, which will lend itself to an even wider variety for future shows. Another new addition to this year's show is Olmsted’s newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Thomas Herrera-Mishler, an established landscape architect acquired from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
With the help of Herrera, Swisher once again brings a beautiful collection of flowers to the marina. These beautiful flowers are a part of the Garden Walk Buffalo, happening Saturday, June 26 and Sunday, June 27 from 10AM to 4PM. Flags will be given out so that walkers can plant them in the plot (or pot) containing their favorite flower. The variety with the most flags takes the prize.
If you can't make it to the garden walk, know that this colorful collection will thrive all summer long. Take a stroll by the marina, enjoy the waterfront, and check out the exotic collection of petunias, daisies, roses and more. Don’t be surprised if Stanley himself approaches you, shakes your hand and begins to give you a personal tour of his pride and joy.
For the near future, Swisher hopes to bring corporate walkthroughs of the marina and the MLK Greenhouse to a reality. These walkthroughs will show off the horticultural beauty Buffalo has to offer, and it would include both corporate clients from other parts of the state, as well as international visitors.
Though it puzzles him, Stanley said, “The weather here has been bizarre, but the growing season was a hundred times better here than in Rochester, so bring the camera.”
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lfh
Not only is Stan Swisher's garden a beautiful addition to Buffalo and the Erie Basin Marina, but if you have the opportunity to meet and hear Stan share his passion, you are in for a treat.
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Jim
There is no Allentown Garden Walk.
It is Garden Walk Buffalo you are referring to with more than 300 gardens on Saturday and Sunday, July 26 & 27. It is the largest garden your in the country. It is free, no tickets required and self-guided.
Allentown is just part of the Walk that encompasses the area from the Historical Society to the Marina and from Main Street to the Peace Bridge.
Look for maps online next week at www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com, and at sponsor locations, to be advertised next week.
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RaChaCha
Also check out Stanley and his garden in Mark Goldman's recent book, City on the Edge!
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RaChaCha
Also, just came across this about the Marina test gardens, in the latest Buffalo Spree list of '33 things to do this summer':
" Erie Basin Marina test gardens
Surely one of Buffalo’s most charming and best-kept secrets, you’ll find bed after brilliant bed of colorful garden plants here, all being tested for their performance in the Western New York climate, as one of only twenty-five such test sites in the U.S. The seeds and plants, under consideration for the All America Selections program, come from such large commercial growers as Ball, Proven Winners, Goldsmith, and others. I have seen unusual varieties of coleus, heliotrope, diascia, lobelia, rudbeckia, verbena, and many other popular flowers and foliage plants. While there, you’ll have a superb view of Lake Erie, the China Light, and the Marina’s other beauties. Growers from across the country travel to Buffalo to inspect the plants in early August, so they should be looking pretty good by mid-July.
"
Cool info, but Spree doesn't mention Stanley - for shame!
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