Garden Tour Extraordinaire

June 22nd, 2010

Lancaster Avenue gardens on Garden Walk Buffalo.

   Lots of cities and towns have garden tours. Six or eight avid gardeners open their yards to the public, people pay $10, and everyone spends an afternoon garden hopping.

   And then there’s Buffalo.

   This city best known for snow also happens to have America’s biggest and best garden tour – a gargantuan effort that opens more than 350 gardens every summer.

   You read that right. I couldn’t believe it either until I looked into Garden Walk Buffalo, an event that’s been growing for 15 years and has now become a national draw.

   This garden tour is so big it runs over two days (this July 24 and 25), and even then there’s no way you can come close to seeing all the gardens.

   “Realistically, visitors can only see a few dozen gardens in the course of a day,” says Jim Charlier, Garden Walk’s current leader. “Less if it’s hot. Seeing even 100 is virtually impossible in two days, though people try. Most try to do a different neighborhood each year.”

   This is an event worth seeing. Last year, Garden Walk Buffalo drew 45,000 “walkers” – more and more of them from out of town as word gets around.

   You’ll see all kinds of gardens, from small cottage gardens to vegetable patches to elaborate landscapes good enough to earn an 8-page spread in Better Homes and Gardens (see this summer’s BH&G Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living.)

   You’re sure to come away inspired with lots of new ideas for your own yard. Either that or depressed at how bad your place looks compared to these Buffalo folks, who have a shorter growing season and fewer plant choices to work with.

   Also in the mix are plenty of restaurants, gift shops, a farmer’s market, an urban garden center and several nice public gardens (a Japanese garden, a university flower trial garden and a rose garden).

   “I would suggest good walking shoes, bottled water, camera and note pads,” says Charlier.

   2010 Walk hours are July 24 and 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. And did I mention that it’s also FREE?!?

   Check it out at www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com.