So there was a Fling in Buffalo, NY. It was great, I was there.
That’s the executive summary and you’re more than welcome to just browse through the following plethora of photos -plus I expect quite a bit of rambling once I get started- and just move on to the comments or the like button or your next thing, but I’d like to give Buffalo it’s dues and also thank the organizers of this event who took on quite the organizational headache and had it go off without a hitch… or at least it seemed that way to me. Oh wait, I did hear two complaints over the three days. Someone mentioned they’d rather not have had delicious bagels brought in for breakfast every day, and another person complained that there were only roast beef sandwiches left at the tail end of lunch on day one. I guess some people like their food -and now I can hear my travel companions laughing as they review the number of times our all day adventures had to rely on a gas station stop or sandwiches pulled out of a pocket, since apparently I am reluctant to stop for anything other than plants 🙂
A lakefront house in Buffalo which is set to celebrate the summer. Had I predicted their popularity I would have tried to fill a photo album with the many buffalo, goat, rabbit, elephant, and dog statues we found across the city.
As I’ve mentioned, the Buffalo Fling was a three day+ adventure which brought together 73 garden bloggers, instagrammers, youtubers, maybe tik-tokers… online garden people who wanted an excuse to all get together and meet in person. Personally I’m more one who makes excuses not to meet in person, but peer-pressure and curiosity forced me into something new, and that turned out to be a good thing. I fell into a group of people who wanted to know about compost and pelargonium cultivars, and were interested in hearing about snowdrops and obscure dwarf conifers. We weren’t all experts but we were all plant obsessed and talking about gardens over lunch and then repeating it for dinner and all that plant talk was a new thing for me. I have a few friends who will step up, but a group of strangers? Exceptional!
The bus begins to unload and about 35 gardeners start the slow shuffle, ‘ooh’ and ahh’, ‘look at this’ tour. About 45 minutes pass, the bus is loaded, and another bus arrives for the second half of the wave. It must be quite a whirlwind for the homeowner!
Industrial decay, massive snowfalls, and a football team might be many people’s view of Buffalo but perhaps you can add one more. Over the last few decades Buffalo has developed quite a reputation for gardening, and today Garden Walk Buffalo draws thousands of people from across the country to walk the city streets and Buffalo neighborhoods, admiring a small slice of the hundreds of gardens which are open for the weekend. It’s quite the event and has grown to add a July-long open gardens program which offers Thursday and Friday special openings. The walk is free, I believe a ticket is required for the Thurs/Fri events but honestly I’m sure you’ll search up your own information if you’re interested. Let me get on to the photos!
Porches and patios were an inspiration, with amazing style and comfort
Planters, pots, and statuary… oh for a pocket-full of cash and a heads up on an amazing estate sale.
An excellent selection of shrubs and trees throughout the gardens, with this tricolor beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Tricolor’) still perfect with its springtime color.
Flowers were exceptional. Hydrangeas, phlox, daylilies, and lilies were all at their peak!
The three days were set up with three or four morning garden visits of larger gardens outside the city, with a break for lunch, and then a self-guided garden walk in the afternoon through one of the Buffalo neighborhoods which had opened for the Flingers.
The personalities of the gardener shone through in each garden. Here a collection of hybridized daylilies and hostas sheltered under older conifer and Japanese maple plantings. A brilliant double-use of space to fit even more in!
More gardener personality, in this case dragons!
As well as a koi-filled pond, one of multiple water features in this garden.
The Flingers descend upon another suburban patio, and are again confronted with a choice between inspecting every last treasure or admiring the ‘big picture’ from the comfort of well-appointed patio seating 😉
A few of the gardeners were recognizable from their online presence. Here Jay Jinge Hu of Whispers in the Garden welcomes us to the exuberant color plantings which surround his family’s home.
And the more restful shade plantings around the back patio.
Some of the larger properties were garden after garden advancing around the house, as the gardener’s inspiration moved from one garden idea to the next. I could relate although thankfully my garden doesn’t have as much property… because I don’t know how these places are kept in such wonderful condition with happy plantings and under-control weed populations. Sure a tour will push you to impress, but you can’t throw this look together in a weekend, it takes years!
Multiple garden areas, each one probably started with a nugget of an idea and then blossomed into a garden vision… and then on to the next nugget!
Extensive, inspired plantings are one thing, but then throw in a garden art nook!? Why not? I think there was almost a line as everyone took turns getting a photo in here 🙂
Oh and let me just throw in a painted allium seed-head photo. For a minute I wanted to know the variety of this blue thing until I realized it was paint! I’ve seen this done before, but usually as a multi-color ‘fireworks’ display, but I think I prefer the one color look.
Many of the gardens included a house with a history, and often that history included neglect and then an optimistic ‘I need to save this’ adventure. These gardeners/home-savers were finally into the last few window replacements and that must be a relief. Obviously they didn’t hold off on the garden while the house was consuming their after-work-project life. Why not tackle it all? At the same time?
And why not restore the “shed” as well. So many of the tour gardens had outbuildings which could inspire anyone to ‘up’ their tool storage, outside puttering game.
Hostas could be a contender for Buffalo’s signature plant as many gardens we visited had wonderfully lush and un-marred clumps which seemed bigger in Buffalo. Perhaps it’s some kind of Great Lakes loam or perfect pH, or maybe that copious winter precipitation, or maybe a local hosta farm which becomes a go-to garden for inspiration and enabling.
Our first day lunch-stop was Murry’s Hosta Farm, and other than the roast beef incident the farm was a beautiful and restful break. I did not purchase anything in case you’re wondering, and I just wanted to state how proud I am of that level of resolve.
Another lunch stop where there were sandwiches galore was Silo City, a reimagined urban ecology/industrial restoration/arts-entertainment-museum-native plant nursery… a land of many hats which links Buffalo’s future to its past. Massive abandoned grain elevators are the leftovers from Buffalo’s wheat from the West, to the Erie canal transport East days.
A final lunch stop which connected abandoned history-restoration-and now a cultural hub for Frank Llyod Wright fans was the Martin House complex. This prairie style home set in the Parkside neighborhood of Buffalo was not only an architectural highlight but also a garden gem.
Following the morning bus tours were the afternoon neighborhood walks. In three days we only saw maybe 25 of the hundreds of city gardens open for Buffalo’s Garden Walk but it was still a treat. There’s a Buffalo style which so many of the city gardens embrace and we were lucky enough to have with us two of the people who actually wrote the book on it. Sally Cunningham and Jim Charlier are co-authors to ‘Buffalo-Style Gardens’, and Sally was our stalwart and always on-time bus leader, while Jim was one of the organizers and hosts for our Fling. We explored the Buffalo style each afternoon and got to experience the colors, art, and quirkiness across the city with Jim’s own garden being a highlight.
Jim’s “shed”, surrounded by Harry Potter displays inspired by his daughter’s love of the books and his hopes to interest her in gardening. This also resulted in another book, Harry Potter: Herbology Magic which Jim again co-authored.
So I will leave you with a few Buffalo streetscapes in addition to snippets of Buffalo Walk gardens, since the gardening magic and Buffalo style often include the house and spread out into the neighborhood.
A mix of rebuilt and restored homes line the streets, nearly all with generous porches
Bold colors brought a vibrancy to the streets, with many of the old homes embracing their original architectural details.
Color in Buffalo’s Cottage district.
Urban lots are often tight, and I was told during the Garden Walk it’s not unusual to have the police directing traffic as people file in and file out of gardens packed full of curious people.
A plant inspection in progress in this garden filled with the owner’s vacationing houseplants. Word is she still had masses inside… plus a downtown shop filled with more… where maybe we popped in and maybe we bought a couple things…. maybe.
Even with strangers filing through, the gardeners were excited to talk about their plants, homes, and process and I have to give them a lot of credit for taking so much time out of their days to share. It was really a lot of fun and we heard so many good stories along the way and picked up quite a few, possibly dangerous ideas as well. Oh and in case you forgot, they really do get feet and feet of snow during the winter, especially when the cold isn’t deep enough to freeze Lake Erie. The gardens all look lush and summertime full right now, but nearly everyone we asked had stories about buried windows and streets and shoveled tunnels to get out of the house and even just across the porch. Wow. It doesn’t happen every hear, but when it does Buffalo is ground zero… and gardeners in the suburbs are more than happy to mention the snow belt usually doesn’t extend far enough to effect their gardens 😉
Extensive annual plantings are much cheaper if you have a source for early-season plug purchases, as this gardener shared.
A warm embrace of the color red for this gardener, as well as a garden overlooked by Venus on the decking above the garage. Venus replaced the bee hives which used to feed the neighborhood with honey until the gardener/beekeeper decided the stairs and hives were too much work for someone feeling the effects of aging.
Quirky garden art galore
And summertime seating surrounded by chlorophyll.
This scene is out of what might have been my favorite garden. Lush plantings which envelope a visitor in foliage and flower. I remarked on how well all the colors work together and how I struggle trying to achieve the same, and the gardener informed me he was color blind. I was insulted.
So there it is, a whirlwind three-day tour of gardens edited down to just a few observations, and you’re welcome for that! Thanks to all the volunteers who put this together and made it happen and thanks to Buffalo, and thanks to the other Flingers who were so welcoming and friendly. I had a great time. Thanks as well to Kimberley and the cast on her wrist which handed photo duties to myself, but kept her as the camera whisperer who changed the settings… which I just don’t have the brain for, because without that duty I’d probably have come home with a phone full of plant label pictures and a few blurry flower shots.
Hope you enjoyed, and if you’re curious next year it’s Portland Oregon hosting, and sure to be another horticulture adventure!
sorta like suburbia 
Goodness, that was a wonderful event with sooo many gardens in such a short time and they were all perfectly beautiful. The hostas, as you said, were certainly feature plants. A fabulous report!
Yes, it’s amazing to see the community involvement and how it gets a tiny bit competetive for some of the gardeners, knowing they will have an audience coming through to enjoy their show!
Oh, I imagine the threat of visitors “encourages” garden owners to have everything ready to perfection.
You did a wonderful job showing off the Buffalo Fling! I love that the garden walk was included, it’s so fun to poke around actual gardener’s gardens.
Thanks Tracy! Yes, I also love poking around and seeing what’s going on behind the gate. Sometimes it’s a little intimidating though, and I remember being so relieved to find a single weed in the one garden we visited… unless they left it on purpose jut to make other gardeners feel a little better 😉
Hey, you took some great pictures! Thanks for the camera credit.
We did have a great time, didn’t we? I’m glad you and Kevin went.
Yes, it was a good time. You kept us in line lol
Sounds like a packed three days, my head would have been spinning. I wondered about all those photos… 😉 Thanks to Kimberley for the prompting. 🙂
Haha, yes I even have a few photos with people in them which never happens when I’m unsupervised. Oh and talk about head spinning… it was a little embarassing when someone would ask for a favorite garden of the day and I couldn’t even remember where we had been until I had thought a bit and mentally worked through the day!
😀
No hostas, eh? I still want to know what plants did come home with you, pre-Fling, during Fling, and post Fling.
Yes, not a single hosta! but… I was given a geranium cutting the first morning and then nursed it along all day and through the weekend in the hotel bathroom… a spotted squill cutting from one of our favorite walk gardens, and that will always be a nice reminder of a wonderful homeowner, a potted white evening primrose division which I was very excited to accept, and then maybe a tree and some witch hazels were picked up on the trip home nothing to see there 😉
Oh and some voodoo lilies and other little goodies from a surprise garden visit on the way home
Well, darn, if I knew you liked voodoo lilies I could have supplied you.
Haha, they were ‘forced’ upon me! One “voodoo lily” and the others were a handful of A. konjac tubers which are happily sprouting and will happily add to the horde of other things I bring inside each winter.
Looks like a really fun event, so much to see, so many different ways to enjoy plants!
Yes, a very busy weekend with plants galore and excellent company. It brought to mind snowdrop season adventures!
Nothing more fun than meeting new people who share your obsession (I can relate to almost anyone who wants to talk birds) and I can’t blame you for taking all those fabulous photos.
Isn’t it fun to find ‘your people’ and really get immersed in the subject!
How wonderful! 🩷😍 I am so envious! That looks like such a fabulous way to spend a few days. Not only the lovely gardens, buildings (those porches!❣️) and inspiration, but the people too. Buffalo must be an amazing place for gardeners to live in. Great photos Frank (and Kimberley!) and thanks for sharing!
We did have a good time and I think you would have fit in perfectly! Yes so many times it’s easy to get a little caught up in all the nose to the ground garden activities, and it becomes a solitary obsession, so this was a fun way to all get together and look around!
Plus I’m always amazed to see my nails come clean after a few days away from home!
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Thanks for the wonderful view into this year’s Fling. Those gardens and houses, cottages and shed are marvelous, as is your writing. Glad you had fun.
thanks Susie! It was an excellent first time experience and I bet you would still know a bunch of the hard core flingers, some of these bloggers have been around for a while lol
Thanks so much for bringing us along, Frank,I’m positively drooling over those gorgeous images and gardens. In between I felt transported to the Chelsea Flower Show! The level of horticulture is very impressive, the planting so lush and healthy. Love the colourful houses and the creative, cheerful gardens. I’m like you and prefer to stay in my bubble but it’s always great and inspiring to leave it and meet like-minded people. Happy August!
haha, probably the only part of visits like these are that I came home and once the excitement of catching up on every little change, I was a little disappointed by how much better other gardeners grew and displayed things, how their art was better and their color combinations more successful! It’s a dangerous time then when you start re-evaluating the garden and begin to think ‘oh I could just move that path’ or ‘let me dig that up and put those tree seedlings there and then build that garden swing’ haha, your mind becomes very optimistic!
stay cool and my fingers are crossed that rain finds its way to your Eden.
Great coverage of The Fling! The houses and the streetscapes were the best, weren’t they? I mean the gardens were incredible and they complimented the homes, but the actual architecture and presentation of the houses was so unique. It was great to meet you, and thanks for sharing the memories!
Hi Beth! Yes, I love those old neighborhoods where the spirit of the old houses remains and they’re not all painted black or turned into smooth angular things with all the details removed. Sure we can’t all have a Frank Lloyd Wright house a few blocks over but things could be a lot more interesting!
great finally meeting you in person