By Doug Draper
If you enjoy beautifully landscaped lawns and gardens in neighbourhoods rich in classic architecture, then this event is for you.
One of the many backyard 'Edens' open to you on Buffalo's Garden Walk. Photo by Doug Draper
It is countdown time to Garden Walk Buffalo – by many accounts the best and largest gardening tour event of its kind in all of North America. And 17 years after its debut, it is still free!
“Most people wouldn’t think of Buffalo (New York) as an epicenter of American horticulture, but it looks like gardening may be their official pastime,” said a writer for Martha Stewart Living who joined the self-guided tour a few years ago. “I was knocked out by the flowers and all the people on the streets, and the general atmosphere. … The architecture (in the neighbourhoods) is something to behold, “ added Aldona Satterthwaite, a past editor-in-chief for the Toronto, Ontario-based Canadian Gardening magazine in an interview with a Buffalo broadcaster.
Those are just a few of many testimonials for Garden Walk Buffalo scheduled to take place this summer on Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (rain or shine) on both days.
You can get more details on this great event by visiting Garden Walk Buffalo’s website at http://www.gardenwalkbuffalo.com. (Due to some technical problems Niagara At Large is having at the moment with links on the site, you may have to visit that website by keying that domain name in on Google or whatever search engine you use). The site will provide details on where the three headquarter sites will be where, any time during both days while the event is underway, you can pick up maps to guide you to the neighbourhoods and homes and other institutions (well over 300 in all) you can visit.
A slice of one of Buffalo's many other backyard havens.
During the two days, countless thousands of people are converging on the neighbourhoods in the Elmwood Village area, the historic Allentown and Cottage districts, and others to visit the many properties that are marked with yellow and green signs. Many drive their own cars from neighbourhood to neighbourhood but the organizers also provide a free trolley service to shuttle visitors around.
For those who only know Buffalo from driving down the beltway between the Peace Bridge and the Buffalo Airport and New York State Thruway, here is a chance to explore this city’s classic old neighbourhoods and discover the majesty of many of the homes and other structures that have the stamp of some of the finest architects of the late 19th and early 20th century. And for most of us in the greater Niagara region, it is all less than an hour’s drive awaybuildings have never taken the time to explore this city’s classic older neighbourhoods.
By the way, you‘ll find you need both days to take in what the San Francisco Chronicle described in recent years as “a must-see event.”
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