Thursday, July 15, 2010

Sweet Saturday In Buffalo



Saturday morning started off at the Erie Basin Proven Winners trial gardens. We made our choices for flowers we liked with little flags. I can't remember what I chose. They were all beautiful!



Our next stop was the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. Here we looked at all kinds of tropical plants. These tiny orchids looked to me like something from the greenhouse at Hogworts. Looking at them I can almost hear high pitched fairy voices singing.

Our next stop was Lockwood Gardens, a fantastic nursery where we had a delightful picnic lunch. It's a very good thing that this place is four hours away or my garden budget would be blown to bits. I'm proud to say I limited myself to two books; The Well-Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy Disabato-Aust and Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham. Sally is one of the great people I had the opportunity to meet and talk with on this trip. She was kind enough to autograph my book, and I will treasure it!




Our next stop was at the home and garden of Mike and Kathy Guest Shadrack.

Here was a country setting I'm more accustomed to with a charming house over a stream , gardens with day lilies, hostas, native plants, and stone walls. This is the one place on the trip that I really wished Ed was with me. He would have
loved it! We were served traditional English tea in this incredible setting. What a delicious way to spend the afternoon!

I have to mention how impressed I was with the driver of our large 67 passenger bus. Besides being very friendly and helpful all day, he backed that bus out of the long drive and onto the highway without missing a beat. He deserved a standing ovation and he got one!

We headed back to the hotel where Amy and I finally got a chance to swim in the pool situated on the second floor of the hotel. wWe had our swim with a fabulous view of downtown Buffalo.

We changed for dinner at the Bijou Grill. It was lovely , but the best part for me was getting a chance to sit with Patty Craft from Horticulture magazine. Meeting her was a treat. I know I would never have made this trip at all if I had not been listed on Horticulture's list of 20 Top Gardening Blogs. I owe her a lot.

Back at the hotel, tired, I skipped the bloggers meeting and headed for bed.

2 comments:

DeVona said...

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! I'm enjoying your trip vicariously thru your stories and photos!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Those orchids are very cool. I missed them. (I was distracted by the wedding set up.) The bus driver earned his pay backing all the way down that driveway.