Buffalo's Garden Walk

On weekends the downtown core of most big cities is pretty quiet. Not surprisingly, at 9 a.m. on the last Saturday of July the streets of Buffalo, New York are empty too. But not for long. By 10 a.m. a definite carnival atmosphere is evident as we wander the streets. You may think that we are here to do a little cross-border shopping. While it’s true, many Canadians trek to Buffalo (especially when our currency is strong) to load up on bargains. This time we were there for Garden Walk Buffalo.

Who knew back in 1995 that a simple little tour of 19 gardens would grow into one of the most unique urban events in North America? Garden Walk Buffalo is the largest garden tour in North America, a free, self-guided tour of more than 350 gardens. Now in its 16th year, an estimated 50,000 visitors to Buffalo, all hungry for horticultural eye candy, head to one of three headquarters to pick up a map and start walking, gawking and talking to proud garden owners. My husband Walter oohed and ahhed our way through a good many of these gardens, all of them fluffed up to the nines ready to receive visitors.

There are seven districts on the tour and the garden styles are wide ranging - from tiny exquisitely appointed courtyards - to large sophisticated landscapes- to quirky plots filled with art, as well as gardens devoted to veggie patches that set you to drooling.

Ed Healy of the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau gave us the heads up to start early in the Cottage District. “This area has the highest concentration of gardens. Nearly every tiny property is open to visitors and it gets congested very quickly”. It’s easy to see why. The charming 1870 brick cottages are reminiscent of those found in small villages in England, not at all what I expected to see in Buffalo. And, all the properties are really, really tiny. But tiny is where the similarity ends. The first property we visited featured a display of quirky garden art, the installation consisting of nineteen sage green melamine cups hung by fishing line on a vintage step ladder.

A cast off window shutter painted powder blue was artfully arranged behind the composition. Along with an assortment of other repurposed articles the resulting picture was delightful, though bizarre. Nearby, a sun-filled front garden featured unrestrained and riotous colour and more my style. The neighbouring garden was more a mosaic of foliage in muted tones of every possible shade of green. And so it went. One surprise after another delighted us as we meandered our way through the Cottage District.
All the gardens on the tour are clustered within a three-mile radius making it easy to see a lot in a short period of time. Each district offers a different style of architecture and ambiance. One thing is sure; no two gardens are the same. Though we walked the route, those who needed a break could hop on one of the free shuttle buses that ran continuously. Professional tour guides on board provided commentary about the city.

The gardens themselves are inspiring, but chatting with the owners is the icing on the cake. There’s something about a garden that puts everyone on the same level…a very friendly level with both owners and visitors eagerly sharing ideas and tips. I went away with more than a few projects in mind.

Over the years the event has attracted a number of sponsors, including Catholic Health. This organization helped create a festive atmosphere throughout the event by handing out much appreciated free pedometers, sunscreen and hand sanitizer. Volunteers manning ice cream cart bicycles peddled the route and if you were lucky enough to spot one between Noon and 2 p.m. there was free sherbet too.

Besides the annual Garden Walk, Buffalo has an abundance of tourist-worthy garden destinations. My favourite is the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Garden with its exotic horticulture treasures. The conservatory, made up of three glass domes and nine greenhouses, is nothing short of breathtaking. Most of its plants are native to tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. The building is situated on 11.4 acres at the entrance to Buffalo’s historic South Park.

Buffalo has the distinction of being home to America’s oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways designed by the renowned landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted.

The majority of Olmsted’s designs in Buffalo are intact and represent one of the largest bodies of work by the renowned landscape architect. If you are an architectural buff, there’s no shortage of stunning buildings to admire. Stately Victorian homes line historic Richmond Avenue. Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building stands out as one of downtown’s most ornate buildings and one of America’s first skyscrapers. And, Henry Hobson Richardson’s largest commissioned building, the former State Mental Hospital, is an imposing sight on Forest Avenue. But, Buffalo’s greatest claim to architectural fame is the number of Frank Lloyd Wright designed structures. The Wright buildings are all around the city.

There are five houses in the city proper and one house (Graycliff) on the outskirts of the city, and one mausoleum.

So, what impact has Garden Walk had on Buffalo? Thanks to its growth and popularity, Buffalo, a much denigrated “rust belt” city known mainly for its discount cross-border shopping, is being revived as a lush oasis and a hot tourist destination. Residents are renovating not only their gardens, but their homes, many of which are set in some of the most diverse and well-preserved nineteenth-century domestic architecture in North America.

There is a lesson to be learned here. Garden and neighbourhood walking tours give visitors the opportunity to soak up the city’s beauty, and to take home ideas to apply to their own homes and gardens. More importantly, Buffalo’s Garden Walk shows off this city’s revitalization and goes to show that you can never underestimate the power of plants and the gardeners who nurture them.