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Spring

   So far, the new millennium has delivered more questions about the future of Americans than answers.
   Is it safe to fly? Where is Osama? Will we ever be able to trust stockbrokers again? Will our children find jobs so that they can pay for our social security? What color will Martha paint her cell walls?
   It’s enough to give your stone Buddha an upset stomach.
   What’s a riled citizen to do? Take solace in the garden, of course. No better escape from the Fox News channel exists than tuning out their world static by tuning into the frequency of a serene garden setting and all of its charms.

Grass Gardening        Grass Cultivars       Ornamental Grass Cultivation

Summer

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme formed the chorus for an Old English canticle called "Scarborough Fair."  Borrowed by Simon and Garfunkel for the soundtrack in "The Graduate", this folk ballad and its herbal references were imprinted on the memories of a generation of moviegoers.

It wasn’t the first time that herbs enjoyed center stage. William Shakespeare planted them throughout his literary works, setting the groundwork for a number of gardens dedicated to the flowers and herbs found in his plays, including one recently installed at Huntington Gardens in San Marino, California. Perhaps among the earliest poets to use an herb as a literary device was Virgil, who lived from 70 to 19 BC The well-educated son of a farmer, he idealized rural life in his works. In Virgil's epic Roman poem, the Aeneid, Venus, Goddess of the Garden before she got promoted to Goddess of Love, used an oregano (Dittany of Crete) to heal the wounds of Aeneas.

It isn’t surprising that parsley and sage and their cousins enjoy a vast presence in historical literature. After all, one’s well-being used to depend on a knowledge of herb lore and being able to identify the plants that could be used for food or medicine or for their magical abilities. For a time, however, much of this information was set aside or forgotten as people were drawn away from their farms and into the cities. Today, thanks in part to media coverage of their contribution to advanced medical and homeopathic research, not to mention their extensive use by the celebrity chefs on Food Network and by the Goddess of Crafts, Martha Stewart, herbs are once again in the limelight.

Botanists have a rather strict definition of herbs as perennial plants with soft stems that die down to the ground after flowering. Gardeners and cooks have a more generous interpretation and include certain woody-stemmed plants, bulbs, annuals and biennials in the category. Thus, plants like rosemary, fennel, basil, and foxglove, respectively, are included in the category.

Used for culinary, medical, aromatic, cosmetic and landscape applications, the elements of these plants are important to understand. As a group, they contain vitamins, minerals, antibiotics, alkaloids, heterosides, glucides, anthracenosides, cardenolides, essential oils or resins, and aliphatic acids. Commonly used cooking herbs are generally considered safe in small quantities but there are others whose effects are so dangerous and powerful that they should only be used internally under the supervision of qualified medical experts.

Autumn

Fall Colors

The scientific basis for the beauty of Western New York's fall foliage has two elements--both caused by the tilt of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit. The earth's orbit is 23.5 degrees off of perpendicular. Without this slant, we would have only one season because the rays of the sun would always strike our latitude at the same angle as the earth made its way around the sun. The length of our daylight would also always be the same.

Thanks to the tilt, we have four glorious seasons and nature uses light and color to define each of them. From the monochromes of winter to the rich spectrum of spring greens to the pastels of summer, our eyes are treated to her works of art. And then there is autumn, perhaps our most glorious and poignant season.

Right after the summer solstice, when days become almost imperceptibly shorter, hardwoods begin to regulate their life processes in preparation for winter. To prevent damage from freezing temperatures, their plant cells gradually switch from producing chlorophyll, which makes their leaves green, and begin allowing carotenoids and anthocyanins, which have red, orange and yellow pigments to prevail. With the arrival of September, most of the green has gone and the show begins.

Fall Checklist

Winter

Winter Landscaping

Let It Snow

Antonio Vivaldi composed his Winter concerto without the benefit of experiencing that season in Buffalo. But, if he had lived here, there's no question that our region would have inspired an even more dramatic composition. Blessed with weather that's as beautiful as it can be wild, we have a wealth of trees and shrubs whose elegance of form is magnified by snow, giving our gardens every right to celebrate their season of dormancy.

While for some people it may be enough to know that our cold temperatures ultimately give way to spring flowers, others insist on enhancing their winter landscape. Choosing plant material with desirable characteristics, lighting plants and statuary, and constructing living space under glass to make it a permanent part of the garden (regardless of the weather) can answer our needs for nature on even the shortest days following the solstice.

Choosing plants for winter display also requires attention to hardiness; Buffalo is rated Zone 5 on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's hardiness map but low-lying valleys to the south and east of the city are more typically Zone 4. Gardeners living in those areas have limitations on what can survive our winters. The locations of the plants are important as well. A sensitive tree or shrub planted in a protected area is going to have a better chance than one that's planted on a windy hill."

We'll all have a better chance of not only surviving the winter but embracing it if we take A. E. Housman's poetry to heart:

And since to look at things in bloom,
Fifty springs are little room.
About the woodlands I will go,
To see the cherry hung with snow.