By Ashley Brown and Brittany Sherman
Bengal News reporters
If the city of Buffalo were known for anything, it would be known for its unbearable winters. The term ‘unbearable,’ however, may be considered a stretch for Buffalo natives who know nothing but the relentless snowfall and zero-degree days.
On the other hand, gardeners in the area have become passionate about incorporating exotic plants into their gardens during the summer season. Suddenly the term ‘unbearable’ becomes more than appropriate for plants like dahlias and elephant ears that thrive in dry, humid climates.
So what is a gardener in Buffalo supposed to do with their exotic plants during the long winter months? Giving up hope certainly isn’t an option.
Urban Roots, a West Side urban agriculture and gardening center, teamed up with veteran gardener David Clark to teach locals how to overwinter their tropical outdoor plants so they can have a flourishing garden in the year to come.
Gardener David Clark talks about getting non-native plants accustomed to Buffalo:
Gardener David Clark talks about getting non-native plants accustomed to Buffalo:
The overwintering workshop is part of a grant given to Urban Roots from Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo Inc.
“We had to do a series of gardening workshops that are targeted toward community gardeners,” said Kristen Armstrong, a member of the education committee for Urban Roots. “The overwintering workshop with Dave Clark is one of the 30-plus workshops we’ve put on that help people learn basic gardening techniques.”
“There are some plants that can be outside during the summer, but not during the winter,” said Armstrong. “They have to be brought in and preserved in different ways to make it through the winter season, and Dave offers informative step-by-step information on how to do that with different plants.”
So when is the right time to start the overwintering process?
“With bulb items you will want to leave out for a couple more weeks, like until the middle of October,” said Clark. “These will definitely need to get some frost on them.”
Once the temperatures have dropped and the plants have received their fair share of frost, the overwintering process begins.
“The first thing you will want to do with your bulb products is dig the plant out of the ground,” said Clark.
Bulb products tended to be the focus of Clark’s how-to, because they are generally the most common products in Buffalo’s exotic gardens.
“Next you will want to scrub the plant nice and clean,” Clark said. “Dust it with a little fungicide powder. “
“You’ll want to store the plant in a paper bag,” Clark said. “You will most definitely want to write the name of the plant on the outside of the bag because trust me, you are not going to remember in the springtime what plant is in that bag.”
“Then you’ll want to put that bag in a tray,” Clark said. “You’ll put a little sawdust around it, but not on the bulb. Then store it either in an unheated garage, basement or crawl space.”
Local gardener Onda Simmons said the workshop helped her learn how to extend the life of plants from season to season.
“I learned a lot at this workshop,” she said. “I learned how to pull my plants that I really want to bring back next year.”
Armstrong said such person-to-person workshops blend the idea of community and education, and that's better than getting information off the Internet or from a book.
When do the plants emerge from hiding?
“We’ll see these plants again around June 1 or Memorial Day,” Clark said. “That tends to be the magic number here in Western New York.”
Edited by Melissa Kania and Paul Kasprzak
During the interview Kristen Armstrong noted that it was important to Urban Roots to fill that void between Western New York natives, and immigrants and refugees that are now located in Western New York. How does Urban Roots expect to fill that void? By integrating some plants that are indigenous to the immigrants and refugee’s homelands into West Side gardens. The West Side has an ever increasing population from Somalia. It is a difficult task for immigrants for Somalia to integrate plants that they are familiar with here on the West Side because most plants found in their home country require very high temperatures. However, with very careful watering and a little extra attention plants like the Euphorbia, which is an example from a very large succulent species, can be raised on the West Side. Another plant that can be incorporated into their gardens and homes is the Kalanchoe bracteata, this is a silvery white plant that also grows another succulent species. Adenium Somalense, also known as a Desert Rose, is a perennial found in Somalia. It is a multi-trunk shrub that can grow up to 5 to 8 feet in the wild. It is a beautiful pink flower. A very unique plant from Somalia is the white-topped pitcher plant. The shape and look of the plant is nothing like that normally featured in any garden in Western New York It’s long and slender, closed in with an opening at the top much like a pitcher, and is green with very visible red veins and white dots at the top of the plant. The West Side’s population has a diversity of ethnicities which enables the community to create beautiful, unique gardens. Urban Roots wants each garden to represent something about the gardener and they are doing what they can to integrate a wide set of plants and flowers to make that all possible. -- Ashley Brown
ReplyDeleteUrban Roots is just one of several co-op business organizations residing on the West Side.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to Urban Roots, nearby businesses such as Lexington Market and Nickel City Housing are also cooperated.
Lexington Market, located on Elmwood, is a grocery store with over 4,000 member-owners, whose goal is to provide fresh health food options to the local neighborhoods.
Nickel City, with two locations on North Street and Fargo Ave, is a coop business organization committed to fixing vacant properties and providing affordable housing.
In a cooperative business organization, the business is owned and operated by the group of people that uses its services and work there.
-- Brittany Sherman