New Building for Cornell Plantations

The Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center

I had the honor of being among the first to see the new building at Cornell Plantations the other day, and...wow. It's gorgeous. It's very open and airy, but anchored with beautiful stone walls that continue from the outside in, so that when you enter the building, you feel like you're still outside. (Not the most eloquent of sentences, but there you are,) There are louvers to keep sun out in summer and in in winter, a green roof, and get this: real, flushing toilets. I'm not even kidding. Though I am going to miss the super-deluxe high-class porta-potties of yore. Cornell has applied for LEED certification and from what I overheard, will likely get at least silver and is hoping for gold.

Plantations staff hopes to have the building open to the public in January, and there will be a grand opening event May 22 (to coincide with the rhododendron collection's peak bloom time). In June we'll be bringing our usual two busloads down for a special tour. We have groups leaving from Rochester (via the RCGC) and from Buffalo/Batavia.

I'm sure I've mentioned this in the past, but I'll say it again. The garden at Plantations HQ is my all-time favorite garden, ever. Ever. So I can't help but include some gratuitous garden shots.

Fell in love with this Mexican bush sage

Gorgeous

The old building

The old building will continue to house Plantations staff. The new building has no offices, but it has a gorgeous conference room, a larger room for presentations, and a (thank God—this isn't Disney!) small gift shop downstairs. The facility and/or its parts will be available for rent for company retreats, weddings (I assume), etc.

For more images, click here.

Garden Walk Buffalo Call for Poster Artwork

Submitted by Garden Walk Buffalo

Garden Walk Buffalo is looking for submissions of original artwork for use on the Garden Walk 2011 posters, t-shirts and maps. Artwork must be garden-related and it is preferable that it relate to the type of gardens, flowers, and neighborhoods found on Garden Walk Buffalo in late July.

Submission tips:
Keep it Simple: Artwork needs to reproduce well on a variety of materials. Do not put any type over your design.
Be Different: Try not to use colors or flowers "too similar" to recent artwork used by the GW
For Everyone: Artwork should be considered "wearable and salable" for both men and women

Entries are due Friday, January 28, 2011

It can come in the form of a painting (in any media), a photograph, a drawing, an illustration, or a mixed media work.  If you are working digitally, the original art/photo must be 300dpi at 8x10 or larger. Please submit up to five slides, or a CD containing high quality .jpgs to:

 Garden Walk Buffalo
 PO Box 161
 Buffalo, NY 14207

Please do not send original work---slides on CD only.  Include a resume and a brief letter explaining why the imagery would be particularly appropriate to Garden Walk.

If you need further information, email your questions to GardenWalkBuffalo@yahoo.com or call at 716-228-1855.

Garden Walk Buffalo, the largest garden tour in the U.S., is held the last weekend of July each year. In 2010, the free event will be Saturday and Sunday, July 30 & 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 350 residences and businesses throughout the west side of Buffalo open their creative urban gardens for tens of thousands of visitors from around the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com.

Submitted by Garden Walk Buffalo 

Late Breaking Event: "Vertical Gardening" Talk

Submitted by the Adirondack Chapter of NARGS

Elizabeth Zander, program chair of the Berkshire Chapter of NARGs, will speak on 'Vertical Gardening' at the October 16 meeting of the Adirondack Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society.

“Most alpines in nature grow wherever the wind takes the seed,” she observes. “Many times this can be in a vertical crevice or a slope with loose scree.” Zander will explore how this translates to crevices and screes in the garden.

The meeting is free and open to the public and will be held in 404 Plant Science Building (Whetzel Room) on the Cornell University campus. Brown bag lunch at noon. Program begins at 1:00 p.m.

For more information on this and other events, visit the ACNARGS website at acnargs.blogspot.com. 

Submitted by the Adirondack Chapter of NARGS