Buffalo Rising Online

Jul 2nd 2008, 12:32pm By Chao Li

Stanley Swisher is back, along with the beautiful garden he supervises at the Erie Basin Marina. Together with the Olmsted Conservancy-manned MLK greenhouses, Swisher is excited about the 350 varieties of annuals showing at the marina this year. These varieties are from all over the world, including Holland and Israel.

The Olmsted Conservancy's MLK Greenhouse is a trial garden that houses samples of next year's up-and-coming plants. These flowers are new hybrid clones that are not currently available at your neighborhood garden center. The flowers have to prove their hardiness and popularity during rating events such as Garden Walk Buffalo, and none of the varieties seen at the marina will become available to the public until next year.

Ball Seed of West Chicago once again is the sponsor of the trial garden at the marina, and the main provider of the different varieties of hybrid clone flowers. This year, Ball Seed acquired a company in Holland, which will lend itself to an even wider variety for future shows. Another new addition to this year's show is Olmsted’s newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Thomas Herrera-Mishler, an established landscape architect acquired from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

With the help of Herrera, Swisher once again brings a beautiful collection of flowers to the marina. These beautiful flowers are a part of the Garden Walk Buffalo, happening Saturday, June 26 and Sunday, June 27 from 10AM to 4PM. Flags will be given out so that walkers can plant them in the plot (or pot) containing their favorite flower. The variety with the most flags takes the prize.

If you can't make it to the garden walk, know that this colorful collection will thrive all summer long. Take a stroll by the marina, enjoy the waterfront, and check out the exotic collection of petunias, daisies, roses and more. Don’t be surprised if Stanley himself approaches you, shakes your hand and begins to give you a personal tour of his pride and joy.

For the near future, Swisher hopes to bring corporate walkthroughs of the marina and the MLK Greenhouse to a reality. These walkthroughs will show off the horticultural beauty Buffalo has to offer, and it would include both corporate clients from other parts of the state, as well as international visitors.

Though it puzzles him, Stanley said, “The weather here has been bizarre, but the growing season was a hundred times better here than in Rochester, so bring the camera.”