My fellow Ranter Susan Harris said it best: “Buffalo had lots of doubters, but boy did that city shut them up!”

She’s referring to the Garden Comm conference that was held in Buffalo in 2017, but Susan has been here a few other times. My posts about the Buffalo garden scene –  including of course Garden Walk Buffalo, our gigantic free annual garden tour – had piqued her curiosity long before 2017. 

But it did take some doing to get the garden communicators to settle on Buffalo for their annual event, which includes tours of gardens as well as seminars and presentations. And partying. 

The Draves Arboretum is part of Sunday morning’s tour.

Why not see what they saw for yourself? We’re inviting those who blog/post on social media about gardening to Buffalo for a different kind of get-together, with no seminars, just tours and socializing. It’s The Fling, a yearly three-day tour of gardening destinations throughout the U.S. and Canada (2015) that was started in 2008, with a trip to Austin.

An Amherst property we’ll be visiting.

It was held in Buffalo in 2010 and is returning in 2026, July 9-12. (We’ve been doing this event for so many years that we’ve started to go back to former destinations.) But if you came in 2010 and even if you came in 2016, there is plenty you never saw. Those tours largely focused on the smaller urban gardens included in Garden Walk Buffalo. We’ll be visiting some lovely GWB gardens again, but this time, we’re also spending three successive mornings in Buffalo’s surrounding towns and villages, checking out – for the most part – larger suburban and rural spaces that can’t participate in GWB. 

Some will recognize Kathy Guest’s creekside terrace in the Southtowns.

Thankfully, they aren’t that far away, so we won’t be traveling more than a few miles to get to them. We’re also seeing a lovely newish arboretum and a hosta farm. But mainly, it will be gardens. 

That’s our concept: bus trips between gardens north, south and east of Buffalo during the morning and then a welcome opportunity for leg-stretching during the afternoon, as Flingers make their way between top urban gardens in Buffalo’s Allentown, Elmwood and Cottage Districts. 

Included in the registration fee: a welcome reception on Thursday and a dinner for all on Friday – we may add more social events – and lunch every day. Our hotel is located in a waterfront entertainment district that didn’t exist in 2010: Canalside. 

There are a few spots left, though registration has been brisk. Go here first to indicate your blogging and/or social media credentials and then you’ll be emailed a registration form.

Here are a few other comments we’ve gleaned from the 2017 GC visit and from GWB:

Ellen Zachos and C.L. Fornari: “The GWA meeting was held in Buffalo in 2017, just one week after GardenWalk Buffalo. Man oh man were we impressed. The people of Buffalo rock! And the gardens? Well, you have to go. The homeowners who open their properties during this event are creative, generous, and clearly have a wonderful time creating with color. 

Consultant Andrea Whitely: “Here are some great homes from Buffalo New York, the owners have embraced bright colours and I just adore it. That’s it, I’m inspired…I’m off to the hardware store to pick up some paint

Susan Mulvihill, Susan’s in the Garden: “I couldn’t get over how many eye-catching gardens were in each neighborhood — all on tiny city lots — and each was unique.” 

Karen Chapman, Fine Foliage: “I’m just back after a whirlwind tour of Buffalo, New York – boy do those folks know how to do foliage!” 

Derek Flack, BlogTO: “When I visited Buffalo this summer, the annual Garden Walk event was taking place. Basically you can go exploring all incredible backyards around some of the city’s oldest and architecturally significant neighbourhoods…As cool as getting the behind the scenes peek afforded by the event, the thing that struck me is how nice it was to explore Elmwood Village. The landscaping and architecture here puts Toronto to shame…”

Questions? Rather than ask in comments, it might be best to email buffalofling(at)gmail.com.

I hope to see you.