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Buffalo Garden Walk

8/15/2024 2:12 pm

 

July in Atlanta -- when three layers of deodorant aren't enough, it’s time for a road trip. Point your car north and head for Buffalo, the home of the largest garden tour you’ll ever attend. The tour is free, and it’s enormous. A free shuttle loops through the five or six neighborhoods opening their gardens for one eye-popping weekend in late July. 
 
Below is a screen shot of a downloadable map. There are more than 300 gardens on display. You pick up a free map and decide on a starting point. I don’t care how fast you walk, you don’t have time to see them all in two days which is kind of cool particularly if you like a mild feeling of hysteria. 
 
I made my first trip this summer for their 30th year of open gardens, and I’ll be back for next year, July 26-27, 2025. Buffalo Garden Walk.

 

 
It’s a thirteen hour drive from Atlanta assuming you don’t veer wildly from side to side like a drunken sailor making wayside stops with abandon. You’ll be happy to know that the trip up allows you to camp right along the Skyline Drive. (I recommend Mathew’s Arm Campground in the Shenandoah National Park. It’s on your way, near the north end of the Skyline Drive. While you’re there, ask the ranger where the hell the rest of Mathew got to. I got no answer.)
[Ed. note: I posted this question on the Shenandoah Park page and also got no response. While  inquiring minds want to know, apparently not the minds of the park rangers.]
 
 
 
I hear there are hotels all along the route but camping makes it an event, particularly when your tent is on top of your car.   
 
We decided to stay in an actual hotel in Buffalo. I wanted something interesting enough to hold up against all the gardens. When I heard that the Richardson Hotel was built by one of my favorite Chicago architects and that it had served as a state psychiatric hospital for years, the deal was closed. It didn't hurt that there were gardens nearby, and that the free shuttle also made a stop about three marginally creepy blocks away.  A Night in a Former Insane Asylum. 
 

The Richardson Hotel - Buffalo, NY

Designed by H.H. Richardson with grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted

 
The garden walk includes gardens of all types ranging across multiple neighborhoods. A surprise bonus was Buffalo’s housing stock; it was enough to make me consider relocation. The need to color coordinate your snow shovel with your giant thermal boots is a disincentive, but it’s summer, so we don’t think about that stuff now. Like many areas with a shorter growing season when the temperatures start to rise, that whole city must move into overdrive. 
 
 
 
 
We spent two days touring gardens and taking short breaks for restorative beverages as we made our way from one garden to the next, and the next, and the next. There may be better ways to spend your time but I’m not familiar with them. I hear there’s a waterfall around there, but I didn’t see any gardens near it so, nope…. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Put it on your list for next year, you won’t regret it. And choose your tour companions wisely, like I did.
 
 
 
 
Good sports and great travel companions ready for a cocktail break -
 son Elijah & husband Gabriel
 
 
Contributed by Kathleen Dumitrescu
 
 
Ed. Note - If staying in former mental hospitals is your gig, you can roost in Staunton, Virginia in the main building of the Blackburn Inn and Conference Center, once the site of a progressive mental institution. Blackburn Inn  While in Staunton, In late July, you can take in a play at The American Shakespeare Center or catch some up-and- coming classical music stars at the Heifetz Institute Summer Program at Mary Baldwin College. [You pronounce Staunton as if it had no "u"; but if you drive through Luray, VA, make certain to extend that "ewww" sound extra long for Lewwwwwwray.]
 
Just passing through and feeling like quality snack food? Hop off I-81 at Exit 269 (Between New Market and Mt. Jackson) to tour the Route 11 Potato Chip factory. There are lots of free samples as well as merch and fresh potato chips galore to buy. It's a small family operation, so you can visit in just a half hour.
 
Looking for gardens to visit or nurseries along the way? Noted perennial grower and breeder Andre Viette lives in Fishersville (on the East side of I-81 across from Staunton) and has been known to welcome visitors as well as sell them some plants.  Visit Andre Viette  Andre has a stunning conifer walk that makes you feel like you are on a different planet -- albeit one that has groundhogs. Even the best gardeners gotta cope!  
 
Up the road a little in Woodstock, Virginia and very close to I-81, is Woodstock Gardens (formerly Fort Valley Nursery). In addition to having very high quality plant material (indoors and outside), they have a lovely cafe which makes it a perfect road stop to catch breakfast or lunch, have some hot coffee or iced tea, or just to stretch your legs. - Liane (who has spent 30 plus years visiting family in the Shenandoah Valley)