Congratulations Garden Walk Buffalo!  It was a perfect weekend.  People came from all over the world to visit Buffalo gardens including our lovely Japanese Garden.  Thank you Abi and volunteers. The garden looked great to welcome hundreds of visitors.  The unusually warm year has resulted in a heavy bloom of algae in Mirror Lake, which is not as mirror clear as it has been.  We look forward to raising enough money to help the Olmsted Conservancy pay for a complex filtration system.  Donations can be made through the Olmsted Conservancy's web site.

Here are some photos of our wonderful visitors today.

Buffalo Garden Walk Weekend

Sunday July 29.  Sunny Morning.  It will be a hot day.  Thousands of people expected for the garden walk in Buffalo.  The Japanese Garden is a good starting and ending point.  Free shuttle busses will pick up people from the parking lot so you will not have to deal with parking and the Japanese Garden is perfect place to escape crowds at the end.  It will be cool and shady.

Garden Walk Saturday July 28, 2012. More tomorrow!

Visitors came from Buffalo and area, from Pennsylvania, from the Philippines ! They came on bikes, in cars (the Garden Walk Shuttle Bus  stops at the Japanese Garden) and in boats.  We will be there tomorrow Sun day July 29 from 10-4:00 pm. I took a ton of photos of the garden an visitors.  Here are a few. The sweet couple above had their wedding photos shot in the Japanese Garden  They came back today to celebrate
 with little Mason! 

TODAY!!! Buffalo Garden Walk!  Our Japanese Garden is at the northern end of the official map.  The shuttle buses (free) will stop in the parking lot at the western entrance of the Japanese Garden.  (There is a shaded picnic table on the lawn of the Buffalo Historical Society a few yards away.  Maybe we'll meet you at the bottom of the garden.  The Friends will be there to tell you about what's happening in the Japanese garden world in Buffalo from 10:0am0 - 4:00 pm.

A Picnic in the Garden

A fabulous family today, enjoyed each other and a perfect day in the garden.  Thanks for sharing !

Gardener's Fresh Philosophy

Abi Echevarria works in the Japanese Garden of Buffalo every day summer, fall, winter, spring.  I asked him how he feels when vandals (mostly kids at night) break the young trees, graffiti the benches and bridges, and snap off the irrigation systems.  (It happens often - almost routinely).  Abi's surprising response was not angry, but strong and compassionate.  "I talk to people every day about what the trees and plants give us.  They are part of the air, literally.  Mostly people understand.  When I plant a tree I think about my kids, seeing this tree grow, mature. My son has helped me plant trees.  He'll see it some day and remember when it was a sapling and we worked here to plant it.  I can not get angry or hostile about ignorant behavior. That would not do any good. (Especially for me!)  I pick up and regroup."

Abi thinks his response has been shaped by working in the Garden, and by his trip to Japan a few years ago. Every time a tree is broken, he replants three new young saplings.  His staff is supplemented by volunteers. Each tree planned requires a lot of time and energy invested.  (Donations can be made at the Olmsted Conservancy!)

Wedding photos in the Japanese Garden

Cherry blossoms, like the veil of a beautiful bride, last a shot time except in memory.
We are inviting brides and grooms to post photos of their wedding parties in the Japanese Garden of Buffalo.
We will build a record of all the brides in all the seasons and their time in this peaceful place.

Abi Echevarria in the Garden

New irrigation system installed and working -just in time to help the Japanese garden of Buffalo weather the draught!

New Irrigation System id Working!