ADAMCZYK: The art of topsoil

The Tonawanda News

July 24, 2008 10:56 pm

— Dare call it nosiness, that particular joy of mine in learning how the citizens of Kenmore and Tonawanda spend what this society once called “spare time.” They read books and write poetry. They grab their gear, running shoes and baseball bats and golf clubs, and head off to our parks. They construct quilts and gourmet meals. They resurrect old cars in their garages. They turn their personal greenspaces into gardens.
We are approaching the time of the summer when the area’s gardeners take center stage in the theater of public acclaim. The city’s annual orgy of wandering through residents’ backyards to ooh and ahh over the stagecraft of landscaping, known as Garden Walk Buffalo, takes place this weekend in Allentown and adjacent neighborhoods. The Northtowns’ version, the Ken-Ton Garden Tour, is the following weekend.
As someone still in the aspirational stages of a decent-looking backyard (oh, we’ve got herbs and petunias and a small forest of free-range mint growing, but the difference between watering the plants and growing an attractive garden is like comparing a Ford Pinto to a Ferrari), I can only visit these neighbors of mine with jaw-dropped astonishment in their effort and of the result, but that’s pretty much the idea to these events. For the people whose idea of fun involves underground watering systems, PH soil ratings and the harmonious interplay of common plants, exotic plants and fountains (with or without the optional one-pound goldfish known as a “koi” swimming around), it’s show time.
Unlike those in celebrated places like Taos or Provincetown, few residents of Kenmore or Tonawanda claim to be artists. They’re not giving themselves enough credit. Expand your idea of art a bit, then look at the ubiquitous local car shows and observe the house fronts decorated at Christmas and Halloween (especially Kenmore, especially Halloween — there is a startling streak of Hollywood set designer lying latent in the Kenmore psyche). So it is with gardening; even if this is as close as some of us will ever get to creating art, masterpieces of the genre are all over, and the galleries are open for visitation this weekend and next.
Kenmore has at least two active gardening societies (complete with dues-paying members, corresponding secretaries and organized tours). The area is part of District VIII of the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State and the entire endeavor seems as tightly ordered as a labor union. The residents of Columbia and East Girard Avenues close off their streets regularly for communal flower-plantings on the islands of grass that divide traffic. Since a hallmark of Kenmore architecture is the front porch, residents use theirs as a repository for flower pots overflowing with various vegetation (a neighbor of mine grows cacti on hers). Out here, any flat space exposed to adequate sunlight will eventually have an ornamental plant growing on it.
Sometimes the gardens almost come to you. A front yard on quiet and leafy Delaware Road, immediately south of Kenmore West High School, seems to jut out into the street; you’re actually on a bend in the road, but since the yard is completely overtaken by a beautiful and comprehensive expanse of various flowers, down to the curb, you tend to drive around it while you admire it. And if you like what you see, just wait until next weekend, when you’re welcome to visit the back yard.
I have visited professionally-maintained parks full of botanical splendor, places like the 300-acre Kew Gardens in London, England, which has been displaying pretty flowers since the 1750s. Needless to say, the backyards of Ken-Ton aren’t like that, but each has a separate mission. I keep returning to the concept of the part-time artist when I consider the how and why of people engaged in what they enjoy. The singular return on their investment of time, thought and resources is some sort of satisfaction, a rare commodity in this society. One doesn’t step into the batter’s box of a beer-league softball game in Sheridan Park with the thought that he’s following in the footsteps of Babe Ruth; nonetheless, you’re glad you’re in the game, you’re doing what you want to do and you know this at-bat will turn out just fine. At that moment, you’re as much an athlete, and as much a performing artist, as Derek Jeter.
The annual backyard garden show is a display, not a competition. Gardeners are typically on hand to explain their work and accept compliments. Even if you never considered Ken-Ton topsoil as an artist’s medium, you’ll be astounded by what your neighbors have been up to.
Ed Adamczyk is a Kenmore resident whose column appears Fridays in the Tonawanda News. Contact him at EdinKenmore@gmail.com.