2001 Realization of a Vision - A Community Garden for Orton Place
           A community garden is a unique urban phenomena where residents use land as a shared resource to garden, thus producing food and simultaneously beautifying an area. Community gardening is especially important to Buffalo in the 21st Century as the city is challenged with maintaining neighborhood stability and housing density in the face of a declining population. All too often homes in the city are abandoned and deteriorate quickly. Hundreds of homes are being demolished in the immediate future and one problem is replaced by another: an eyesore vacant and deteriorated property is replaced by an ugly weeded lot.
           When the house at 20 Orton Place was abandoned by its owner and finally demolished in 1999, the neighborhood decided to build a community garden to prevent it from becoming a blight to the community. A house around the corner at 39 St. John's Place was demolished several years before, and the neighbors did not want a duplicate of the ugly weeded lot which still exists there.
           20 Orton Place is owned by the City of Buffalo and is leased to a nonprofit organization called Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo, which acts as overseer and administrator for the garden. The day-to-day management of the garden is performed by neighborhood residents who donate their time and money towards the garden's ongoing care. In addition to being a beautification initiative, the garden effort is also an exercise in community building where residents can step back and literally enjoy the fruits of their labors. Orton Gardens has been designed to be ornamental from the street and has vegetable gardens in the rear which provide food for those which adopt and care for them.

The garden with its first bountiful harvest, September, 2001.

Garden Plan and Contributions
           To compliment the surrounding Victorian-era neighborhood, the overall garden plan is based upon 19th Century horticultural design. Andrew Jackson Downing, a well-known Victorian landscape designer created a plan for a suburban lot, where an ornamental section is closest to the viewer and a produce section is further back.
           In July 2000, the garden project began with a vacant muddied pit remaining from the home's demolition. In Autumn 2000, volunteers spread fresh topsoil on the front portion of the lot and seeded and rolled the lawn. Two annual flower beds were also constructed at this time. The lumber and soil for the annual flower beds were provided by Grassroots Gardens, with additional supplies (rototiller rental, etc.) provided by private donations. The front flower beds were filled in 2001 with cosmos, begonias, geraniums and violets. They also contain many dozen daffodil bulbs which provide a brilliant early spring display. The cosmos are a 2000 donation from Symphony Circle gardens which have reseeded themselves in 2001. The geraniums were donated from Grassroots Gardens. Violets were donated from the Allentown Association, Inc. The begonias and marigolds were donated by Mischlers Florist.
           In 2001, many improvements were made according to the general plan as well as the specific needs of lot and garden which helped to make the garden unique. Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo provided funding for a fence with gate which was installed in July 2001 and provides security for the garden. In front of the fence was planted Therese Bugnet shrub roses which will grow as tall as the fence and help to provide a floral garden facade.
           Behind the two annual flower beds is Shrub Bed #1, which includes a dwarf Alberta spruce, planted in 2000. The spruce remains green during the winter months and is decorated for the holiday season every December. Also in this bed are spirea and euonymus. New in 2001 was the planting of day lilies and a peony plant in this bed which were donated by Alison Kimberly of 29 Irving Place.
           Immediately behind and to the left of Shrub Bed #1 is a blue conifer donated by the Allentown Association. For several years, the conifer was lived at a planter at the intersection of Wadsworth and Allen Streets, in front of "Spirits of Allentown." Adjacent to the blue conifer is an interesting arbor vitae "tree" which is elevated on its trunk. It was donated by Alison Kimberly of Irving Place. A dwarf self-pollinating superior plum tree stands behind these two evergreens and was purchased with funds from neighborhood contributions. While the plum tree was planted in 2000, it produced its first plum in 2001.
           Shrub Bed #2 was created in July 2001 and was filled with several varieties of sedum (two plants donated by Joan Diana of 26 Orton Pl.), a pink pepperbush plant, two tangerine potentilla shrubs and a blue male ilex. Filling out the bed are 3 white W. R. Smith Rose of Sharon shrubs.
           Along the north side of the lot (adjoining 22 Orton Place) are five ancient yew bushes donated by David Granville of Park Street and two boxwood bushes donated by Joan Diana and a Park Street resident.
           Benches provide a delineation between the ornamental section of the garden and the vegetable beds and were donated by Peter Covey of Libra Design Service.
           Behind the benches are 6 vegetable beds which were adopted by area residents. Each adopter grows vegetables of their choosing which provide food for their families. The beds are designed to be 4 feet in width, which allows for the gardener to plant and weed their vegetable bed from either side - they don't have to step in the vegetable bed. In 2001, the beds have been adopted as follows: #1 - John and Cyndy Allen of 28 Orton Pl., #2 and #5 - Beth Kauffman of 5 Orton Pl., #3 - Joyce Berg, 44 Orton Pl. and Chris Brown, 34 Orton Pl., #4 - Mary Ann Cassidy, 375 Hudson St., and #6 - Paul Lachacz and Michael Rooney of 36 Orton Pl.
           The furthest sections of the garden are still under construction, but there are some notable changes which have occurred there as well. The wooden fence in the back of the garden was donated by Candace Church and Dinah Gamin of 42 Orton Pl. and serves as a barrier for those attempting to cut-through from Plymouth Avenue. The ornamental grasses in front of the fence were donated from Symphony Circle gardens and planted in 2001.
           A new fence on the south side of the lot (between 16 Orton Place and the garden) was put up in July 2001 by neighborhood resident David Hand with grant funding provided by the Mayor Masiello's Neighborhood Matching Fund.
           The garden paths were covered with a weed barrier and mulch to provide both a functional and attractive walking space.
           Orton Gardens was featured on the Annual Garden Walk on July 28 and 29, 2001 and was the only Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo participating garden lot. The garden was viewed by thousands of people who were particularly fascinated by the vegetable gardens.
           In August 2001, the garden was enhanced with Victorian statuary: two urns flanking the entrance and a pedestal with cherub was installed. Also, a sign giving a brief history of the site and its role as a community garden was placed in the garden. In addition to the garden being a home for living, growing things, it has also become a home for reminders of Buffalo's past. Architectural elements from Buffalo buildings which have been demolished have artfully been placed throughout the ornamental section of the garden. A weathered piece of wood from the Fitch Creche, the first child-care facility in the nation, is displayed in the garden. In addition, a sandstone block from a nearby house at 39 St. John's Place has also found a home in the garden. In addition, terra-cotta decorative elements salvaged from The Lydia hotel at Hampshire Street and West also have been placed in the garden and give an interesting compliment to the greenery throughout the garden.
           In September, 10 hetzi junipers were ordered, received and planted along the border of 16 Orton Place. The junipers make a dense, year-long screen against the severity of the house. Although the summer of 2001 was one of the driest on record, residents did their best to keep the garden alive. Hoses were run from 28 Orton Place and volunteers carted water to the site. In September, Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo provided a hydrant tap so that water could be accessed from the street hydrant a few doors away. Residents also took turns mowing the small front grass plot so that it looked neat and trim.
           October was harvest time and the vegetables that the garden produced was truly bountiful. Tomatoes, peppers, beans and many other types of vegetables were produced. Also in October we received a donation of over 300 daffodil bulbs from Keep WNY Beautiful/Erie County, which were planted along the front and sides of the fence which should make for a brilliant early spring display.
           The conversion of an ugly abandoned lot into a productive and beautiful community garden was performed with all volunteer labor and on a small budget provided by Grassroots Gardens, neighborhood contributions and Mayor Masiello's Neighborhood Matching Fund. It is now an asset to the neighborhood and is a good example of how to build community and sustain neighborhoods within the City of Buffalo.

Volunteers tend to the garden - view of garden looking towards Orton Place.

2002 Plans and Objectives
           2001 Fully met all plans and expectations of the garden and thanks to the work of many volunteers, 2002 should be a relatively easy year to maintain the gardens. It will be important to continue to weed the garden, mow and water as well as fully develop the furthest portions of the garden. We anticipate participating in the Annual Garden Walk in 2002 and using the garden to build community and as a neighborhood gathering spot. Several residents have commented that it is very peaceful and plesant to tend to the garden and watch the vegetables grow in the summer sun.

The following is a list of Orton Gardens key items to be accomplished in 2002:

• Construction of 3 additional vegetable plots in rear of garden
• Procurement of 5-10 yards of topsoil to fill 3 new vegetable plots and topcoat 6 other vegetable beds (9 total beds - 4 x 12)
• Creation of compost bin/pile in rear of garden
• Weatherproofing the rear wooden fence
• Annual flowers planted in beds
• Brick in the muddy berm or "hell strip" that surrounds the existing maple tree in front of the lot
• A plan for continued maintenance for shared garden area - cutting grass, watering and shoveling snow in winter
• Continued planning for sustainable garden water source

Shrub bed number 2 is enhanced by Victorian statuary.

Brief History and Plan for Site
           Although the Kleinhans Community Association neighborhood was widely settled beginning in the 1860s, Orton and St. John's Place was not developed until 1884; previously it had been used as the site for traveling circuses in the 1870s and early 1880s when they visited Buffalo. 20 Orton was one of the last homes to be built on Orton Place because the lot is the most narrow of any on the street. It is only 27 feet wide and 127.5 feet deep. The house on it was built in 1887 by Tellico Johnson, a real estate developer who lived at 22 Orton Place. Upon completion, he sold it to Manton E. and Mary A. Anderson for $7,500. Mr. Anderson was a physician and Civil War veteran, born in December 1849. The Anderson family (which included their daughter Helen, born in June 1878) must have enjoyed their Orton Place home a great deal; Manton and his wife Mary lived there over 30 years.
           The house was a 2 1/2 story Queen Anne style frame house with a gable roof. After receiving minimal maintenance for the last several decades, the house was completely abandoned in approximately 1997. Sadly, the house was demolished in November 1999. The KCA block club and neighbors immediately surrounding the lot decided to create a community garden. The lot ownership was transferred to the city because the taxes had not been paid in some time. Next, the block club worked with Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo to help create a community garden through their successful program. The KCA began to solicit neighbors and interested parties to help with the project. Many people (at the bottom of this page) have pledged time and money to the project. The project has also received a grant through 2000-2001 Mayor Masiello's Neighborhood Matching Fund Program.

Urns enhance the entrance to the garden and junipers were planted as a garden screen between Orton Gardens and adjoining house at 16 Orton.

Special thanks to...
           Allentown Association, Inc.; John and Cyndy Allen; Mary Beth Bartlett; Joyce Berg; Chris Brown; Sue Byron; Mary Ann Cassidy; Candace Church; Peter Covey; Joan Diana; Diane Drummer; Dinah Gamin; Dave Granville; Harvey Garrett; Joe Gerace; Grassroots Gardens: Milton Zeckhauser and Coco Wozniak; Jeanine Huber; Beth Kauffman; Alison Kimberly; Paul Lachacz; Donna Levin; Elizabeth Licata; Mayor Anthony Masiello; Mischlers Florist; Debbie Olear; Jim Pavel; Michael Rooney; Carl Schade; Raymond Sharrer; Symphony Circle Steering Committee; Kathy Toepfer; Kevin and Gina Varney; David Zawistowski.