BUFFALO, N.Y. — Despite the cold, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy is thinking spring and gearing up for gardening season.
The dead of winter is actually one of the busiest times of the year for the conservancy, which produces 10,000 annuals and hundreds of other plants for the parks and circles in the system.
The MLK Greenhouse has been in operation since the early 1900s.
The entire Olmsted Park system is larger than New York City's Central Park but has a fraction of the operating budget, which is one reason they grow all of the plants they use at the parks.
They are able to grow plants for a few cents each versus buying them for several dollars each.
Workers at the greenhouse are sowing geranium and begonia seeds now and will start other annual seeds in a few weeks.
Within a few days, the seeds sprout, and within a few weeks they will need to be transplanted.
The Conservancy will start planting outdoors at the end of May.