Think different: A geodesic pergola

After all these years of visiting Garden Walk Buffalo gardens, I still, on occasion, find gardens that leave me awestruck and delighted. This is this year’s entry. The home garden of Julia and Tony Favorito on Linwood Avenue is a creative person’s dream garden. The creative people are both designers, Tony a toy designer at Fisher Price; Julia a freelance designer of anything she can get her hands on—toys, gardens, interiors, and her crowning garden achievement—this sphere she built (yes, she built it herself).

The deck inside comfortably fits 5-6 Adirondack Chairs.

New in2018, it was built in time for Tony’s birthday. Julia also built it so there would be something interesting in the back yard to look at all year round from inside the house, but especially something significant and sculptural to see in the wintertime.

She purchased the plans for the dome online, and had the wooden marine-grade staves custom milled by a friend, they had to be of exacting sizes. Then she assembled the base, then built the deck that is the interior platform, then finished the rest of the sphere.

And that cubist sculpture in the foreground? Tony learned how to weld and made that himself.

The large wall in the background is the back wall of the squash courts for the Delaware Avenue’s Saturn Club. It was there when they moved in. They planted and encouraged the ivy on the wall.

The staves were curved as they were installed. They were delivered flat.

Even without the sphere, it’s a pretty amazing garden—where creative people, talented DIYers are married with style and good taste. There’s a formal parterre garden, fire pit, vegetable potager, outdoor dining are and still plenty of room for a large lawn and an oversized Buckminster Fuller–ish sphere.

“Buffalo-Style Gardens beautifully captures the exuberant colors, inventive use of small spaces, and the joyful creativity present in the gardens on tour. Everyone who loves outdoor living spaces will be inspired and delighted by this book.”
~ C.L. Fornari, author, The Cocktail Hour Garden; GardenLady.com