One of my favorite gardens in America is Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua in the Finger Lakes district of upstate New York. It was originally a private estate owned by a woman who started the gardens after her husband died in the early 20c. The property includes various gardens of many types--Colonial Revival, Japanese, Victorian bedding out, roses etc etc. This is worth a whole day. The house was open as well when we went. Sonnenberg Gardens is not to be missed--and such a beautiful part of a beautiful country. Here is a link that might be useful: Sonnenberg Gardens

Cornell Plantations in Ithaca should be a must. Two nurseries in the area are Baker's Acres and the Plantsmen Nursery. In Pittsford Oriental Supply has quite a selection of plants, but only a small display area. If you come down Painted Post way to see the Corning Museum of Glass, you would be welcome to see my woodland garden.

morning glories and their relatives moonflowers and cypress vine may throw seed everywhere. I have cypress vine coming up in various places in my yard where it hasn't been planted for three years. Unless you actually want random reseeders, Cardinal vine which is a hybrid of Cypress vine would be a better choice for an annual vine as it doesn't reseed for us up here. It took two years to get rid of the morning glorie volunteers. Nasturtiums are gorgeous but they are an aphid magnet so you may not want those on a pergola that you will be sitting underneath. I had to rip out my naturtiums this year because the aphids were so bad. Scarlet runner been will also provide you with beans that you can harvest while the pods are still young. Another annual vine is Hyacinth Bean vine. It has purplish green leaves with pinksh purple flowers and deep reddish purple seed pods and is used by butterflies and hummers. Penny

Ok. Well, here is my two cents. And I don't really go into Buffalo all that often. Not sure what your priorities are - but the Anchor Bar is the original creator of Buffalo Wings. It's a neat little place with some memorabilia - nothing fancy. Great wings and a "historical" thing...I'd have to go if I was visiting Buffalo for the first time...unless we didn't like wings... http://www.anchorbar.com/original.php We also like Chef's - an Italian place - also not too fancy - notorious for their spaghetti parmesan - spaghetti with a thick layer of gooey melted cheese on top. It's always busy. It's near the HSBC arena where the Buffalo Sabres play and lots of concerts. http://www.ilovechefs.com/history.php Phyllis philodendron lives right up there and could probably give you more insight into the city. If you're into American History - you could go to the Wilcox mansion - the site of Theodore Roosevelt's inauguration after McKinley was shot. As far as Niagara Falls goes, you will definitely want to cross the border here to see the the falls from Canada - it is much much better and you just have to - to get the full effect. If you stay in Canada, try to get a room with a view of the Canadian Falls, and high enough up so that you can see the lights at night, and the fireworks if you're there on a Fri or Sun (I think?). Will suggests that you stay at the Hilton because he loves the pool and they have a rockin slide! :-) Once we even had a room where we sat in our jacuzzi tub which opened into the main part of our room, and we put the baby (!) to sleep and watched the fireworks from there...being such a honeymoon hot spot there are all kinds of cool rooms. Just be sure to get up high enough and be sure that it's a full view of the Canadian Falls. I can't tell you anywhere nice to eat in NF, since we never stray from the hotel slide, the arcade and all the crazy kid stuff on Clifton Hill. It's the land of glow mini golf, wax museums, ripley's believe it or not, you get the idea...So for culture - someone else will have to chime in - LOL! I'll keep thinking and will check back in to see if you have more questions. I will try to email Diane, too. Stacy