- [Narrator] "Oklahoma Gardening" is a production of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the land grant mission of the division of agricultural sciences and natural resources at Oklahoma State University, dedicated to improving the quality of life of the citizens of Oklahoma through research-based information.

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

- [Instructor] It won't be long until spring bulbs begin to make their appearance.

Today on "Oklahoma Gardening," we revisit the species tulips we have here at TBG.

We visit a private garden in Tulsa.

We then visit a cut flower farm that you won't wanna miss.

And finally, I'll share with you an attractive lavender plant.

(gentle guitar music) - Tulips are a true symbol that spring is here and it's probably one of the most recognized spring flowers that we have.

It is well known for its bright color, and it's no wonder that we have them planted in gardens all across the world.

In fact, they're such a popular plant that at one point in their history, they actually were traded.

The bulbs were traded as currency.

With such an array of color and variation, you can see we've got some that are double, we've got some that have more of the pointed parrot style and then even some of the fringed ones.

They come in on quite a selection and when you're planting them in your landscape, it's almost like painting that you can add yellow to an area or red to an area to really set off that area in early spring.

One of the big things about them also is they come in different stages of bloom time so that you can plant them and have your display change through those spring weeks.

Now, one of the drawbacks to our beloved tulip hybrid tulips is that they're often treated as annuals.

And so with some of them being quite pricey that's quite an investment in your tulips.

However, if you have invested in species tulips such as what we have here then you might get a little more bang for your buck.

Now, there are some differences.

Obviously, you can see the hybrid tulips really have been bred to have an impressive flower on top of them whereas a lot of your species tulips are gonna be a little more dainty.

You can see also the foliage is typically more narrow and smaller as well.

This past fall, we've planted several species tulips in order to really evaluate their performance and how well they return for us.

So obviously this is their first spring, so we expected all of them to kind of come up and make an appearance.

We planted about 25 of each of the species tulips that we were able to find.

Now, one of the first ones that we noticed of ours that we planted here was the tulipa clusiana variety chrysantha.

It produces this bold yellow color like hybrids.

However, you'll notice that it is much more smaller and a compact flower.

The other thing is you'll notice that it has these reds sepals on the outside, kind of giving it more of a bicolored appearance, especially if it's a cloudy day when they might not open up as much.

You'll see the yellow and red bicolor appearance.

Another clusiana that we have is cynthiana and it is very similar again giving you that bicolored appearance.

Now, another variety again under clusiana is stellata and the difference between it is that it has more of a white interior pedals with rose colored sepals that kind of create more of a blush colored tulip.

Again, these sort of remind me of like a rain Lilly look to 'em especially when they're fully open on a sunny day.

Now, very similar to those are two cultivars called Lady Jane and Peppermint Stick, and both are very similar again with kind of that rosy or blush colored sepal with a white interior giving you that bicolored look.

However, they do vary a little bit in their appearance as well as their hight mainly is what I noticed here.

Another yellow species if you're really trying to get more of that tulip that bright colored yellow is to try tulipa sylvestris.

It has a pure yellow color through and through and it's definitely gonna bring somebody's attention.

Again, much smaller though than your typical hybrid yellow tulips that you might have.

However, again, we're gonna hopefully see these return and multiply over the years.

Probably one of the most unique looking tulips is the tulipa turkestanica.

Now, a lot of times when we think of a tulip bulb, the hybrid tulips we think we get about one flower per bulb whereas this turkestanica is going to produce more of a... - Cluster of flowers and sort of actually kind of reminds me of something that looks like a snow drop, having some tiny little bell-like tulip flowers on it.

And again, as the sun comes out more, they really open up to reveal more of a star shape to 'em.

And they sort of have like a little bit of a blush color to the outside of their petals as well.

Tulipa whittallii is going to have more of a traditional look where you do get the single flower per bulb that you plant in there.

Again, slightly smaller, so you're gonna wanna plant your bulbs a little bit closer together, but it offers kind of a really unique red, coppery color to your garden.

The flowers are held up on really thin stems and they almost kind of look like wind socks as they kind of blow over in the wind a little bit.

Now if you're really looking to add a little more color, 'cause I know some of these are a little bit daintier to add into your gardener, if you're looking for some more of an impact from your species tulips, you might wanna look at Shogun, Tulipa tarda, or Tulipia bakeri Lilac Wonder.

These are all gonna offer you a little bit of a bolder color to their flower and a bigger flower, I should say, also.

While they are a little bit shorter, Shogun is gonna offer you a really nice apricot orange color, whereas tarda is going to have a beautiful yellow center where the tips of it are kind of tipped in white.

And then finally, Lilac Wonder is gonna offer you a yellow center with kind of a pale purple-pink flower to it, so I really like these.

They kind of have a little more of the traditional, but yeah, again, a simple, single flower to them.

Now we have about three other species tulips that haven't quite bloomed for us just yet, but Tulipa humilis is said to be one of the earlier blooming tulips.

The one we have is Persian Pearl, but we have yet to really see it come up just yet.

We also have Tulipia linifolia, which is a red flower, and then Tulipia batalinii, or Bronze Charm, which still has buds on it and should be blooming shortly for us, so we're excited to see those.

And while we didn't necessarily plan this walkway as far as a beautiful display of big, hybrid tulips, that wasn't the point.

What we did here was we planted different plots of about 25 of various species in order to be able to identify how well they're doing, which ones are growing, and which ones hopefully will return for us next spring.

You can also definitely see the differences between them.

Some of them have, like this is the Shogun next to us here, have very similar foliage that you might find some of that broader, waxier foliage, whereas such as Lady Jane here next to me has a very thin foliage.

So again, they're gonna look slightly different than your traditional hybrid tulips, but the nice thing is, is that you should get a return on your investment, so we're excited to see how many will come back and we'll report that next spring.

Now, as far as planting them, you're going to plant them like you would do your traditional bulbs.

Because they're a little bit smaller, you might wanna plant them a little bit closer and also a little bit more shallow, again depending on which actual species you get.

The other thing is they don't like wet feet either.

So this is a really ideal plant to put in somewhere, say an alpine or a rock garden where it's gonna get good drainage and add just that soft, unique texture to your garden.

(upbeat music) Today we are here at Paul and Beth Teel's Garden and if you're anybody in the garden world here in Oklahoma, you've probably heard of Beth Teel's Garden and today is an opportunity to see a sneak peek of what's gonna be on the Tulsa Garden Club Garden Tour.

So Beth, thank you so much for joining us and allowing us to come into your backyard.

You have a beautiful garden, as I've heard so often.

- Thank you, it's my pleasure and I just love having anyone come into my backyard.

- So tell me, how long have you been gardening?

I've heard your name for so long.

Tell me about your history with gardening.

- We've lived here 38 years, almost 39 this next month, and I've been gardening probably 20 of those years.

- Okay, well it definitely shows.

Obviously we've got the tulips blooming.

- Yes.

- [Host] You're really big into doing that every fall, I guess.

- [Beth] Yes, I planted around 600 tulips this year and so not all of them came up, but in pots, but they all came up that were in the dirt.

- Okay, well I know how much the garden's gonna change between when we're filming today and when the actual garden tour is, but something that's not going to change is the charm that is in this garden.

I love the unique stuff that you have.

Just for example, like over here.

Tell us a little bit about your display table here.

- Well, Paul and I made this during the pandemic.

I found the bottom of a table.

It was a dining room table.

I found the bottom on Craigslist and then I we put the top on it, so we.

- [Beth] We could actually use it as a display table for plants during the season.

And I just love it.

We've had so much fun displaying different kinds of plants during different seasons - [Host] And those little sheep are your handy work as well, right?

- [Beth] Yes, these are, I make lambs outta cement.

This was a French chocolate mold and I've used it a lot.

I make a lot of lambs.

- [Host] I just love that idea.

So you're always looking at different molds and how you could put concrete in them, right?

(laughs) - [Beth] That's right.

I also make pots that pot right there is a hypertufa is what you call that.

And I have several pots around the garden.

I also make bigger lambs.

I'll show those later on, but yes.

- [Host] Well, it's just charming.

Tell me a little bit I know you've got pots and also some topiaries.

Where do you find some of all your unique stuff that you have?

- [Beth] Find a lot of it at garage sales and mostly estate sales.

I don't go to garage sales as much as I used to, but no a lot of estate sales, I find different things.

This came down the street at an estate sale, bought two of those and these came from an antique store and just all over the place.

- Well, they all add a neat texture and really create a unique interest in your backyard.

There's always something little to find here.

Tell me a little bit about I know over here you've had some slug damage with hostas you mentioned earlier.

So what's your solution?

- [Beth] The solution is to plant the hostas in pots and I can also winterize the hostas in their pots.

I just let 'em stay right there, or I can move 'em back to my compost pit in the winter - [Host] You just kind of bury the pots in your compost.

I love that idea.

- [Beth] Yeah, I just stack 'em all right there in the compost pit and cover 'em with leaves, and they just do perfectly.

And then I bring 'em out when spring arrives and then they start growing.

And these have just really started growing in the last couple of weeks.

- [Host] Well, I love the fact that you've kind of brought a true shade garden into your patio space.

That's by bringing those hostas and the different textures and colors that they offer.

- Well, the best part about this is when there's hail in the forecast, they're all protected, and I don't have to worry about hail damaging the leaves.

- Right.

And you even have a hosta in a hanging basket.

Which I've never seen.

I love that idea.

- [Beth] That's new for me and I hope it works if I can just keep the birds from getting all the cocoa liner out for nesting.

- [Host] So tell me a little bit about your side garden.

So I know that space between the privacy fence and the house is sometimes a lost space.

But you have utilized it to the fullest.

Tell me about that.

- [Beth] This is like a secret garden actually.

My grandchildren love running back and forth.

We had a problem with mud, too much water over there so I filled it with pea gravel and limestone.

And that starts the path back there.

And then above, we had, during the ice storm a neighbor lost a big tree that was providing a lot of shade for our zais and hydrangeas over there.

So Paul built a really nice structure over that area and so it keeps it all shaded.

- [Host] Well, and I love that because so many people are going through that same issue of all of a sudden their shade garden has turned into a full sub garden.

- [Beth] Exactly.

- [Host] So you've got a trumpet vine nearby that looks like it does creep on it and provides some more shade still.

- [Beth] It does.

And you know, that provides just the right amount.

- Okay.

All right.

Well, I love the secrets you're sharing with us and I saw some unique things holding up your peonies out front.

Can you tell me about them?

- Oh yeah.

Those were just old lampshade forms.

You take all the stuff off the lampshade, all the silk or the cotton, whatever.

And then you just put it down over your peonies and it provides a support for your peonies.

- [Host] Structure.

And so again, at the estate sales you found those?

- [Beth] Oh, yes.

Or my house.

You always have a lampshade that you need to get rid of.

- [Host] Absolutely.

Well, and I love also the hardscape that you've incorporated in your garden.

Tell me a little bit about did you bring all this rock in yourself?

Did you have others bring it in?

Tell me a little bit about that.

- We did.

There's a place here in Tulsa that you can buy limestone by the pound, and we just go for a flowerbed.

We go and get the stones that we think we need.

And stack 'em, and then it just works out great.

Instead of using the metal edging, we found this to be a little bit safer for children in the backyard.

They can fall on a rock, but you can also do a lot of damage with a metal edge like that.

- [Host] Right, right.

- [Beth] So this has been kind of fun to use the limestone - [Host] And it's something that's a little bit more manageable right?

- That's right.

- [Host] Pieces that you can actually manage.

- [Beth] Yes, we can lift at this age, we don't need to be lifting boulders but we can lift pretty small rocks and this works out great.

I do like the limestone I recommend to all my friends not to bite the sandstone because it crumbles so quickly.

But the limestone works great, and you can also move them.

If something gets out of bounds and you wanna make it a little bit bigger bed then you just move your limestone out a little bit.

- Well, Beth, your garden has beautiful bones to it.

- Oh, thank you.

- With the boxwood and also that limestone.

It's just really fabulous and I can't wait to see what it looks like as we continue on through the season.

- Oh, thank you.

Thanks.

(calm music) - Today we are at Petal Pusher Farms just outside of Washington, Oklahoma.

And joining me is one of the owners, Jari Irby.

Jari, you and your husband Matt, started this a few years ago and it's a cut flower farm.

Why cut flowers?

(laughs) - Yeah.

Well, thanks for coming.

Yeah.

My husband and I, we really love flowers.

And as a forester and him a soil scientist we decided back in 2017 to quit mowing this area.

- You didn't have enough flowers in your life.

(laughs) - You need more flowers, so-- - We started putting flowers in the ground out here.

So, we grow on a little less than an acre, and we grow pretty much year round, from spring to summer and then into the fall.

So, we're standing in our summer annual field right now with these beautiful giant African marigolds.

- They are beautiful and very long stems, perfect for cut flowers.

- Perfect.

- So, there's so much to talk about, and you kind of mentioned you go year round.

- Yes.

- And being a cut flower, I would suspect succession planting is important.

- 100%.

Yeah.

So, we usually start seeds in the spring for our summer cut annuals, but then we also plant all the way up until probably July 1st for the fall.

And then back, coming back into the early spring season, we'll start planting in our tunnels, so yeah.

All about successions.

- So what, who comes out here and gets this?

Is it available for anybody to come out and cut?

Or farmer's markets?

Tell me kind of where you're selling this and offering it to people.

- Yeah.

So we are an agritourism site, and so, we have events that are already scheduled for this season.

You can find all those events on our website and purchase a ticket to come out to do our U-picks, and so we have a couple different option.

Our traditional evening U-picks where you come out, you get a bucket, a pair of snips, and you can come cut on all of our flowers, and then we help you design a hand-tied bouquet.

And then we also have our floral arrangement classes, where you get to come out and U-pick, of course, and then I walk you through how to design a arrangement in a different type of vessel that we have, and then our other event is called our Date Night event, which is really fun.

We partner with our friends at OKC Graze, folks come out, do a U-pick of course, and then get a Graze box, sit on our beautiful lawn, and then listen to our really amazing, talented friend Grant sing.

So, it's just a really amazing opportunity to come out, experience a working cut flower farm.

Get some local blooms and enjoy some quiet country air.

- So, let's get into a little bit of the meat of this cut flower farm, 'cause I know it's easy to romanticize the idea of just throwing out seeds and watching them grow and you pick 'em later, but it's a lot more than that.

You mentioned succession planting but how do you know what does well in Oklahoma, because there's a lot of other cut flower farms that maybe are growing different plants than what we can do here in Oklahoma - Right, yeah.

So, when we decided to start this farm, the first thing that we wanted to do was know what our soils could produce, right?

So, getting that soil test was so important to know what kind of nutrients that these flowers were gonna need, and so then we thought about, all right, if we're gonna do cut flowers, what plants are gonna do well in our Oklahoma heat?

Because we all know how hot it's been, and then what plants are we gonna use that will give us the most bang for our buck?

So, we like branching plants, things that you can cut and then it'll shoot out two new stems for multiple blooms throughout the season.

- So actually when your visitors come and cut, they're actually doing you a service.

- Exactly, right.

- Creating more flower buds.

- So, we've got some traditional zinnias, marigolds.

Let's talk about some of the others that you have.

Statice, like I wouldn't have thought of statice growing in Oklahoma, - Right?

Oh yeah.

We grow statice multiple colors of statice and we love statice especially because we can cut it and then if we don't use it in an arrangement or we don't sell it on a wholesale order, we can save it and we can dry it, and use it for a dried bouquet, or even during our winter months, we do reef classes.

People love to use that on their reefs as well.

- And I suspect the cockscomb's, maybe you can do that as well?

- Yes, for sure.

That chief mix has the most vibrant colors when they're dried.

So yeah, it's a great, great cut flower to use.

- Well, it's a beautiful setting out here, and you sure know how to grow your flowers.

What would you say to somebody who, you know, has thought about maybe dabbling in this a little bit?

Do you have any advice for somebody?

- Yeah, I would say you need, you have to invest in your education.

I mean, like you mentioned, it is just a beautiful place, but there's a lot of work behind it.

You know, we're members of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.

They are a great resource to use whenever you have questions.

They provide a lot of webinars on how to grow cut flowers, and then there's tons of books out there that you can really dive into to learn proper post-harvesting techniques.

A lot, especially the zinnia's too, they have to be harvested at a certain time, so you have to know all those things, and these resources will show you and teach you how to do that.

- Okay.

All right.

And I would imagine pest control might be a thing that you have to deal with too, right?

- Sure, yeah.

- You've got some chickens running around.

I think they're taking some of those insects away.

- We do.

We love our chickens, especially for those grasshoppers this time of year, and they love them too, but we try to also use very little chemical.

If we do use chemical, it's mostly an organic biological that we're spraying because we want these flowers to be as beautiful as they are.

- Well Jer, it looks like your plants are doing quite well, and you've got a good crop coming this fall as well.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us - Thanks for coming out.

- Something is buzzing in the garden, and it's coming from the direction of our lavender plant.

If you haven't tried lavender in your garden, it's one that you definitely wanna add, not only for the obvious pollinator habitat that it creates here, but also because of the sweet fragrance that it provides and also the beauty that it adds to your garden as well.

This particular lavender that we planted here is a French lavender known as Province, and you can see it just explodes into about a two foot sphere of flowers.

And it starts doing this just as the heat is cranking up in the summertime when a lot of your other plants are starting to kind of wind down a little bit.

Now you can see this particular lavender will put on these spikes of flowers, and each spike has several different tubular purple flowers on it, which makes it a nice attraction to all of your pollinators that wanna look for that nectar.

Now, the thing about this particular one is it is actually hardy from zones five to nine, and it even survived our 2021 really deep freeze.

And if you notice, we're actually in a raised bed here, so it was actually more exposed to those freezing temperatures than what you might find if it had been planted directly into the ground.

Now, the big thing about lavender and growing it here in Oklahoma is that it does not tolerate our heavy clay soils, which I know a lot of you might have those heavy soils, so you wanna make sure to put it in a raised bed or some sort of container where it gets plenty of drainage.

Now, this particular place where we have it planted, if you remember, we have it in our spiral herb garden that we built a few years ago, and we specifically planted it at the top of the spiral where we incorporated a little more grit to allow for that drainage, and it's done just better than we anticipated here in the garden.

And so I'm so happy to see how it's doing, and I just wanted to share this with you.

You can see the plethora of pollinators that are on this.

If you have not added lavender into your garden, it's one that I would highly suggest in a container or in a raised bed.

So if you have heavy clay soils, please don't dismiss growing lavender in your garden, because not only are you gonna be missing out on the beauty and the fragrance that it'll bring to your garden, but also you'll be missing out on the acrobatics of those pollinators.

(upbeat acoustic music) It's time to begin to turn our attention to the vegetable garden.

Join us next week right here on Oklahoma Gardening as we look at some cool season crops.

(gentle acoustic music) To find out more information about show topics as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources including a directory of local extension offices, be sure to visit our website at OklahomaGardening.OKstate.edu.

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Oklahoma Gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens, and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful stillwater gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriter, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry.

Additional support is also provided by Pond Pro Shop, Greenleaf Nursery, and the Garden Debut Plants, the Tulsa Garden Center at Woodward Park, the Oklahoma Horticultural Society, Smart Pot, and the Tulsa Garden Club.

(gentle acoustic music)