(gentle music) - Welcome to "Oklahoma Gardening."

Today, we are bringing you a show full of inspiration as we give you a sneak peek of the 73rd annual Tulsa Garden Club Garden Tour.

(gentle music) We've got all the details for how you can see these beautiful landscapes in person on May 11th, so stay tuned.

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

"Oklahoma Gardening" is also a proud partner with Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Shape Your Future provides resources for Oklahomans to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

(gentle music) I love sharing with you guys the cool things that plants can do.

(gentle music) We're back here at the Student Farm.

I wanna share with you a tropical plant that you might find in some Oklahoma landscapes.

It's important to know which plants we are dealing with so that we can continue to maintain them successfully for years to come.

(gentle music) We're back with another one of our most popular shows.

It's time for the Tulsa Garden Club Garden Tour Show, and joining me today is Kathi Blazer.

Kathy, thank you so much for joining us.

- You're welcome.

- So let's first start talking about a little bit about the history of the Tulsa Garden Club.

- You know, that's an easy thing to do.

This is a legacy club.

It's 94 years old.

They begin in the oil boom when the town wasn't looking good and these women wanted to beautify it, so they proceeded to do just that, and over time, they added terraces of rose gardens to Woodward Park, and eventually, they convinced the city to buy the mansion at Woodward Park to house the plant societies, and so from 1954 on, we've been housed there.

They were a very active group and we've continued that, but we've evolved into some other areas.

- Yeah, you guys are always doing a lot in the community also.

- Yes.

- Let's talk a little bit about what you guys do as a club presently.

- You know, that's a long list.

I'll give you my favorites.

Really, it's that we do empowerment, and so we pick groups that are doing horticulture related things and all the money that we ever raise goes to them.

And things like 4-H, Global Gardens, New Leaf, Up with Trees, Penny Pines Prairie, the Tallgrass Prairie, and then, of course, scholarships for Oklahoma State's Horticulture and Landscape Program and Dick Conner's Correctional Center.

- Yes.

Yes.

We're covering everything.

You really are all over.

- Yes, but I'd save my best for last.

We have decided that we're not always gonna be here.

Obviously, the Earth is gonna have to be taken care of by others.

That is the young, and so we have started a program called Generation Green to get those young kids in, and we've got all sorts of things going on with that, including a center just for children that's at the teaching garden barn.

So this is our current big push.

- Well, that's fantastic.

So I know you guys also do a lot just as a club socially.

Tell us a little bit about your monthly meetings and how somebody might become a member as well.

- Our monthly meetings are fabulous.

We have 105 members that mostly come on and off to those meetings, and our programming is over the top and we just bring in specialists in all kinds of gardening environmental areas.

You know, if it interests you to work with a garden club, you could work with kids, you could work in the garden.

We have lots of options.

Please look at our website.

We'd love to have you.

- Okay, well thank you so much.

I know you guys are an active group and we look forward to seeing the gardens today.

- Thank you.

(gentle music) - We're here at the Helm house, and joining me now is one of my favorite landscapers here in Tulsa, Jane Fanning.

Jane, thank you for showcasing another one of your beautiful artwork, really.

I mean, it's fabulous what you guys have done here.

Tell us a little bit about this front entrance.

This is amazing.

- [Jane] Well, I actually get to come in on the heels of some other, the home has been owned by two or three other homeowners, and they originally started some of it, but there was a lot of struggles with plant materials so we had the opportunity to come in and revitalize and rejuvenate and create and bring in and redo some things, lots of transplanting to help embellish and take what was and take it to another level to create a garden, because she is an avid gardener.

- [Casey] So tell me some specifics.

I know you had mentioned to me earlier that you moved rudbeckia and some grasses.

How do you decide what needs to be moved and what's better location?

- Well, one, I communicate a lot with the homeowner.

That's very important to me to say, okay, what do you really like or what do you don't like?

The second thing I do is pray a lot because I think it unlocks the door.

God created so many amazing and beautiful, diverse plants and flowers and perennial.

- [Jane] And it's taking those and blending them and moving them so that there's a flow and a harmony, and a symphony of color.

- Right.

- And that's what we want.

Perennials, as you know, do that a lot.

We have to have some that bloom early, some bloom mid, some bloom late.

And that's what we're trying to do.

- [Interviewer] And so with some of the rudbeckia, I know you mentioned you broke up those clumps so that you sort of have that space and kind of that repetition of that color throughout this garden.

- Yeah, we did.

- But yet the grasses, you sort of clump some of those together more, right?

- [Jane] Yeah, some of the grasses were kind of, if you will, random, and it's like, well, why not?

Let's take a flow and bring that, and then transplanted so many different other, you know, spireas and.

- The peonies.

- The peonies we moved, the phlox we moved, the grasses we moved, the abelia, we moved.

You know, some of the candy corn spirea we moved around in order to take color and growth and flowers and move them so that they would highlight each other, going from one area, "Oh yes, there it is."

But it pulls your eye.

- Right.

- [Jane] Taking the abelia and pulling your eye from one area to another.

Why not?

- Right.

And that candy corn spirea definitely does that.

It's got that tinge of red on the tip - Right.

- that kind of grabs this Japanese maple color a little bit.

- Right.

- The garden here with the water feature too is exquisite.

You know, just having that sound, that relaxation, it's right here in the front yard.

A lot of times we think that is in the backyard.

Now, I have to ask a little bit about, we've got a giant tree that just got planted here beside us.

Tell me a little bit about this tree.

- Last Father's Day, will be upcoming a year ago, they had a massive, massive, probably four to five, six foot diameter oak that in that windstorm came down, and it took down part of the jap maple, took down the fence, took down everything.

Took down the archway.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Jane] And wiped out, what used to be shade is now full sun, and that all had to be redone.

And so many plants moved, you know, revamping with the wisteria over the newly-built arch.

The Japanese maple, I'm thankful is coming back.

And then what was boxwood hedges, we turned into an herb garden, which she's always wanted an herb garden.

So, and then we stuck a few jalapeno peppers in there too.

- You gotta have some peppers in there.

- [Jane] Yeah.

That.

And same thing across the way is we transplanted an entire hedge that was blocking a beautiful set of peonies and other perennials 'cause they couldn't get the sunlight they needed.

And then we transplanted some peonies from the back to the front and made that, this is more of a French country, random, fun-type garden.

- It's a little secret garden along the fence there.

- There is a secret garden.

I hope y'all be will able to enjoy walking down that way.

She always wanted a secret garden trail and path, so.

- Yeah, anything that you can create that discover and curiosity out in nature, and that definitely has done it.

- And then probably 80% of the plant material that is now in the secret garden was once in full shade in the back.

And so we used it up in the front to create a beautiful shade garden.

- Okay.

- And a trail through the forest.

- [Interviewer] And the style is kind of different in the backyard.

- [Jane] The style is very different.

Probably more of an English formal garden or something you might see maybe in Williamsburg, where it is more structured, more formal.

You can do almost anything your heart desires.

It's just understanding plant material.

Some loves the sun, some loves the shade.

So it's like finding and moving.

And a key thing also is what's going to be perennial, dying all the way back and what will stay through the season?

Stay green.

- Give you that structure.

Yeah.

- You have a good evergreen structure.

There's nothing wrong with moving plants around.

- And I'm sure one of the perks of having a white garden when they're back there enjoying their landscape is just in the evening, white tends to glow with the moonlight, right?

- It does.

And the big white crepe myrtles, the architectural structure of the white crepe myrtles is really neat.

I love the branching that twists and turns, and it, when the lights are on or at Christmas time when the lights are on, it's really pretty back there.

- [Interviewer] Oh, I bet it's beautiful.

Sometimes we don't think about, "Oh, my landscape has now changed because of the tree."

Right?

- Right.

- [Interviewer] Like all of a sudden you've lost your shade.

- You can have lots of fun.

It's not being, you have to not be afraid to be adventuresome in your garden and to try some things.

Ask lots of questions, you know, go to the nurseries, talk to 'em, look at things.

And you may take one or two plants home and try 'em, see how you like it, before you actually invest in a larger area.

With that, sometimes it's good to have a potpourri of different perennials and mixing in annuals with the perennial, but sometimes it's nice to have a very formal structure.

You know, so.

- Well, Jane, color is definitely not your problem here.

I mean, you have done a phenomenal job, and we thank you so much for sharing this with us.

- We are here at the Rhoades residence, and joining me is Frank Rhoades, who, you have a lovely yard.

Thank you for inviting us into your backyard.

It's a little more contemporary and modern than some of the other ones we've seen.

Tell us a little bit about your style.

- Well, you know, my style basically was what we did with the architecture of the house and everything.

And so then Carrie Blankenship, our Landscape guy, he came in and we gave him, you know, pretty much said, make it look as part of the house.

- [Host] That was the inspiration, right?

And start off with that.

- [Frank] The house was part of the inspiration, and so he put stuff in and then as old stuff died out, you know, he's replaced it and moved stuff around.

So it's always changing to something else.

- [Host] Well, I like the straight lines that I've seen, especially in the front yard and some of the pavers and things like that.

Nice, good, open area.

What's your favorite thing about your landscape?

- Well, it starts with the 100-and-some-odd-year-old oak tree that we have here, and we lost a couple of big branches off of it last Father's Day, and they were covering the patio up there, so that's when we decided to, I saw an ad for a pergola, so we said, "Okay, we need shade back in that area."

So we put that in, and so that's worked out real well.

And it kind of matches everything.

So we were lucked out that way, and we just didn't enjoy all the birds and stuff that come around, and then we've got a fountain here and one in the front and the birds come and take baths and get drinks and stuff.

So we had a pool at our last house and ended up not using it that much and it's a lot of maintenance and stuff, so we said, we're just gonna go with landscaping this time and go with that.

- So time to sort of restructure your needs of that landscape and so you can really get out here and enjoy it.

- Yeah, and I didn't wanna damage the tree by putting a pool in, so.

- Right, right.

Well, it looks fabulous and I'm sure you spend many hours up there underneath that pergola.

- Well, it just got finished two days ago, so I'm in the process of that.

- Well, that's fantastic.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

- All right.

You're welcome.

(upbeat music) - We are here at the Gilbert residence, and joining me is Carla Gilbert, and I should say thank you for inviting us into your backyard.

It is just absolutely fabulous here.

- Well, thank you so much.

- You've got plenty of seating, so I can tell you enjoy getting out into your garden and really just appreciating what you've created here.

- I have loved it.

44 years in this house and this garden has really evolved.

- Wow.

Tell us a little bit about how it's evolved from when you first started.

- Well, this used to be just dirt and mud and things like that, and a big old gum tree, and just everything has evolved.

This is all a new area here just a couple of years ago and- - [Host] And we're kind of on this side of your- - We just have plants and trees that come and go and we just kinda add one, lose one, and just keep filling it up more things that I can find to put in here, the more I get.

- Squeezing everything in.

Well, what I love is we came around from the side of your house and we're actually sort of on a side patio here.

This is just the best side use of a yard I've ever seen, actually.

- Oh, well, thank you.

I do love it, and I sit and I watch the birds.

You know, there are certain birds that are up here, certain birds over there, and I just love being out.

- Well, I know a lot of times when we try to put in a sidewalk, we try to just put enough for our feet, but you've got a nice wide space here that you can actually sit and enjoy.

- [Carla] Yeah, it's a lot of fun when we have a party.

- (laughs) I bet.

Well, tell me a little bit about, so you've got a lot, the azaleas are kind of on their tail end here, it looks like, but you've got a lot that's gonna be coming on, your peonies, your hydrangeas.

- And the oak leaf hydrangeas, they're just starting to bloom.

I see some little spots up there right now.

- [Host] They're green still out there, but they're gonna be coming on pretty soon, probably for the garden tour, hopefully.

- [Carla] Yeah, that's right.

We're hoping, we're hoping.

- [Host] What I love, though, is with the Japanese maples and the subtlety of color right now, you've got a nice combination of textures and greens.

It's so beautiful.

- [Carla] Well, thank you.

I had a teacher, a art teacher teach me all about those colors of green, all the different shades of green.

The artists always are outside most of them.

And then you have to get some, pop some color here and there.

- [Host] And, you've done that with some annuals.

I see some summer annuals that are early, obviously.

You got pents and some zinnias and things like that.

- [Carla] Yeah, and my hostas.

I love the hostas, and some people don't like the flowers, but I do.

- [Host] Go ahead and let 'em.

That's less maintenance, right?

To have to trim off those flowers.

Well, I like how you've added some whimsy into your garden too.

You can definitely tell you've personalized this garden a little bit.

- [Carla] Well, they're all my things.

I'm in a sorority that has owls.

- Well, it definitely adds personality.

- [Carla] I think so.

- I also hear some water, I think.

Is that?

- Oh, really?

Well, we can walk around.

- Do you have something that's making some?

- Yes, I think I do.

- All right.

Let's go take a look, if you don't mind.

- All right.

(water flowing) (water splashing) - Carla, it seems like there's surprises around every corner here.

- Oh, I do like surprises.

I really love the pond though.

I'll tell you what, it is so much fun.

- [Host] You got some big koi in there too.

- [Carla] Yeah, and I feed them most evenings.

They really come out.

They've gotten big.

- [Host] So you've mentioned your garden has evolved over the years.

How old is this?

- [Carla] It's probably about 20 years old.

Something like that.

It's been done over one time, so it's a little bit different than we started with.

- [Host] And I like how you've got some of that sedum kind of tucked in there a little bit.

- [Carla] Yeah, it just kind of, it blew in the wind, and then we started collecting it and it's really grown.

And you would think it would freeze in the winter and be gone and it comes bigger.

- [Host] It really brings that pop of green to the front, because behind you here, behind the waterfall, we've got a nice little fern deep shade garden back there.

- [Carla] Yes, I had a neighbor that gave me a start on that and they just grow and grow and grow.

- [Host] So you even got benches back there.

That makes a nice little sitting area too.

Tell me a little bit about how you established that.

- Well it just sort of evolved.

I had two little benches and I needed to use them someplace and I stuck it back there and it's just kind of a nice place.

- [Host] And again, you've got this beautiful Japanese, couple of Japanese maples over the top of it to balance the green with some room.

- [Carla] Some of them have just kind of popped and nature took them over, they just grew up.

A lot of my trees are like that.

There's a little Japanese maple right now that's about that high.

- [Host] On the side of your house, I think I saw that, okay.

- [Carla] It was where we were walking.

So anyway, these beautiful pink flowers that I love, they migrated from that area over to this.

- The primrose over there.

- The primrose.

And so this garden we're still kind of building.

- Very nice.

Aren't all gardens always constantly building and changing them.

- That's right.

That's right.

And the birds love my holly tree.

- Oh yeah.

- And that's kind of a centerpiece for the nature.

So we have that and the feeder and the birds just are sitting around all the time.

- Well this garden is definitely a garden for the senses with the sounds of the birds and the water.

And then also just the visual stimulation.

It's a beautiful garden.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

- This has been a lot of fun.

- Thank you.

(gentle upbeat music) - We're here at the home of Jane Butts.

And Jane, thank you so much for inviting us into your landscape here, it's just phenomenal.

- Oh, thank you.

- You've lived here at this historic home for a few years, right?

- A few years, yes.

42 to be exact.

- 42.

- And the house is 102 years old, so it's fared well.

- That's phenomenal.

And tell me a little bit, in those 42 years of living here, how the landscape has changed.

- Well, when we moved in, there was not one tree on the front property.

They had gotten that awful oak disease and were all gone and all these, there were no azaleas.

They had all just become very, very decrepit.

And so we got to begin and landscape from the very beginning.

- Wow.

It's just phenomenal what you do.

And I know you were an interior designer, so it seems like some of that influence might have moved to the outside a little bit too.

- A little bit.

The color and balance and textures.

- So I have to ask, is pink one of your favorite colors?

- [Jane] I'd have to say yes.

In fact, even the room I did at Designer Showcase this year is pink.

- [Host] Oh really?

Well, it works well, and I'm sorry we're just on the tail end of your azaleas.

But you've got a lot of other stuff.

The hydrangeas are gonna be coming on and different things, especially in the backyard.

- [Jane] When we planted all the azaleas, I felt like that was great.

But then come June and July and August, wanted some extra color, so we added the hydrangeas and added the hosta, which of course the rabbits have enjoyed some of the hosta unfortunately.

Added a few pieces of color here and there and everywhere.

- [Host] And even some hellebores for that early late winter interests.

- [Jane] I mean, that is so interesting to see them when it's as cold as it can be.

And you look out and you've got a bloom on a hellebore.

So anyway, but the hosta and the hydrangeas and then some ferns.

- And then of course in the backyard, tell us a little bit about what people might see in the backyard.

- Well, there are gonna be a few more azaleas, A lot hosta, ferns, lots and lots of hydrangeas because we'd like the color and some of them will even hold on all summer.

Oak leaf hydrangeas and just the regular summer big bloom type hydrangeas.

- [Host] And you got a koi pond back there too?

- We do.

Many, many years ago, my son and and my husband did a koi pond.

And then last year, we decided to have it more professionally done.

And it has just really blossomed.

- Well it's a fabulous garden and I can tell that a lot of your hard work and your family's hard work has gone into this over the years.

- We've had so much fun doing it.

Enjoy it a whole lot.

- Thank you for sharing it with us today.

- Oh, you're just more than welcome.

- Joining me is Brenda Michael-Haggard, and Brenda, tell us how we can see some of these fabulous gardens that we've seen a preview of.

- The 73rd Annual Garden Tour Tulsa Heart & Soil is Saturday, May 11th, the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend.

Bring mom.

- [Casey] That's what I do every year.

- I know you do.

(Casey laughs) High five.

Well done.

We love seeing you and mom.

- It's a great time with your mother or any of your families, your girlfriends, things like that to get out and see inspiration.

- Yes, yes.

- So Heart & Soil, I love the title of it.

- Heart & Soil, yes.

- Tell us a little bit about why you do this every year.

I know how much effort it is for you and all of the members to put on something like this, to get people to open up their gardens to the community.

Why all that effort?

- Well, Garden Club Members work year-round with amazing community members, like those of our Garden Homeowners on this year, so that we can present to our community educational, also beautiful, restful, fun, family friendly, and we raise it all for gardening education.

- And you always get an eclectic group of homes and gardens, it seems.

- We try.

- [Casey] Like, this one behind us is gonna be on the tour too.

It's very modern, so unique gardens that will again be featured this year on the Tulsa Garden Club's, what year again?

- 73rd.

- 73rd Garden Tour.

And we thank you so much for doing all of this work.

I know- - Well, thank you, Oklahoma Gardening, O State, and OETA.

- And where can people get tickets?

That's the most important thing.

- [Brenda] So at any point until three o'clock on Friday afternoon the 10th through Eventbrite.

at Tulsa Garden Center.

- [Casey] On your website, there's a link to it.

- [Brenda] TulsaGardenClub.org, yes.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- And if somebody shows up at the home, can they also buy tickets there?

- Absolutely.

The advance tickets before Friday at 3:00 are $15 and then $20 day of.

- Okay.

Thank you much.

- Thank you.

- This is gonna be fantastic.

- Great.

(lively music) - [Casey] There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

(lively music) We're headed back to Stillwater to bring you more great gardening segments, next week on "Oklahoma Gardening."

(lively music) - I'm in a sorority that has owls.

- I am too.

- [Both] Chi Omega.

(both laughing) - Oh, I love it.

(lively music) (birds chirping) - [Casey] 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, ne sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.okstate.edu.

(lively music) Join in on Facebook and Instagram.

(lively music) You can find this entire show and other recent shows, as well as individual segments on our "Oklahoma Gardening" YouTube channel.

Tune in to our OKGardeningClassics YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

"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 underwriters, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, and Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Additional support is also provided by Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society, the Tulsa Garden Club, and the Tulsa Garden Center.

(lively music) (lively music fades)