Loving Life in the

Local landscape architect inspires beautiful places to make memories with family and friends. ARTICLE NATALIE NIRK | PHOTOGRAPHY PRESTON POWER

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ultivating beauty outdoors has been a love of Kelley Moritz’s for most of her life. When she moved to Oklahoma from Maryland in 1976, she studied Landscape Architecture at Oklahoma State University under Steve Ownby. She was fortunate to study plant materials under Dr. Carl Whitcomb, well known in the industry as the author of Know It, Grow It. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and starting a family, she listened to her husband’s encouraging words about her potential and opened her own business, Kelley Designs, Inc., in 1988 in Tulsa. Kelley enjoyed maintaining the gardens of Philbrook Museum of Art for several years with their senior horticulturist, Ralph Bendel, Jr., and began hiring her own crews in 1991 as her business continued to grow. Kelley graciously welcomed me into her lovely midtown Tulsa 20 Tulsa Lifestyle | June 2014

home, where she showed me the way to her office overlooking the beautiful backyard. I noticed several ‘to-scale’ renderings she was currently working on for clients spread around the very large and tidy office. I couldn’t help but comment on how inspiring it must be for her to work there. A wall of windows frames the picturesque gardens she has been adding to for more than 20 years. The trees with all their spring blooms surrounded by gorgeous green lawn were breathtaking. She took me outside to walk around the modestly-sized yard that has a wonderfully inviting and cozy feel, much like that of an English garden. Two hardscaped water features – which she put in decades ago and still look wonderful today – have such a natural look and the soft sounds of trickling water induce peace and relaxation. “In the springtime we have frogs galore,” Kelley says. “We call them ‘frog parties,’ with all the noise they make. They always let us know when spring is here.”