Horticulture Happenings

Horticulture Happenings OKC Garden Fest Moves to Gardens

Saturday, May 13 with more than 40 vendors M yriad Gardens is the proud new home of the OKC Garden drought? If so, Caesalpinia gilliesii, commonly known as desert bird of paradise, is an excellent choice. It is difficult to choose a favorite plant out of the multitude of options at Myriad Botanical Gardens, but this one definitely deserves the top position on my list of favorites in the Children’s Garden. A member of the legume family (Fabaceae), this desert beauty has many wonderful characteristics, the most prominent being the exotic clusters of yellow flowers with long, bright red stamens that are displayed throughout the spring and summer months. Furthermore, the delicate, bluish-green feathery foliage makes this plant a sight to behold even without its beautiful blooms. Once established, it can thrive in full sun, tolerate drought conditions and fix its own nitrogen, which means that it seldom requires fertilizer treatments. It can be watered deeply but infrequently, making it a good candidate for a water-wise garden. The only maintenance that may be necessary includes making sure the soil is well-drained and removing the fuzzy brown pods – which are deer resistant and poisonous if eaten – to encourage the plant to continue flowering. Fest. The third annual event will be held Saturday, May 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Gardens, located at 301 W. Reno Avenue.

“Last year’s festival at the Farmers Public Market was well attended and our goal is to make this the premier garden festival in Oklahoma City,” said Bill Farris, event organizer and owner of Prairie Wind Nursery in Norman. “We are thrilled to host Garden Fest at Myriad Gardens because we will be in one of the most beautiful and inspiring spots in Oklahoma.”

Timed to coincide with Mother’s Day weekend, the festival will feature herbs, perennials, roses, produce, pottery, jewelry, wineries, food products and food trucks. Activities for children will also be offered and there is no charge for attending.

This year will again feature an area with information for those wanting to start a butterfly garden or Monarch Waystation, an intentionally-managed garden that offers food and habitat for the Monarch butterfly population. Several vendors will offer milkweed for Monarchs along with other pollinator friendly plants.

New this year will be educational talks and demonstrations about gardens and pollinators. For a complete list of vendors, activities and speakers visit facebook.com/okcgardenfest/. See vendors to date on

Desert Bird of Paradise By Olivia Tegeler, Horticulture

Are you looking for a plant that can add a splash of color to your garden? Or perhaps one that can tolerate the blistering summer heat and page 20. In addition to all of these traits, this dainty shrub attracts a variety of bees, butterflies and hummingbirds which can be found buzzing or fluttering among the plethora of brilliant blooms all summer long. Gardener or not, the desert bird of paradise can be appreciated for

Desert Bird of Paradise, Caesalpinia gilliesii, grows in the Childrens Garden.

its beauty, tolerant nature and its appeal to pollinators.

Browse from the Bridge

By Roberta Rowland, Conservatory Specialist

Have you ever given your cat some catnip or your dog a slice of carrot? Your animals probably don’t need these to survive but they LOVED it right? Most wild animals need a variety of plants to stay healthy physically and mentally. Birds like to tear apart plants just for exercise. Elephants like to move and ‘play’ with trees and then eat every piece, even the bark.

In zoos they call this type of “food for fun” enrichment or “browse” and it can be something animals eat or play with in their habitats.

Inside the Crystal Bridge we have several large tropical trees that need regular pruning. Rather than disgarding all these leaves and limbs we try to find a better use for them. This year when we pruned our large ficus tree (Ficus maclellandii), we coordinated with Crystal Butler and Nick Newby from the Oklahoma City Zoo and delivered a truck load foilage to them in late January. As you may know, most trees in Oklahoma do not have leaves this time of year, so this was a very special treat for the pachyderms. Ficus was given to the rhinoceroses, elephants and even the giraffes.

Most ficus trees, banana leaves, some palms, willows, cottonwoods and many other plants we grow are not things that you or I would eat but animals at the zoo love them. We enjoyed giving the animals a new healthy snack almost as much as they did.

Pictured above: Elephants Chandra and baby Achara enjoy the clippings from the Crystal Bridge last January. Photo by Nick Newby, OKC Zoo. Below: Team Horticulture prunes the trees inside the Crystal Bridge.

Welcome to the Horticulture Team Kaitlin Bacon, Horticulturist Jessica Naylor, Horticulturist

Kaitlin moved to the metro area in 2009 from northwest Oklahoma to attend the University of Oklahoma. It was in one of her general biology courses that she discovered her love for botany and plant life. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in plant biology, with an emphasis in ecology. She has experience as an assistant in both the university’s herbarium and greenhouses, and she was the laboratory technician and later manager for the plant ecology lab at the Oklahoma Biological Survey, which specialized in prairie and grasslands ecosystems. Because of her ‘accidental discovery’ in college, Kaitlin is most excited to be a part of the Gardens because of what it is and means to those who, without them, might not have necessarily had the opportunities for such green immersion and discovery. Jessica grew up in Colorado, exploring the outdoors and developing her love for the natural world. She moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 2008 to attend Arizona State University where she earned a bachelor of science degree in conservation biology. After graduating, she began volunteering at the Phoenix Zoo in the horticulture department where she eventually secured a full time position as a horticulturist. Although she had fallen in love with the beauty of the desert, Jessica found herself looking to move to Oklahoma. During a Thanksgiving visit to Oklahoma City, she discovered the splendors of the Gardens, which immediately gave her a sense of belonging; she knew that when she was able to move to Oklahoma City, she definitely would love to be working here. She is very excited to learn more about Oklahoma and to become an integral part of the Gardens team.