Tulsa Garden Club Garden Talk newsletter Feb 2023

Tulsa Garden Club

2022-2023 Officers

Plant Oklahoma: Let’s Think Global and Plant Local

President, Kathi Blazer

1st Vice President, Phyllis Ogilvie

Recording Secretary, Cathy Covington

Corresponding Secretary, Susan Henderson

Treasurer, Nancy Gleeson

Assistant Treasurer, Judy Carter

Historian, Judy Weaver & Linda Smith

Drs. Carletti, Maxwell Liz DeLancy Stevens & Staff

Cedar Creek Garden Club Jack Anderson

Leisa Gebetsberger Charley McGee

Linda & Larry Kester

Kay M. Nofziger

Mary & Jeff Parker

Rose Schultz

Teri Zirbel

Helen Marie Sisler

Virginia McCann

Charles McCall

Welcome, New Members!

Katisha Beaman

TulsaGardenClub@gmail.com

Table of Contents

Page 3 Vice President’s Perspective

Page 4 Passport to Paradise

Page 5 History Bites

Page 6 Gardening for Birds

Page 7 Gardening with Nature

Page 8 Why Flower Shows?

Linda Grady

Richard Hagen

Lynn Michael

Sara O’Connor

Emily Phillips

Patty Stauffer

Order bulbs and perennials to plant for spring! Click the Bloomin’ Buck$ image/link, choose Tulsa Garden Club and plan your bloomin’ spring.

1st Vice President’s Perspective

by Phyllis Ogilvie, Member since 2017

Dear Member, I love you! February is a romance month and one of my favorite authors starts her monthly newsletter by saying, you’ to her readers and fans. She is such a positive person, is constantly working towards people’s and her happiness and her light emanates from her writing.

So, I love you! You bring so much to each Tulsa Garden Club meeting and when observing you around the room I enjoy reflecting on our common bond of constantly striving for gardening education, improving our natural environment, and improving our indoor and outdoor plantings. Our journey and fellowship make it so much more fun and at times, less stressful, as we work together on many different dimensions all for improving our green thumbs and strengthening our relationships, close to being sisters, brothers, and fantastic siblings!

Gardening Partner

Leaf began...in 1979 with one greenhouse, one job coach and two clients. Today, ANL proudly serves more than 500 clients lectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), employs more than staff, and operates six greenhouses, two permanent garden centers as well as two seasonal garden centers. With an estimated 29,000 people in the Tulsa metro with I/DD our work is far from over.

Grow. Bloom. Thrive.

A New Leaf’s mission is to provide job training, life skills, and residential services to e independence and self for people with developmental disabilities and autism.

Virtual roses, hearts, flowers, and much love to

Phyllis Ogilvie, 1st Vice President 2022-2024

Passport to Paradise Gardens Unveiled

By Club Awareness Team

Unique gardens were announced on February 6 as destinations for Oklahoma ’s longest-running educational, charitable garden tour. All four private gardens are in mid-town Tulsa during this 72nd Annual Garden Tour. Your Passport to Paradise will be right here in Green Country, Saturday, May 20, 2023!

$15 Advance tickets are available via Eventbrite, at Tulsa Garden Center, and through any Club Member.

Thank you, generous Garden/Homeowners, for sharing your green spaces with Tulsa Garden Club and the public! Watch here and online for highlights of the gardens and Patrons who help make the Tour possible.

Proceeds benefit gardening education projects including Tulsa Garden Center, PLUS formal and informal programs with OSU, TCC’s Second Chance program for Conner Correctional Center inmates, Up With Trees, Global Gardens, Tallgrass Prairie, Oklahoma 4H, and more!!

History Bites

by Linda Smith, Member since 2017 and Judith Weaver, Member since 2016

YESTERDAY

Let’s step back in time to a garden tour that took place 67 years ago! It was Tulsa Garden Club’s sixth annual tour held on Sunday, May 20, 1956 from 10am 5 pm. Seven gardens were featured, all within a few blocks of the Tulsa Garden Center.

Tickets cost $1.50 and were available at each garden. Printed on each ticket was “Please do not pick flowers or ask for specimens.” As you enjoy the 1956 tour, compare the gardens with recent tours you have visited.

Garden 1 had a Kentucky Fescue lawn and “foundation plantings” of perennials and annual. The back had two levels of roses.

Garden 2 was a “formal placement” of tea and tree roses surrounding a garden figure. In back of the home, visitors could observe orchid houses with hundreds of varieties.

Garden 3 led to a garden gate on the “2-acre estate abounding in specimen trees,” with a walkway of blooms all the way to the family’s private lake.

Garden/Home 4 welcomed visitors inside the front door to view objects d’art from many countries, followed by a stroll through a backyard Victorian garden.

Garden 5 lined the entrance and patio with perennials “reminiscent of the gardens in the French Quarter of New Orleans” including fountains, garden figures, walls, and antique stone seats.

Garden/Home 6 (Tulsa Tribune photograph shown) was entirely surrounded by a white picket fence adorned with climbing roses and azaleas. The owners invited visitors to enter the home to view a collection of antiques.

Garden/Home 7 invited visitors to enter the solarium on the east side of the Tudor home. There, visitors could examine many varieties of tropical plants.

TODAY

This year is the Club’s 72nd Annual Garden Tour. It has been named, Passport to Paradise, and will be held, Saturday, May 20, 2023. Just as in 1956, proceeds help with gardening education projects such as public flower shows, Tulsa Garden Center, Tulsa Municipal Rose Garden, and partnering with local and national organizations promoting botany, nature, the environment, and the love of gardening.

Mark your calendar for 10 am—4 pm, Saturday, May 20, 2023, to enjoy “Passport to Paradise”.

Gardening for Birds and Youth

by Molly Allen, Member since 2021, and Susan Foust, Member since 2022

The crow. Synonymous with the fall and popular amongst our creepiest of Halloween decorations. It sure does seem to be the time of year when that “ caaw” rings in my ear. They are thought to be an omen of bad luck and are often portrayed as graveyard dwellers, supporting the Halloween creep stigma. Seeing one next to your displayed pumpkin would make any neighbor envious, wouldn’t it?

Fall décor aside, the crow is more deserving of recognition for its intellectual skills. With the largest brain to body ratio amongst birds, they are one of four species known for making tools. The crow’ s primary tool comes in the form of small twigs which they use us to impale larvae within small cavities. They are also socially adaptive and have been known to barter for treats using shiny coins or other found trinkets.

Resources: Audubon.org, AllAboutBirds.org, Wikipedia.

Farmers have long detested the bird. Largely considered an agricultural pest, the State of Oklahoma campaigned an effort from 1934 to 1945 dynamiting 3.8 million birds. With 3.8 million birds eliminated the crop results did not improve, successfully ending the campaign. The actual effect of crows on agriculture has been poorly studied. Some may suggest that they may benefit the farmer by controlling insect populations and deterring hawks.

When it comes to the garden, the crow doesn’t exactly need to be shooed away so hastily. Their presence comes with a few benefits from waste management and larvae population control to the hunting of smaller mice and bunnies. With their level of intelligence and social awareness, perhaps we could learn to work together to bring the dreaded squash bug (a true garden pest) to its knees in exchange for tastier treats! Well, one can dream.

Tulsa Garden Club will host a Youth table during Springfest, April 7-8, at the Teaching Garden. Young gardeners may learn about NGC contests and do a "Make and Take" gardening project. We will, also, participate in Chandler Park Earth Day Celebration, Friday, April 21. Students can learn bout the native environment and growing plants in Oklahoma.

The Club’s Youth Committee has reached out to community organizations to explore partnering to offer better experiences for students. Contacts from 4H, Global Gardens, Scouts, schools and homeschool groups are starting to connect. Our goals are fivefold:

1) ENCOURAGE learning through hands-on activities.

2) DEVELOP practical, vocational and life skills by gardening.

3) PROVIDE opportunities to serve and interact in our community parkland.

4) CULTIVATE a safe and nurturing place for youth to interact and learn about plants.

5) PROMOTE ecological awareness and responsibility.

THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG! Volunteer for both above events and for the Teaching Garden Youth Area in the Barn. Help change out seasonal decor and assist with student field trips. **Volunteers must complete a one-page background check for student visits.

Ready to dig in? Questions? Concerns? Contact Youth Coordinators Susan Foust, 918.607.3977, or Jane Berger, 918.378.9855. Joanna Croll, Griffin Ryker and Kimberly Thompson, serve, also, on the Club’s Youth Committee.

Right, NGC Youth Sculpture Contest winner 2021

Gardening with Nature

by Rose Schultz, Member since 2016, President 2020-2022

Now that you have decided to replace some of your aliens (non-natives) with native plants, the question arises, “What Should I Plant?” Doug Tallamy devotes this topic to Chapter 12 in his book Bringing Nature Home. He says, “it is important to recognize that all native plants are not equal when it comes to supporting insect herbivores and thus other forms of wildlife.”

While reading this chapter I learned the answer to “What Should I Plant?” is not easily found. There have been many studies, but this research has not been organized into a useful database. Mr. Tallamy has chosen to list those plants that feed the order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). He thinks since this class represents over 50 percent of all insect herbivores, this is a good representation for all of the useful insects.

“How long does it take an alien plant species to become the ecological equivalent of the plants it has displaced?” Unfortunately, most evidence suggests that this adaptation happens too slowly to make a difference.

Mr. Tallamy further explains the research for his list has focused on the eastern deciduous forest, because he lives in southeastern Pennsylvania. He does believe there is some carryover to other parts of the country. His list begins with Woody Plants ranked by those that support the most lepidoptera species. At the top of the list is the Oak (supporting 534 species), followed by the Willow (456) and the Cherry, plum (456), then the birch (368), Poplar, cottonwood (368), and Crabapple (311).

The Shumard Oak is an Oklahoma native plant that produces healthy green foliage even on alkaline soils, tolerates summer heat and drought, works well in urban landscapes and transplants easily.

Some alien plants introduced to North America over 100 years ago and the number of species they support is surprising. The broad-leaved paper bark melaleuca supports 409 species in Australia, but after 120 years in North America it only supports 8 species. This comparison explains the importance of planting native.

Photos of broad-leaved paper bark tree melaleuca form Wikipedia

Doug Tallamy

Why Flower Shows?

By Sue Lovelace, Member since 2004, President 2011-2013

Last month we studied Tricolor designs, one of the five design sections in a flower show. This month let’s study another of the five sections, Designer’s Choice.

For a Designer’s Choice Award Design, the plant material used in the exhibit may be dried, treated dried and/or fresh. In other words, you can use any kind of plant material you have. As in the Tricolor Section, the schedule will determine the style of the design. If no design style is listed under a class, the designer is free to choose a design they think best portrays the class title.

The three Oklahoma Shows! Class types are Mono-Botanic Design, Floor Design and Spatial Thrust Design.

“

Family Gathering” is to be a Mono-Botanic Design using multiple parts of the plant/s of one family or genus. Plants may be stems, bloom/s, roots, fruit, foliage, etc. Plant material can be dried and or fresh. Altering the exterior appearance of dried plant material is allowed.

“Oklahoma Roots Run Deep” is to be a Floor Design. This is not a design staged on a pedestal or base, even if the pedestal or base in incorporated into the design. It is to look like it comes out of the floor and is staged on the floor. Space allowed in this show is 4’ wide X 3’ deep.

“Land Run” is a Spatial Thrust Design consisting of two (2) parallel placements of similar components. The emphasis is on the two (2) thrusting lines and the space between them. Plant material and/or other optional components may be added to only the outer edges of the thrusting lines which may be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal.

Classes are listed on pages 11-12 of the Oklahoma Shows! Schedule.

View the Schedule on issuu.com or download at TulsaGardenClub.org.

Club Applies for National and Regional Awards

Your Awards Team has submitted applications for the Club to be recognized for: Floral Design Program, Flower Show and Flower Show Schedule, Social Media/Web Site, Social Media/Facebook, National Garden Week, Publications, Yearbook and Yearbook Theme.

Photo by Cynthia Redden

Photo by Marlene Hatton

Photo from Flower Show Flowers