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Red Dirt Ramblings®

Firmly rooted in the Oklahoma soil

  • Home
  • About Me
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  • Contact
  • My Gardens
    • The Back Garden
    • The Potager

Garden touring and a guide

26 September, 2011 By Dee Nash

by Dee Nash
26 September, 20111 March, 2015Filed under:
  • Fall
  • Flowers
  • Oklahoma
  • Photography

Wouldn't you love this bed for your own?

In case you missed it, last weekend was the Oklahoma Horticultural Society’s annual Garden Tour for Connoisseurs. At one time, the tour was held each spring, but now, it is a fall treat.

And, what a treat it was. Eight gardens, seven of which were individually owned by people just like you and me. I volunteered in one of the gardens in the morning, and then toured in the afternoon.

A fountain bubbles just behind the house is the centerpiece of a small brick patio.

I love garden tours, but even more, I love working one. I was in Ernesto and Lin Sanchez’s garden, and I enjoyed meeting so many people from all over Oklahoma. It’s such a special moment when you tell someone a particular detail about a garden, and their face lights up. For example, from the front of this urban location, it appears the backyard will be cramped and small, but when you come to the end of this manicured space you realize their entire property opens up into an abandoned trolley line easement they purchased ten years ago.

The roving chicken, Sunshine, now has her own digs.

A small travel trailer sits next to the pool, and a rescued chicken (their neighborhood allows them) has the fanciest coop I’ve seen outside of Martha Stewart’s Palais de Poulet. 

See the cute trailer behind the pool?

The first part of the back garden was designed by John Fluitt many years ago.

Lin and Ernesto were wonderful hosts and remained in the garden all morning answering questions and showing people every aspect of their garden.

One of the many curvilinear beds in the long trolly (urban transit) easement which the owners call "The Wayback."

Getting that personal touch from your guide is the best scenario, but what about when you’re on vacation, and you want to visit some local garden hotspots? It is good to have a guide, if not in the flesh, then on paper. Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp’s, The Visitor’s Guide to American Gardens: Garden Walks, Garden Talks, Garden Events, which Cool Springs Press sent me to review, looks to be just the ticket. The guide is organized by state and also in Canada to assist in locating gardens while you’re on vacation, or any type of tour. In my own state, Jo Ellen listed the best of the best. Myriad Gardens and Crystal Bridge, for example, just underwent a huge restoration and recently reopened. I was pleased to see she also listed the new Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden located just outside of Tulsa. Because three of the five gardens listed in Oklahoma are in Tulsa, it made me wonder why Oklahoma City and her surrounding suburbs don’t do more to establish great gardens. Then, I remembered the smaller gardens in Edmond which I walk three or four times a week: Mitch Park and Hafer.

At the back of the book is a list of garden tours and events. I wish the OHS tour was listed, but oh well.

All of the gardens in the book are, of course public, but if you attend the OHS’s garden tour next fall, you will be escorted into a world of private gardens you don’t normally see.

In addition, tomorrow night, I’m speaking at the local OHS meeting at 7:00 p.m., OSU- OKC Horticulture Resource Center, 400 N. Portland, Room 226, on the north side of the building. My topic is: Daylilies: More than a Pretty Face.

The meeting is open to the public, and I really hope you’ll come.

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Comments

  1. michele says

    30 September, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    I love to tour gardens as it gives such inspiration for your own. The hanging outdoor bed is a dream.

  2. Lin Sanchez says

    30 September, 2011 at 8:19 am

    Thanks for being with us Saturday & for this terrific review!!

    • Dee Nash says

      30 September, 2011 at 11:37 am

      Awww . . . Lin, I loved your garden. It is beautiful, and you two were the perfect hosts. I bet you were tired once the day was through.

  3. Patrick's Garden says

    30 September, 2011 at 1:39 am

    Hey Dee,
    I think it’s a great idea to move the tour until later in summer, I don’t know about down there but here in KC we have about 10- early season tours. The market is saturated.

  4. Leslie says

    26 September, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    How lucky for them to have that easement! Their garden looks so cool and inviting, I wonder if anyone took a snooze in the bed?

  5. Gail says

    26 September, 2011 at 4:22 pm

    Dee, That bed looks inviting and probably is on a cool day. The garden is a delight, too. If I had to choose I would always choose to go to a garden that’s been gardened by a homeowner. They’re more real to me then some of the formal and classic gardens I’ve visited. I might have to plan my next trip to OKC around a garden tour. xogail

  6. Carol says

    26 September, 2011 at 4:02 pm

    What a special garden you were in, Dee. I am looking forward to getting my own copy of Jo Ellen’s book. It will be a great guide to have for whenever I leave Indiana, which seems more frequent these days. Thanks for the heads up about it.

  7. Lisa at Greenbow says

    26 September, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    What great centerpieces for gardens. Can’t imagine having one of these beds inour climate. It looks so inviting though. The fountain is a beauty. Wish I could attend to listen to you speak. Have fun.

  8. Esther Mongtomey says

    26 September, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    I want to sleep in that bed! I want to sleep on it all year round, even when it snows. I want to let it swing me gently to sleep and sit up in it in the morning to have my breakfast in the garden and greet the surprised postman when he brings me my letters. What a bed! Failing that – I’d like the blanket.

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Hi, I’m Dee, a professional garden writer and speaker born and raised in Oklahoma. Here you’ll find all my best dirt on gardening and travel. Welcome!

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