Each year the Tulsa County Master Gardeners conduct a garden tour showcasing several Master Gardener homes. This year we have five beautiful landscapes to inspire you. Each location will have Master Gardeners on hand to answer your questions and explain the plants in the gardens.
Tickets for the event are $10 in advance and $15 during the garden tour. The last day to purchase advance tickets is June 9th until 4:00 p.m.
Dates of the tour:
June 10th - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
June 11th - 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
The Tour Homes - Addresses will be on your ticket when you print it.
Tour Home Descriptions
1. Having wearied of “yardwork” and after taking some landscape and horticulture classes, this color loving homeowner has spent the last 25 years turning her garden into a colorful spring, summer, fall and winter perennial and flowering shrub garden.
The early addition of crape myrtles, Japanese maples, dogwoods, and Hinoki false cypress established a foundation of height and structure. Adding flower beds and their periodic expansion, have made space for hydrangea, roses, abelia, spirea and a homeowner favorite the Rose of Sharon.
The unfortunate loss of several giant trees over the years has allowed for more sun-loving perennials much loved by not only the homeowner but the visiting butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. Focusing on color, height and structure these beds include over 100 different varieties of native and non-native plants. Spring welcomes hellebores, daffodils, iris, columbine and salvia. Herbaceous and tree peonies, penstemon and baptisia are joined in summer by astilbe, daylilies, tall phlox and canna. Fall brings aster, swamp sunflower, hummingbird bush and shell bush take the color into winter.
This garden kaleidoscope is a true labor of love for this color inspired homeowner. And while the cozy backyard offers a more private sanctuary, this generous gardener is able to share her color infused landscape with her neighbors and the many frequent walkers in this midtown neighborhood.
2. After falling for the beautiful gingko tree that greeted this homeowner 17 years ago, it has become a true labor of love creating this fun and inviting landscape.
Along with the gingko, the American Holly that borders the drive, some giant pines and a screen of cedars in the backyard, this was pretty much a blank slate. Sadly, the giant pines were recently lost due to utility expansion.
Armed with a vision and a very good friend, a plan was hatched. They focused on a combination of hardscape, achieved through the inviting curved front walkway and various stacked stone beds and mass plantings of colorful shrubs and blooming trees. The first of many hydrangea varieties line the path as you make your way to the backyard.
Primarily shaded, the homeowner has introduced color and interest with hardy hibiscus, hellebores and heuchera. Ferns, acuba and blooming annuals join hardy camellia and shamrock. From the birdhouses, to the yard art, to the unique potting ideas, there is so much to appreciate as you wander the space.
The Chinese Pistache tree offers much needed summer shade for a hardworking gardener and beckons visitors to relax on the arbored deck.
As you make your way back to the front, you will notice the pine stump souvenir. Another stacked stone bed anchors the southwest corner of the house. This sunny location blooms with azalea, yarrow, creeping phlox, peonies and a smoke tree.
3. The family came to Tulsa in 2014. They chose to make their home in midtown and found the perfect home with large windows, providing lots of natural light indoors and views out to all corners of the garden.
A maple and tall holly tree grace the front entrance, with azaleas, heucheras, yews and ferns in the shade. An eye stopping splash of summer sunpatiens fills the front beds.
Entering the back garden, one notes the unusual shape of the garden. The neighbors have large shade trees thus making this garden mostly shade. The shed and work bench store tools and provide a work area.
The patio is perfectly designed to view the garden and entertain family and friends. It is shaded by an old wisteria whose blossoms are pear shaped and a haven for the bees.
Note the two Atlantic White RedStar Cedars that grace the patio path. Their foliage could be mistaken for a juniper but they are treasured for their seasonal change of color.
The patio beds are filled with azaleas, hydrangeas, Carex Sedge and an interesting Hinoki Cypress. Along the east fence are two pollinator gardens. Two Adirondack chairs offer another view of the garden.
4. Leaving behind three acres of shade plantings and lush azaleas in South Tulsa, these busy homeowners are in midtown, tending their “downsized” sunny landscape.
Approaching the house, you will see Nellie Stevens Hollies along the drive and boxwood hedges on either side of the entry, accented by summer annuals in garden beds and decorative pots, all of which are connected to a drip irrigation.
Secret cutouts around the home allow shady respites for hostas, ferns, and heuchera, whimsical garden sculptures and a birdbath or two. Many varieties of shrubs, surround the home, some are new additions thanks to recent weather challenges.
Entering the backyard, you’ll walk along a recently added French drain, cleverly camouflaged by a rock pathway. As avid birdwatchers, these homeowners have included many plants and shrubs in the landscape that will attract birds, offering berries and shelter. The backyard features evergreens, viburnum, a Black Lace Elderberry and a Brown Turkey fig tree. Several varieties of pines complement the centerpiece loblolly and a saucer magnolia.
Considered the most popular room in the house, the beautiful patio and outdoor living area provide the perfect outpost for enjoying the colorful landscape and the central bird feeding station.
5. As you wander through this charming midtown garden it is hard to equate the beauty and serenity with the many changes and challenges these homeowners have faced. From an historic ice storm, drainage problems, flooding and drought to the pesky rabbit, these resilient gardeners have created lemonade from lemons. And they’ve done it without an irrigation system.
After the loss of 160 year old oak during the ice storm, the homeowners had to adapt to their new sunny space. The zoysia lawn began to suffer. A replacement Burr Oak was planted, joining the American Liberty Elm, Chinese Pistache, Redbud and Dogwood trees. Adding pops of color in the beds are Russian sage, crepe myrtle, salvia and phlox.
The meandering walk along the original driveway is a creative solution to a runoff and flooding problem caused by an extensive cement project next door, inspiring this homeowner to create a pebble drain around the home. Easy research led to an interesting assortment of plants that are tolerant of wet feet. Red maples, Japanese grasses, columbine, yew and iris offer a nice variety of texture and color.
The Red Maple theme continues in the primarily shaded backyard. Beds with hosta, heuchera, ferns and astilbe, join a mix of native perennials that provide seeds and nectar for the much loved birds that visit throughout the year. Along with a fig tree, a prolific herb garden along the drive is handy for this home cook. And not to be missed is the mass of tiger lilies as you leave the driveway.