As part of the Tulsa Garden Center’s education program, the Linnaeus Teaching Gardens educational offerings include the following:

The Gardens

The Linnaeus Teaching Gardens, free and open to the public, offer a wealth of educational experience. Well-trained volunteers maintain the garden and share their knowledge and love of gardening with the public.

Each Garden is magnificent in its design with cutting edge garden materials and plants on view. Stone, brick, metal, wood and the newest and best plant species and cultivars are creatively used to demonstrate the most successful gardening techniques.

Situated on 1.55 acres with hundreds of shrubs, perennials, annuals, herbs and vegetables as well as a large pond fed by waterfalls and streams splashing over large moss boulders, the individual Gardens demonstrate how gardeners may achieve maximum design impact in small urban spaces.

Group Tours

Linnaeus volunteers are happy to provide tours for groups of all sizes during normal hours of operation. We have hosted everyone from elementary school children to gardening clubs: for example, the Oklahoma Society of Impressionists, Tulsa Community College horticulture and art classes, and the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Call 918-746-5125 to schedule your group.

Linnaeus Seminar Series

All Linnaeus Seminar Series sessions are open to the public. The courses are designed by Barry Fugatt, Tulsa Garden Center Director of Horticulture, and taught by Mr. Fugatt along with other experts.

Examples of Spring 2007 seminars are: Residential Landscape Design, Great Plants for Tulsa Gardens, and Growing and Selecting Great Annuals and Perennials.

Current seminars, dates and registration information are listed on the Upcoming Events page.

Little Green Thumbs and Eco-Sleuths Children’s Programs

With sessions on Saturdays in May and June, Little Green Thumbs (ages 6 to 9 years) and Eco-Sleuths (ages 10 to 12 years) offer fun gardening projects for kids.

The theme of classes in 2007 is “Circle of Life.”

Taught by Linnaeus Gardeners and Tulsa Garden Center volunteers, the sessions will cover the food chain, recycling, composting, and insects and other garden creatures. Children will plant their own pizza garden, make (and eat) dirt pudding, go on a scavenger hunt through Woodward Park, make a birdbath and construct wind chimes to take home.

Linnaeus Gardener Program

Linnaeus Volunteers participate in a 12 week training program that includes classroom lectures and hands-on training. Training topics covered include: culture of trees, shrubs, annual, and perennials; plant pathology (diseases); entomology (insects); soil fertility, basic botany (how plants grow); lawn establishment and care; fruit and vegetable gardening; plant propagation; and garden design.

After basic training, volunteers spend 50 hours as Linnaeus Garden Interns and upon completion of the Intern program are formally certified as Linnaeus Gardeners.

Additional information on the program is available on the Becoming a Linnaeus Gardener page.