June 9, 2007

The Celebration

The public turned out in force to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Linnaeus Teaching Garden on June 9, 2007. People lined up at the gates waiting to enter even before the garden opened at 9 a.m., and a steady stream of people continued to visit throughout the day.

Linnaeus Garden volunteers were on hand to greet visitors, answer questions, hand out plants, make and serve popcorn and lemonade, and generally serve as ambassadors for this unique garden.

Two local nurseries -- Greenleaf and Southwood -- donated more than 1,500 plants for the celebration, and volunteers gave them away to the lucky people who arrived early!

Since the Linnaeus Garden opened last year, more than 10,000 people have visited and signed the guest book. The Garden is a reality thanks to the contributions of three groups: (1) the garden industry, which has contributed almost $1 million worth of materials, products and plants, (2) more than 2,000 Tulsa area residents, plant societies and foundations, who have donated funds, and (3) the more than 200 Linnaeus Garden volunteers, who planted the garden and maintain it in pristine condition.

The Comments.

The anniversary celebration provided an opportunity for many people to enjoy the Garden for the first time, and their comments speak volumes:

• I had no idea this was here. What a beautiful garden.
• Oh Wow! Holy Cow! Oh my Gosh, this is pretty!
• They've done so much.
• Now I've got to go home and redo my whole yard!
• My goodness, look at this!
• I'm overwhelmed.

The Proven Winners Lecture

As part of the anniversary celebration, Nicole Jackson gave a free lecture on “What’s New and Hot in the Garden.” She lives in San Diego and works for Euro-American Propagators. She demonstrated the use of Proven Winners in container gardening, planting six different containers in varying color combinations. For information about Proven Winners, go to www.provenwinners.com.

She advised students to remember to:

• Consider color. Coordinate the color of the container with the color of the plants. Cool colors (such as blue, pink and purple) elicit feelings of peace and relaxation. Warm colors (such as red, yellow and orange) create feelings of excitement. Silver and white can be used to make other colors brighter, but sliver does not work well with warm colors.
• Consider whether the container will be in sun or shade. Group shade loving plants together and sun loving plants together, but do not mix.
• Consider size. Plants should be twice as big as the visible portion of the container. Remember . . . the plants will grow!
• Consider texture. Vary the shape of flowers and foliage. Texture may be added with plants such as ivy, coleus, vinca, sweet potato vine, and dusty miller.

Photos by Marc Schreiber and Fred Marks