Botanical Garden Springs Into Action

The Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden opens in April with flowers, poetry and more!

The Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden will open for the 2012 season on Saturday, April 7 with “Flower Power”: flower-themed crafts and ­activities for families. Families can learn about flower parts by dissecting a flower, decorate a flower pot to take home, and enjoy a walk outdoors while going on a floral scavenger hunt. Activities are ongoing throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Garden, which is taking root on 170 acres northwest of downtown Tulsa, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, April through October. Admission is free. Visitors can pick up a map at the visitor center to explore the site which includes the seven-acre Centennial Lake, a three-quarter mile lake trail that includes the Garden’s first plantings of 300 ornamental and shade trees, and a one-and-a-half mile nature trail which winds through prairie and Cross Timbers forest. Directions and a map to the Garden can be found at www.ocbg.org.

On Saturday, April 14, the Garden will partner with University of Tulsa’s Nimrod International Journal of Prose & Poetry for Tulsa’s second annual Poetry Walk. Visitors can enjoy poetry readings and music at stops along a trail through the forest, prairie and persimmon grove. Selections will include poetry for children, with each “poetry stop” on the trail including several poems to delight the young and old. A “haiku tree” on the trail will offer the opportunity for participants to ­contribute their own poem.

The full walk is a mile and a half, with a mini-walk also ­available. A reception following the Poetry Walk will start at  3:45 p.m. in the Garden’s visitor center with performances from Nimrod’s Spring 2012 issue “The View from Here.” The event is free and open to the public as part of National Poetry Month in April. For more ­information, contact Nimrod at (918) 631-3080 or eat0@eau0eav0eaw0.

Saturday, April 21 at 10 a.m., Jim Sturgis, also known as “Bartlesville’s Purple Martin Man,” will share his years of experience in attracting purple martins. His talk will include the best types of purple martin ­houses, proper placement and more tips to help bring these beneficial birds to your ­landscape.

“Gardening Strategies to Attract Butterflies” will be ­discussed on Saturday, April 28 with a talk at 10 a.m. by Master Gardener Jim Thayer. Thayer will offer specific advice on the best nectar and host plants for attracting butterflies, important design elements in a garden for butterflies, as well as identifying the most common butterflies to be seen in Tulsa-area gardens.

Admission to the Botanical Garden is free.

 

For more information, contact

Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden

(918) 289-0330

www.ocbg.org