Nationally Known Specialty Garden Experts Headline MBG April 1st Gardening School
(March 1, 2006) – Learn to create colorful container gardens, cozy outdoor rooms and dramatic theme gardens from national experts during the sixth annual Oklahoma Gardening School hosted by the Myriad Botanical Gardens. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. April 1 at Stage Center, 400 W Sheridan Avenue.
The day-long gardening school will feature Fine Gardening contributing editor Steve Silk and author, gardening, cooking and entertaining connoisseur Lucinda Hutson. Registrants all receive a “goody bag” and gardening door prizes will be awarded throughout the day.
The school opens with "What’s New for Oklahoma Gardens," a presentation by Myriad Botanical Gardens Manager Allen Storjohann on this year’s hottest plant varieties and garden gadgets and a guide to plants favored for Oklahoma landscapes.
At 9:30 a.m. Steve Silk takes the stage with "A Passion for Pots." Silk, photographer for "Gardens to Go," a how-to book on container gardening, will cover the gamut of container gardening--from arranging a few plants in a single pot to using scores of pots to create entire container-based gardens.
The third session, "Lucinda's Garden," hosted by Hutson, author of "The Herb Garden Cookbook" begins at 10:30 a.m.
Hutson will present a photo tour of her legendary "Texican" cottage gardens in Austin, Texas. The gardens (replete with an outside shower and a tequila cantina) are filled with garden art, mosaics and a fiesta of fresh herbs, flowers, and exotic vines. She will share some of her theme garden recipes and inspire you to create intimate outdoor "rooms" and transform and personalize your own gardens.
After lunch, Silk conducts another session, "Garden Partners: Using Color and Shape to Create Pleasing Plantings," that demonstrates how to mingle foliage and flower colors, patterns, shapes and sizes to create a garden oasis.
At the 2 p.m. closing session, "Fiesta in Lucinda's Garden," Huston shows how to create everything from a sunny Tuscan courtyard to Southeast Asian, citrus and kitchen gardens in your own back yard and shares more recipes and ideas for festive entertaining.
In addition Full Circle Book Store will have an on-site sale of specialized gardening books and Silk and Hutson will be available for autographs and book signings.
Tuition for the Oklahoma Gardening School is $40 through March 24 for Myriad Gardens Foundation members and $50 for others. After March 24, registration increases by $10. To register, call (405) 297-3995.
Proceeds from the Gardening School benefit educational programming at the Myriad Botanical Gardens. The Oklahoma Gardening School is generously supported by Teleflora, The Meinders Foundation, The Oklahoman, Gardner Tanenbaum Group, TLC, Mr. And Mrs. Richard I. Tanenbaum, Fine Gardening, Oklahoma Horticulture Society and the Myriad Gardens Foundation.
