Themed Gardens

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Themed gardens can vary from all blue flowers, all roses, all succulents, or all grasses.


Flowers are wonderful for a few weeks. Developing a passion for a particular type or color flower is fine but can limit the number of weeks your garden looks its best.


One of the challenges is to identify plants that are attractive spring, summer and fall. For this reason, experienced gardeners form a background of herbaceous perennials. These plants create a reliable background and live for years.

Oklahoma State University Horticulture and Landscape Extension Fact Sheet HLA-6410 has everything you need to know to select suitable ones for your yard. Categories include: Cut Flowers, Large Background plants, plants that Prefer Shade, Vines, Showy Foliage, Edging, Borders and Ground covers, Dried Flowers or Showy Fruit.

Large plants provide the backbones of a landscape.

Sit in your favorite chair and notice what you see out the window. Consider putting a large shrub with winter interest or a specimen tree in the site line of the windows where you spend time.


Click through the websites for Sooner Plant Farm in Tahlequah and Tulsa Master Gardeners for ideas.

How much time are you spending outside in these 100-degree August days?

Consider the number of hours you are willing and able to invest when making plant decisions. Put in some low-water plants such as those suitable for Xeriscape. The Texas Extension Service has a link with Xeriscape ideas.

A new bed in our landscape is filled with spring and summer bulbs that are finished blooming now. What's left in the bed for August and September is a collection of shrubs and plants that require only weekly water and very little maintenance.

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