Oklahoma Gardening School

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Myriad Botanical Gardens’ annual Oklahoma Gardening School is the state’s premier annual horticultural symposium designed for home gardeners and professional horticulturists, garden designers, and landscape architects.

The Oklahoma Gardening School showcases local and national experts in gardening, plant selection, and garden design. Their illustrated talks and Q&A discussions help participants learn how to create and maintain more beautiful, sustainable, and successful gardens in Oklahoma.

This year’s program will condense an entire year’s cycle within the garden as experts share their strategies, schedules, methodologies, and more for each season. Whether it’s irrigation strategies or damage mitigation through our hottest summers, fertilizing and pruning in the spring, a second round of planting in the fall, or finding inspiring ways to keep your garden beautiful and add a touch of life to the dreariness of winter, guests will leave with a better understanding of the complexities of a year-round garden and how to achieve success for every season.

Located at the Devon Energy Auditorium (333 W Sheridan Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73102). The last day to register is March 5 at 9AM.

Presented by The Meinders Foundation
with support from: SqueezeEveryDrop.com, Anonymous, Calvert’s Plant Interiors, TLC Garden Centers, Total Environment, Minick Materials

SCHEDULE

8:15–9AM: Breakfast and Registration

9–9:10AM: Welcome from our CEO/Executive Director & Director of Education

9:10–10:10AM: Andy Fusco, Acting Executive Director and Director of Horticulture, Tulsa Garden Center at Woodward Park with “Spring: Jumpstarting the Garden” – Ah Spring! As pollinators awaken and buds start to swell, spring is the classic ‘garden’ season and often when we fulfill that deep urge to get out in to nature. With a few tips and tricks, spring can be the ‘springboard’ to an outstanding rest of your year. Join Andy Fusco as he shares his expertise in setting your garden up for a year of success right now!

10:10–10:30AM: Break and opportunity to visit exhibitors

10:30–11:30AM: Casey Hentges, host of “Oklahoma Gardening” with Oklahoma State University with “Thriving in the Summer Heat” – Oklahoma summers are intense, but Oklahomans – and their gardens – are resilient. Discover heat-tolerant plants, water-saving strategies, and creative tips to help your garden thrive and inspire hope through the summer heat.

11:30AM–12:30PM: Boxed Lunch on site or offsite lunch
Workshop/Demonstration with Dale and Carrie Spoonemore of From Seed to Spoon at Park House

12:30–1:30PM: Linda Vater, garden designer and stylist, author, The Elegant and Edible Garden and The Five Year Garden Journal with “Fall: Ready to Rest, Ready to Grow” – Discover the joys of fall gardening, aka, the second spring. Learn tips, best practices, and how changing climates are shaping the way we garden today, with no season quite as primed to demonstrate as fall. Whether planting cool-weather edibles, bulbs, and ornamentals or utilizing the season to prepare for your garden’s rest, fall presents further opportunity (with its own benefits!) to continue growing just a little bit longer.

1:30–1:50PM: Break and opportunity to visit exhibitors

1:50–2:50PM: Sheila Kanotz, Director of Horticulture, Philbrook Museum of Art with “Winter: Embracing a Unique Beauty” – Winter gardens offer unique textures and contrasts not seen in warmer seasons. Focus on how the interplay of light, snow, and shadows can highlight your garden’s design. Hardscaping elements provide structure and interest. The beauty of seed heads, evergreen boughs, berries, and colorful bark can create an enchanting winter landscape.

2:50–3:30PM: Q&A Panel with all speakers and Raffle

3:30–4PM: Dismissal and Book Signing with Linda Vater

4:15–5PM: Optional tour of Inasmuch Foundation Crystal Bridge Conservatory’s “Orchid Ikebana” show

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Andy Fusco

Acting Executive Director and Director of Horticulture, Tulsa Garden Center at Woodward Park, Andy Fusco is a native Tulsan and life-long gardener. He earned a master's degree in Horticulture from OSU in 2020, specializing in Public Garden Management. He has been with Tulsa Garden Center since 2021, serving most recently as the Acting Executive Director. He strongly believes in the positive impact Public Green Spaces play in our communities and hopes to inspire the next generation of horticulturists.

Casey Hentges

Host of “Oklahoma Gardening” with Oklahoma State University, Casey Hentges has served as the host for the Oklahoma Gardening television show that airs weekly on OETA for the past 9 years. Before joining forces with the OKG team, she served as the director of horticulture at the Myriad Botanical Gardens in Oklahoma City. In addition, she has been a commercial landscape manager in Dallas and has served as the Canadian County horticulture/4-H extension educator for the Oklahoma State Cooperative Extension Service. Casey earned her bachelor’s degree in horticulture at OSU and her master’s degree in public horticulture management at the University of Delaware in the Longwood Graduate Program and is currently working on a PhD on urban soils.

Linda Vater

Garden designer and stylist, author of "The Elegant and Edible Garden" and "The Five Year Garden Journal," Linda is a self-taught garden designer and stylist who also writes and produces garden media for TV, magazines, Instagram, YouTube, and the web. She has lived and gardened for over thirty years in her 1935 English Tudor home before moving to her very lively “Cottage on the Hill” in Oklahoma City. Her gardens have been featured in numerous national and local magazines and have been toured more times than she can count. Linda looks at EVERYTHING: her home, family, travel, and life’s biggest questions through a gardening lens. Gardening has helped her raise two boys, be a better friend and neighbor, learn resilience, and at times saved her sanity. She says often that gardening is simultaneously one of the most joyous and frustrating things she does. She is the author of The Elegant and Edible Garden and The Five Year Garden Journal available online and in bookstores. Join Linda on this great adventure that is gardening. Find her on YouTube, IG and her website, www.lindavater.com.

Sheila Kanotz

Sheila is the Director of Horticulture at Philbrook Museum of Art, and co-owner of King’s Mums, LLC. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in Public Horticulture. In her 20+ years in the field of public horticulture American Public Gardens Association has been an integral part of her career and she is currently serving on the Board of Directors. She enjoys being part of a passionate team that steward the gardens, share their creative talents, and serve the community.

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!

Take a look back at our 2024 school

More than 250 garden-loving folks descended upon Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business for the 2024 Oklahoma Gardening School.

Use the arrows on the slideshow to view more photos, or click on the photo to view the entire album.