(gentle music) (orchestral music) - [Narrator] Welcome to "Oklahoma Gardening."

Today we are looking at spring beauty.

We begin by heading to Luther to see a home garden full of Bluebonnets.

Next, join me at Will Rogers Park as we explore their Iris collection.

And finally, we have an update on bluebirds.

(orchestral music) Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

- [Casey] So if you're looking for an easy, low-maintenance perennial (soft classical music) - You have two different types of flowers on one plant.

(soft classical music) - Capsaicinoids that gives the pepper its heat.

(soft classical music) - Hey everybody, I know you're probably busy out in the garden, but if you haven't taken a moment to go onto our Oklahoma Gardening Facebook page, make sure you do by tomorrow night.

Sunday night at midnight is when voting closes on our water garden contest.

We have seven individual photos of water gardens that are around the state, and we're anxious to find out where we'll be going this summer.

So make sure you get onto our Oklahoma Gardening Facebook page and like the photo of the water garden that you want us to go visit this summer.

Remember, voting closes this Sunday, at midnight.

(gentle guitar music) (gentle guitar music) - [Casey] We're just outside Luther, Oklahoma, at the home of Diane Couch.

And Diane, I have to say you told me you've got Bluebonnets, but you have so much more going on at your garden here.

It is just absolutely beautiful what you have.

- Thank you, thank you.

- And what I have to say is I know a lot of times like Spring is kind of iffy as to when it's gonna show up, but it has definitely shown up here in Luther, Oklahoma, already.

It's just beautiful.

Can we talk a little bit about how you got established here?

- Wow.

Well, I started my garden...

I've always had a garden, but this garden has taken place since I built this house in '08.

So a lot of this has just been since '08.

And my mom gardened, my grandma gardened, and I guess I got that bug.

And my mom loved the Bluebonnets and so I have taken on Bluebonnets.

- Okay.

Alright.

Well, and I know we're gonna get to some of those here in a minute.

Tell me a little bit, you have amazing collection of different succulents and euphorbias.

Is that just kind of a passion too?

- [Diane] It is.

(gentle laughter) - [Diane] It is, I can't help myself.

- [Casey] I mean, that's a lot to take in and out.

Do you take those inside every year or?

- [Diane] Some of 'em go in the house, but majority of 'em go in my greenhouse.

- [Casey] Oh, okay, you have a little greenhouse?

- [Diane] It's very little.

Time I get everything in there, it's just packed.

(Casey laughs softly) - [Diane] Yeah, becomes little as everything gets filled in.

And they just have to take care of themselves basically during the winter because it's so full I can barely get in there to shoot any water to 'em or anything, so.

- It's a good thing they are succulents, right?

- Yeah, but I put other things in there too, and there's some things that come out looking pretty rough in the Spring, but they recover over time.

- Well, I see you got some Bougainvilleas that are gonna start blooming pretty soon also.

So, you said the Bluebonnets, I see a few here, and I can't help but mention this view that you get to wake up to every morning of a pecan orchard.

- [Diane] Yeah, I started that orchard there, from little pecans planted in the ground, and then my dad had started the orchard in town at Highway 66 and Luther Road.

And I ran that for about 27 years.

And I'm retired from it now, but I still get reminded that I, you know, I've got pecan trees down there, and I still kinda take care of them, so.

- [Casey] Well, and I see you utilize that pecan shell for mulch around here which adds a nice texture also when you're walking on the, you know, the path and you hear a crunch.

- Stuff.

- Yeah, it works out great.

Yeah.

- Well let's- - I've used a lot of it.

- Let's go through here, if you don't mind- - Okay.

- And take a look at your blue bonnets?

- Okay.

That'd be great.

(sunny acoustic guitar music) This is blooming.

- Oh, it's beautiful.

- [Interviewer] Yeah.

(uplifting acoustic guitar music) - Oh my goodness, Diane, this is just fabulous.

I love what you've done with- - Thank you.

- This side of your yard, here.

So, is this a newer path you've created here?

- It is.

It is.

And I just love it.

I spend a lot of time here now.

But, it used to be a real big slope.

- Uh huh.

- And it was hard to walk and push dollies and stuff.

So, I came up with this plan and I really, really like it, so.

- Well, and with this crushed granite it's easy to kind of roll things, on I guess.

But- - Yeah.

- I like the height of your- - Yeah.

- Your terrace bed here, 'cause you can actually probably sit there and kind of tend to your garden, right?

- Right, right.

- [Interviewer] So, is that concrete?

- [Diane] That is concrete, yeah.

Got it out of somebody's field, and utilized it in this wall, and it works out great.

Another thing I wanna do along here is I've got blue bonnets back here.

- [Interviewer] Uh huh.

- [Diane] They like this crushed granite.

So, this spring or this summer I'm gonna spread seeds along here and I'm gonna have blue bonnets scattered throughout this walkway- - So- - For next year- - So you just let your- - Oh, I'm sorry- - Blue bonnets, sort of, self sew?

- They do what they wanna do, yeah.

- And they find their happy places- - I just let 'em do it, yeah, yup- - And I like the designs you've incorporated- - [Diane] Oh, thank you.

- [Interviewer] In the path as well.

- [Diane] My son, yeah.

- So you have a lot of different, whimsical stuff that you've added into your garden.

Can you tell me a little bit about all of that?

- I don't know, I just find it to be real fun, and I like to hunt for it.

Also, I go to estate sales, garage sales, that sort of thing, pick things up and utilize them.

And I try to make it artistic.

- Okay.

- You know, try to lay out an area- - Yeah.

- You know?

So, anyway.

- So, I- - I enjoy it.

- And speaking of laying out an area, this is the most decorative greenhouse that I've seen.

So this is the little but mighty greenhouse that gets- - [Diane] Yes.

- [Interviewer] Packed full- - [Diane] Yes.

- [Interviewer] In the wintertime.

Right?

- [Diane] Yes.

It's amazing how much stuff I can cram in there.

Yeah.

It's a necessity.

- [Interviewer] I like all the stuff that you've added to kind of, you know, showcase it and, and utilize that vertical, um, the walls to kind of highlight some of your elements- - [Diane] Yeah, yeah.

- [Interviewer] That you've added into the garden, as well.

- [Diane] Well, thank you, thank you.

Yeah, I, I have fun with it.

- [Interviewer] Definitely.

It definitely shows.

Well, Diane, not only your greenhouse scene, but it looks like you've created a little scene here.

I mean, you can take a snapshot of this, this is just so beautiful.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

I- - So, did you start with the trough?

Was that the inspiration?

- It was, it was.

I had the trough there first.

And then I bring different elements out.

Every year it's different, here.

The design's different, but I put, place my potted cactus and succulents around and, sometimes it works, and sometimes I have to work at it- - You keep playing with it.

- To make it work.

I keep playing with it.

Right, right- - Well, I love the texture and you know, the, a lot of times with the succulents, we think hot and dry.

But you have the water, and the sound of the water, which I think just the sound of water can make you feel cool and relaxed.

- I do, I do.

I, I love that.

And then I've also got another feature over here.

- Oh, can we go take a look?

- Sure.

- Thanks.

- Sure.

(water burbles) - [Diane] And here's my other water feature.

- [Interviewer] Oh, nice.

- [Diane] It's a kettle I picked up at an estate sale.

- [Interviewer] Beautiful.

And you got some irises in there, as well.

- [Diane] Yeah, yeah.

- [Interviewer] I like that, nice little bubbler.

- [Diane] Yeah.

Yeah.

- I mean, I can't help but talk about this right away.

This is absolutely amazing, these blue bonnets!

- Oh, thank you.

I love 'em.

- So, tell me how you got started with blue bonnets.

- Well, my mom loved them and so then I started growing a few in my flowerbed, and then I found that they really liked gravelly areas, and they kind of wanted to spread this way, so they just kind of done their thing.

- [Interviewer] So, you forfeited your patio area- - I did.

I did.

- For the season.

- [Diane] But once they finish blooming and go to seed, then I'll harvest the seed, and then I'll just pull 'em all up.

So it'll look totally different once these have died.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

Okay.

So, every year they sort of migrate to different places?

- [Diane] They do, yeah.

I have a lot of plants that I let them just do their thing, you know?

Wherever they wanna grow, I just let 'em grow because, if I like 'em well enough.

- They're gonna find their right spot.

- Yeah.

- They're happy spot.

- If, if I like the plant well enough, otherwise they're coming out, you know?

- Gotcha, gotcha.

So tell me a little bit, you said you harvest the seed.

What do you do with the seed, and when do you sew 'em again?

- Um, I just sew 'em right then.

- Okay.

- It's when they get dry, the pods get dry.

And then I just sprinkle 'em- - Around where I might possibly think they'll be happy and they'll let me know if they're happy.

And these are happy.

- Yeah.

- But it's amazing to me what I've learned about the seed pods.

When they dry and then water hits 'em, the pods explode.

- Oh, really, okay.

- And then that's how- - Spreading the seeds- - The seeds go flying around.

- Okay.

- So that's how they do it, by themselves without my help.

- And what's really unique about this is, you've got these beautiful bluebonnet flowers that almost have that same sort of wisteria flower.

- Oh, yeah.

- Which is up above us.

- You know, I didn't think about that.

- [Casey] Yeah, so it's just kind of like we've got that- - [Diane] Wisteria, it's Amethyst Falls.

- [Casey] Amethyst Falls, okay.

- [Diane] Yeah, yep.

- And it seems to be just coming on.

So even after your bluebonnets are fading, you're gonna have plenty of other stuff taking off in your garden.

- Right, right.

- It looks like you like color.

- I'm not afraid of it, yeah, I like it.

But I have a tendency to like pink flowers.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Diane] Pink spiky flowers is what I'm always attracted to.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Diane] In a garden center or whatever.

- [Casey] Yeah, yeah.

- [Diane] That's what I always go to, but I don't have a whole lot of pink right now, except this right here.

- [Casey] Yeah, you've got a few and you've got your Smoketree and then your Redbud over there that's got that kind of chartreuse color to it.

- [Diane] And my giant yucca.

- [Casey] I see that guy back there.

He's amazing, how long has it been here?

- [Diane] It's been, I don't know for sure, but it's been decades.

- [Casey] Wow.

- [Diane] Yeah.

- [Casey] Wow, that's impressive.

So he survived the freezing temperatures just fine.

- [Diane] Oh yeah.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Diane] Yeah, and even a fire.

(both laughing) - [Casey] And then I like your stock tanks that you've added.

That's kind of something I've always been intrigued with.

- [Diane] Yeah, I've got that Silver Falls Dichondra.

- [Casey] Oh, yeah, yeah.

- [Diane] That will grow over the sides.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Diane] And so, in the summertime it looks totally different than that.

- [Diane] Oh, very nice.

- [Diane] It's just kind of a silvery look, flowing look out of 'em.

- [Casey] Yeah, well, you got day lilies, your irises look amazing, some beautiful alliums as well.

It looks like you've got a lot to carry you through the gardening season with your flowers.

- [Diane] I do, yeah, got a lot going on.

Got a lot going on.

- [Casey] Well, and we didn't even mention the shade garden out front that you had also with- - [Diane] Oh yeah.

- [Casey] Different ferns and stuff.

- [Diane] Yeah.

- [Casey] So when it gets too hot you can go find a nice area to garden over there.

- Exactly, exactly.

- So do you have any problem with deer out here or any other wildlife?

- It's horrible, deer are horrible.

But I've got a young dog, thank goodness, right now that kind of keeps 'em at bay.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Diane] But they used to just be like, they would just rummage through the yard.

And it's very frustrating to have something coming up that you've spent your money on, and time on, and then come out the next day and it's eaten down to- - [Casey] Nothing.

- [Diane] To nothing.

- [Casey] Yeah.

- [Diane] Makes me very mad.

- Well, Diane, I think your garden is just lovely.

Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Well, I am happy to, and I'm so glad you all came.

- Thank you.

(soft melodic music) Today we're here at the Will Rogers Garden Center and joining me is Michael Kowalchyk, who is the president of the Oklahoma Iris Society.

And Michael, this is the best time to be here, right?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- We got some beautiful irises blooming all around us.

- Yes.

- Tell me a little bit about how this garden got started and your involvement with the society.

- All right, so we've had this garden for decades and decades and it's just expanded beyond compare.

And we actually have more projects coming up.

So right now we have over 700 types of irises here, different varieties.

We have the little ones, the medians, the tall beardeds, and then we have the Siberians over there, which are the beardless irises.

- [Casey] Uh-huh.

- So we have a huge variety.

So how I got involved with the society was, let's see, it was when my grandparents brought me in a baby stroller to the meetings, and I've been stuck going ever since.

And my grandma tells me if I wasn't there, she wasn't there.

- Oh.

- So I became really active in the last couple of years.

I was the vice president for several years, and the treasurer, and now I'm the president.

- [Casey] That's awesome.

- [Michael] Yeah, we just had our iris festival last weekend, which is a huge success.

- [Casey] Um-hmm.

- It was a wonderful event.

- Well, this is a lovely garden for homeowners to come walk through and see kind of what their, maybe their style of iris that they're looking for.

Let's talk a little bit about some of the different features of irises and what we can see here.

- Oh, absolutely.

So we have, let's see, we have so many different colors of irises.

That one over there is called a bicolor, the pink and white.

- So you think that's what maybe people look for first is the color or the smell?

- Yes, they look for the color, definitely for the color.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Michael] Black and dark purple irises are definitely everyone's favorite.

- Oh, really, okay- - Yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah, and then I guess the fragrance.

I don't really notice the fragrance until I take it home and cut it, so.

- And you mentioned there's different heights, right?

So you've got miniatures, mids and tall.

- Yeah.

- And then also like the blooming time, right?

- Yeah.

So our miniatures start about mid-March.

They're called miniature dwarf bearded.

And then it's the standard dwarf bearded that follow those, those are considered medians.

There are miniature tall beardeds, intermediate bearded irises, border bearded irises.

And then you're here to the tall bearded irises.

- Okay.

- And then after the tall bearded irises, it's our beardless irises.

(interviewer laughs) - So it's nice to get a good mix to really extend that iris blooming season.

- Yes, you need to get a good variety of heights in different times.

- All right.

So we've had some crazy winter, rain, no rain first.

Like, how has that affected our irises?

- It's prevented a lot of them from blooming especially when we have those late hard frost.

You may not even know that the buds or the stalks are there.

But they're forming inside the plant and if it's just a hard enough freeze, it'll take it out.

It's an unfortunate game that we have to play with these early springs.

And of course, the drought isn't helping the situation either.

- Right.

Right.

So some of them are probably a little behind on blooming or may not bloom like you're used to seeing them?

- Yeah, we're a little bit behind.

It's actually really interesting.

We started the season pretty early, and then with all the freezes and rain and cold weather, we're actually a little bit behind now.

- Okay.

All right.

But it's still lovely to come out here.

And I honestly love seeing some of the names.

They're very creative with their names that they have.

If I came through here and I saw that there was one that maybe really I was drawn to, do I find these in catalogs?

Or how could somebody go about finding some of these?

- So the best way is to come through the garden and write down your favorites and bring 'em to the iris sale that we have in September.

This year it'll be the 22nd and 23rd up at the Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Center.

- Okay.

Okay.

- Yeah, and we dig from this garden, that's our main source of rhizomes for the sale.

So there's a good chance I'll be in there.

- Oh, excellent, excellent.

Well, speaking of dividing, I know we typically divide later in the season.

- Yes.

- August, September.

- What's some maintenance that we need to be doing right now with our irises?

- So right now, you need to make sure that they're not having wet feet.

That's a big problem with the spring and the summer.

If they get too wet, they'll rot.

Which, you know how those high, like a couple summers ago, we had those high humid, high heat.

That's a bad situation for irises.

They just don't like wet feet.

So that's important to keep in mind.

- Okay, so plant 'em high.

- Yes, so, let's see.

I think if I can find one.

So right here, you can barely see that the top of the rhizome.

- [Interviewer] Oh, right, okay.

- [Michael] So you just wanna barely plant them underneath the surface.

You don't even have to plant them under the surface.

- [Interviewer] Okay, so plan 'em high to prevent rotting is important.

- Yes.

- What about fertilizer?

- [Michael] So it's good to use like a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer on irises.

So I usually put mine down on Valentine's Day.

And then about a month after they bloom.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- And then... - So maybe about mid June.

- [Michael] Late June.

- [Interviewer] And then after that, kind of let 'em be?

- Let 'em be.

And let 'em go dormant if they go dormant.

Because a lot of times in our weather, they will kind of shrink down and they'll look a little bit sad.

(both laughing) But if they're tough, they'll make it through.

Which irises are about the toughest perennial out there.

- I think.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- And of course, when they do stop blooming, you can go ahead and trim the stem out but we wanna leave the flags, right?

- Yes, we wanna leave the leaves.

- Okay the leaves.

Okay.

All right.

- Yep.

- And then what about as we go into, there are some re-blooming irises.

So when do we divide those up?

- So you can divide them at the same time as regular irises.

So the start of that period is actually just a month after bloom season.

So late June and July is when some people start.

I preferably do it in September when it's not a million degrees outside.

(Michael laughs) - [Interviewer] Understand.

Yeah.

- That's my preference.

And so a lot of them, well, if they're re-bloomers, the hybridizer will indicate because they've evaluated them for several years.

If they re-bloom there, it's not a guarantee they'll re-bloom here but it'll usually happen in the fall.

- All right.

Well, and you are judge, right?

- Yes.

- Tell me a little bit, what is it that you're looking for when you're judging?

And do you have any favorites out here?

- Yeah.

So I'm American Iris Society Garden Exhibition judge.

So I'm looking for the showstoppers in the garden.

Things that I can see from across the garden.

They call that distinctiveness.

Like I can see that one over there called color capers all the way from across the garden.

- [Interviewer] All right.

So things that grab your attention.

All right.

What else?

- [Michael] You want them to be blooming above the foliage so you don't have to bend down really to look at them.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

You also want them to have a good increase on them.

So have a lot of babies on them.

- [Interviewer] How much should they increase in a year?

- [Michael] Well, some increase as little as maybe two.

But the best ones increase five or six.

- [Interviewer] Oh, really?

- [Michael] Have five or six babies on 'em.

- So is it true that you kinda see a circle start to form when they start getting bigger?

- Yeah, you kinda see that.

See that in these right here.

So it starts from, this is the mother rhizome right here.

That's how you tell, the mother rhizome is always the one with the stalk on it.

- Oh, okay, okay.

- So after this season, it's done its job, so it will die.

But it has a bunch of babies on it, so the plant lives on.

- Okay, all right.

- And there it spreads even more.

- Well, any other favorites you have?

- Oh, I have a beautician over there, that's a really beautiful pink one.

And we have our spuria irises that had just bloomed today.

It's hard to pick a favorite.

- All right.

Well, thank you so much Michael, for sharing this information with us.

And I know that you guys in your society and master gardeners, there's a lot of volunteers that help take care of this garden.

And we appreciate it because it's really, it's a showpiece here - for Oklahoma City.

- Yes it is.

- Yes, it is, it's one of the premier display gardens in the Midwest in the Southern US.

- And it's free for people to come in and see it.

- Yes, absolutely.

It's actually the most busiest during the weekdays during lunch hour, and a lot of people come here on their lunch breaks, and tour the garden.

It's a beautiful place in Oklahoma City.

- And Michael, how can people get more information if they're interested in your society?

- So they can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or look at our website.

- Okay, thank you so much.

- Of course, my pleasure.

(uptempo cheery music) - I know a lot of our viewers have Bluebird boxes that they put out.

And joining me today is Dr. Tim O'Connell, who's here to kind of give us an update on the Bluebird population.

Can you tell us a little bit about what we might be expecting?

- Sure, well, there has been something interesting that happened with Bluebirds in our state over the past couple years, and a lot of folks will remember a couple of Februaries ago, and right around Valentine's Day, and there was a winter storm that came through, and we just had really cold temperatures set in, and then really thick ice.

When that happens, and when that sticks around for more than a couple of days we actually could lose a lot of birds.

There's a lot of species that really need to get to the ground to find food, and that's what Bluebirds do when they're here for the winter.

They're really sort of feeding on grass hoppers, or crickets, or things like that that might come active when the sun hits the grass, even in winter commonly.

But that was just too much for them, and sadly, we lost almost the entire Bluebird population for the state.

And this is something we're, we're studying in our lab, and with others.

So it's taken two years for Bluebird to really come back from their population being knocked down like that.

So I'm always happy to see Bluebird, but this year I'm ecstatic because that means they're recovering, and so I'm really happy to have 'em back in my nest foxes at home.

- [Host] And when we talk about Bluebird houses, do most of 'em live in those Bluebird houses?

- They do, you know, in the olden days, Bluebird would just nest in any sort of cavity they could find in a tree, but they can't, you know, excavate those holes themselves.

So they're using holes that maybe a woodpecker made a few years earlier, and then has abandoned, or maybe where a branch falls out of a tree, and there's a little bit of rot in the tree.

That's what they would use historically.

One of the problems that Bluebirds faced in the last century was that European Starlings were introduced into the US, and they became super abundant.

And Starlings are also cavity nesters, and they're also really aggressive.

So the Starling sort of pushed all the Bluebird out of the available houses that they would've been using.

This was, this prompted people who were interested in birds back in the 1950s to start making more cavities available for Bluebirds.

And that's why there are these little boxes all over the place, and almost all the Bluebird almost all the Eastern Bluebirds today nest in those little boxes.

- Okay, so keep putting 'em out, right?

- Keep putting 'em out.

- Excellent.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

- No problem.

(uptempo dramatic music) - [Host] There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

Join me right back here next week on "Oklahoma Gardening" as we're talking about beetles, birds, and boxwoods.

Bird watching, I should say.

- Okay (both laughing) - We can talk about that too - [Host] To find out more information about show topics as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices.

Be sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.okstate.edu.

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Oklahoma Gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the division of Agricultural Sciences, and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

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Additional support is also provided by Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society, the Tulsa Garden Club, and the Tulsa Garden Center.