Teaching Garden Dream
by Barry Fugatt, Director of Horticulture, Tulsa Garden Center and Teaching Garden
“If you build it, they will come.” That line worked for Kevin Costner’s character in the movie Field of Dreams, but would it work for a new state-or-the art dream garden in Tulsa’s beloved Woodward Park? Understandably, the Teaching Garden dream was not met with a great deal of enthusiasm in the beginning. There was, after all, no funding, no design, no industry support and no volunteers. “Just a pipe dream,” some said.
But even a pipe dream has a chance of becoming a beautiful reality when the right people buy into the dream. And that is exactly what happened soon after the Teaching Garden dream was announced. Dream makers began to step-up, dreamers like Joe Howell, of Howell and Vancuren Architects. Even without initial funding, Howell and Vancuren began work on concept plans and renderings that were critical in early fundraising efforts.
Joe Schulte, owner of Southwood Landscape and Garden Center, and a Tulsa Park Board member at the time, enthusiastically bought into the dream and used his influence to secure help from the nation’s garden industry.
Walter and Peggy Helmerich, and the Helmerich’s good friend Henry Zarrow, made generous financial gifts at a critically early point in the dream’s evolution. It’s very likely that the dream might well have died of financial malnutrition were it not for their timely support.
Larry Ahrens, Vice President of nursery industry giant Greenleaf Wholesale Nursery, went to work on the garden’s behalf. Greenleaf ultimately donated thousands of quality plants. Their generosity was quickly followed by other national wholesale nurseries.
Pavestone Corporation of America stepped up with an amazing offer to donate a paver package for the garden’s walks and pavilion valued at over $200,000. The company even helped pay for paver installation.
Tulsa Garden Center Board members, and then Executive Director Bonnie Hammond, deserve huge credit for believing in the dream and for making the Teaching Garden a Project of the Tulsa Garden Center. The Board’s oversight, funding and direction was, is, and always will be critical. The Teaching Garden is a proud program of the historic Tulsa Garden Center.
And the Teaching Garden dream would never have come to fruition were it not for the support of the Tulsa Park Board and Tulsa Parks Department. The “Dream Garden” needed to be in Woodward Park, arguably the most beloved public real estate in Tulsa.
Lastly, when it comes to dream makers, look no further than the Volunteers. They believed in the dream a full year before garden construction ever began.
“If you build it, they will come.” And indeed, thousands of visitors come every year to enjoy the beautiful garden and to participate in the garden’s many educational programs. The Teaching Garden opens for its fourteenth season Tuesday, March 3rd. Garden hours are 9:00am to 4:00pm Tuesday through Saturday. Come check out the garden “built on a dream.”