Tulsa Area Azalea Society Blossoms
by Paul Stratton, President and Founder, Tulsa Area Azalea Society
Many of you may already know me as “The Azalea Gardener” for Woodward Park and it is a title that I wear as a badge of honor. For the last two and a half years I have called Woodward Park my home away from home as my daily work place and through this time I have grown a new fondness and reverence for the humble azalea shrub.
Many years ago my love for the plantae kingdom was kindled by my now late great-grandmother; tending to her many beautiful iris beds that surrounded her home and property in Carbondale, West Tulsa. Every spring we would head out to the beds and clip back the winter’s damage, fertilize her established specimens, introduce vibrant new varieties to her collection, and when they would open to put their stunning inflorescence on display; we would take stem cuttings for me to bring to my teachers as a welcoming breathe of spring. Now, that I am much older, my botanical skills have been honed through almost a decade of study and practice to the respect of maintaining the vast eight acre Tulsa Azalea Garden; which is a far cry from the original 2’ by 4’ silk flower garden of my youth.
Through my tenure I have made it a personal goal to oversee the rebirthing of the once world renowned garden and bring forth its newest heyday. With the help of the current managerial staff in the department we have made leaps and bounds over the neglect that had befallen the garden in the recent decade, but there is still so much more room for improvement. It is shaping up to be a wonderful challenge of skill and knowledge, which is both already possessed and still yet to be acquired. For instance, when I first took my post we knew that the azaleas were dying in massive droves and common knowledge would have us blaming the Great Ice Storm of ’07 and the subsequent storm of ’13 which were responsible for irrevocable damage to almost 60% of Woodward’s historic tree canopy. So was it too much heat? Perhaps it was not enough diffused sunlight? Still better, did the lack of Many of you may already know me as “The Azalea Gardener” for Woodward Park and it is a title that I wear as a badge of honor. For the last two and a half years I have called Woodward Park my home away from home as my daily work place and through this time I have grown a new fondness and reverence for the humble azalea shrub. IN THE GARDEN Spring 2020 | 9 mighty oaks to block the bitter north winds in the winter cause it to be too cold? These were the questions I had to find solutions to and find them quick as we had already lost almost half of our collection when I had arrived and would still have to withstand losing more as my research stood before me to begin.
I can now happily inform you that, with no short order of science on my side, we did answer that longstanding question in the summer of 2019. Simply put, the soil pH levels were far too high to allow the azaleas to uptake and translocate their nutrients. While this is a quite simple suspect to prey victim on our beloved horticultural delight, it taught me so much more then I could have imagined about the “rose of the shade garden” and after investing all my time it begged the question of myself whether there was a local society devoted to the azalea so that I could pick the brains of more experienced gardeners for answers to other unresolved questions. I was regretfully informed that not only was there no azalea organization in Tulsa but that there likewise has never been such an organization. So the gears had been put in motion and now I must ask you, the reader, the same questions:
Do you have azaleas that could use a little TLC and don’t know where to start? Have you ever wanted to plant azaleas but think they are too tedious for your yard? Or, are you experienced with azaleas and are looking for a group of like-minded friends to meet with? Well, in all cases, I now know of an organization that can satisfy any azalea lover’s needs.
As of January 1st, 2020 the Tulsa Garden Center has added the Tulsa Area Azalea Society as the newest affiliate organization and we are currently accepting new members to join us in celebrating the joys of Rhododendron tsutsuji and Rhododendron pentanthera. We will meet every third Tuesday of the month at 6:00 pm in the Tulsa Garden Center at Woodward Park, 2435 South Peoria Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you are interested today in paying your annual dues you can go to the Tulsa Garden Center’s website at tulsaagardencenter.org, navigate to the ‘Adult Programs’ option under the ‘Learn’ tab, click the link for the Tulsa Area Azalea Society membership, and select your desired membership level. You can also pay your dues through our Facebook page (just search Tulsa Area Azalea Society on Facebook) by clicking on the ‘Shop Now’ button and it will automatically take you to the Garden Center’s payment page. While you’re on our Facebook page feel free to give us a like and receive notifications on all of the latest azalea information and organization happenings, including our kick off celebration being planned for the month of April. We look forward to getting to know you and seeing where we can take our merry band of cohorts!