Planting season is here, and both vegetables and flowers are high on gardeners' lists for landscaping and consumption.
For members of the Nasturtium Garden Club, it's all about aesthetics and community service.
Sandy Fitzgerald, chair of the community beautification committee, said creating flower beds along Muskogee Street will make a big difference to people's lives and the feel of the street.
“There's a big difference between seeing a living garden and seeing color,” Fitzgerald says. “I've heard that the tourists were amazed and the people of Tahlequah stopped and thanked us.”
Every Thursday, NGC members volunteer to weed, repair, and plant “pushouts” along Main Street. Horticulture businesses such as Palmer's Country Plants donate plants, and businesses sponsor individual beds. Fitzgerald said Palmer's will reopen on Friday, May 10 after an extended closure.
Fitzgerald said the Tahlequah Main Street Association installed the beds and supplied plants and mulch. Other gardening companies are also donating plants, including Sooner Plant Farm, Sunshine Nursery and Greenleaf Nursery Center.
Fitzgerald and his friend Betty Just are plotting in the Tahlequah Community Garden.
“We have our own garden, but we don't have enough sunlight or space to grow vegetables,” Fitzgerald says. “We have so far planted tomatoes, beans, sunflowers and onions. [in TCG]. ”
Cheri Jo Saunders spends many hours at TCG pulling weeds, planting plants, and coordinating gardeners and volunteers.
“I was visiting friends for a few weeks and planting a few rows of corn, potatoes and onions, but I didn't know it was going to get cold, freeze and rain a lot,” Sanders said. “So we have to replant it.”
It depends on the planting season that whoever is the latest to claim the land and start planting, and Sanders said that time has come.
“Almost every conspiracy has been claimed,” Sanders said.
Muscadine grapes, blackberries, garlic, potatoes and onions are growing well in the plot.
A “big event” occurred recently when Northeastern State University students helped weed and clean the garden.
“The girls basketball team came out and helped us get over the fence line with black plastic,” Sanders said. “I told them I was going to call the coach and recommend him again.”
The garden grounds are owned and operated by NSU next to the disc golf course off Seminary Avenue. His girlfriend Sara Barnett from NSU will be hosting the volunteer event.
Monica Vandonkerar, a member of the Nasturtium Garden Club, runs a bed and breakfast in Tahlequah. The gardens surrounding the house are filled with flowering plants and trees, while violets, begonias and succulents fill the many light-filled spaces indoors.
“I don't know anyone who has successfully grown nasturtiums,” Vandonkeller said with a laugh. “Let them go dormant and leave them alone. Try zinnias.”
Vandonkeller said club members meet once a month to exchange plants and discuss gardening.
“Many of my hostas, elephant ears and irises came from other members' gardens,” Vandonkeller said.
Tahlequah once had seven garden clubs, but NGC is the only one left. Six clubs met during the day and NGC met in the evening. Vandon Keller said the NGC is currently meeting at 4 p.m.
Members of Nasturtium used to do volunteer work in parks in the city. Vandonkeller said the group's members are aging, so all they do is build beds along Muskogee Street and maintain the gardens in the large plaza in front of the Tahlequah Public Library.
“And in the mayor's garden, which used to be a toddler pool by the skateboard park, they chopped up the cement and made it porous,” VandonKeller said. “They put dirt in there and we planted a garden.”
Vandonkeller said it's called the Mayor's Garden because former Mayor Sue Catron suggested it be planted at the club.
Garden bugs invaded Vandonkerar because her father made her and her siblings weed the backyard. She didn't like work when she was a child, but now she loves working.
“My grandmother was a master gardener in Michigan,” VanDonKeller said. “She often held garden socials in her garden.”
When Vandon Keller has more time, she plans to volunteer for TCG, her church, and the Boulevard Flowerbed.
The club is always looking for volunteer work, one of which will take place at Lendenwood Gardens in the Grove. Fitzgerald said the gardens include a large community garden, gift shop, full board, and fundraisers.
“We 'wake up the garden' in the spring and 'let the garden go to sleep' in the fall,” Fitzgerald said.
learn more
For more information about the Nasturtium Garden Club and Tahlequah Community Garden, visit the club's Facebook page.
