Tulsa Botanic Garden Thinking Ahead To Spring

The staff at Tulsa's Botanic Garden is already thinking about spring.

They're getting ready to plant 60,000 tulip bulbs.

On a gray, drizzly, chilly day like Tuesday, I'm thinking about spring myself. Maybe these pansies will help.

There are 15,000 of them at the Botanic Garden if you're looking for flowers.

Jenn Smith has a tray of tulip bulbs ready to plant.

“This right here will go into one planting bed,” she said. “So, we've got three cultivars an early middle and late of that same color."

Early middle and late refers to the blooming, so they won't all come up at the same time.

Smith is the Curator of the Tandy Floral Terraces.

Horticulturist Dustin Stoll did the same thing.

Before they're finished, they'll prepare 60,000 tulip bulbs, 80 different kinds for planting.

The design shows the layout of the terraces color coded and numbered. When they are finished sorting, each tray will have a number that corresponds to where they are planted in the design.

This is the third year for the project; this year they are planting many more bulbs.

“At the end of the season we do dig them up,” said Garden president Dr. Todd Lasseigne. “Tulips do not perennialize, well in Tulsa.”

In the meantime, there are pansies.