I really want to expand my flower and vegetable gardens this year but I’m not sure where to start. What do you suggest? CS

Congratulations on wanting to add more flowers and vegetables to your garden. I agree, there are so many options it’s often hard to decide, let alone make an educated decision. Fortunately, the Tulsa Master Gardeners have you covered.

As many of you know, each year we have a plant sale. Last year about 3 weeks in to the online plant sale we had to pull the plug due to Covid-19. This was unfortunate because this plant sale is serves as the primary fundraiser for all of our educational activities throughout Tulsa County. We are all hopeful that this year things will at least “begin” to work their way back to normal as we are not only planning the Plant Sale, but also our Garden Tour in June, and our Exploring Insects activity for 3^rd graders in November…fingers crossed…masks on.

So, we are going to proceed with our plans to have our annual fundraiser plant sale.  In previous years on plant pick up day, we would also have what we called a Pop-Up Plant Sale so you could shop for additional plants when you came to pick up your online order. This year the Pop-Up Plant sale has been canceled due to social distancing concerns. But the Online Plant Sale is full steam ahead and begins today!

The main difference in the plant sale this year is the entire sale will be online with a no-contact process to pick up your plants at the Tulsa Fairgrounds on April 23^rd. We are working on that process now, but our plan is to have it set up so that you can drive up, give us your name, and we will put the plants you ordered in your vehicle. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

In the Online Plant Sale, you will see plants grouped by category such as flats, annuals, perennials, shade, part-shade, sun etc. Due to the increased interest in vegetable gardening (since we all have more time at home) we have expanded our herb, vegetable, and tomato section to contain over 50 selections.

We will also have a limited supply of milkweed available. As many of you know, milkweed is the primary host plant for Monarch butterfly caterpillars. So, if you are looking to start or expand your efforts to help the Monarchs, be sure to order early.

Last year we worked with the good people at the Gathering Place to identify plants in our plant sale that can also be found at the Gathering Place. We have done that again this year and will have over 20 varieties you have seen at Gathering Place available in the plant sale so you can now have a little piece of the park at home.

To learn more and to shop (of course) just visit our website (tulsamastergardeners.org) and click on the Plant Sale tab.

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org.