Patio Garden group attends wildflower workshop

Published in The Marlow Review print version Oct. 6, 2022

Marlow Patio Garden Club members recently attended the Oklahoma Garden Clubs Wildflower Workshop held at Martin Park Nature Center in Oklahoma City. The workshop was hosted by North Central District of Oklahoma Garden Club.
Patio members attending were Lynnita Conway, Brenda Conway, Judy Glover, Ann Petty, Joyce Hodge, Dina Atnip and Bettie Cooper.
Each attendee received a potted plant of lavender, sage or rosemary and a potted Blue Bonnet plant. Other gifts given were wildflower seeds, a book marker, a painted inspirational rock, scratch pad and pens. Door prizes consisted of various species of potted plants.
Garden club members also enjoyed breakfast sweets with coffee upon arriving for the workshop.
Speaker for the morning program was Kenton Peters, Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Program Manager. Peters is a Naturalist at Will Rogers Arboretum and former Education Coordinator at the Myriad Botanical Gardens. His presentation was entitled “Creating an Urban Wildflower Simulation.”
After lunch, the group enjoyed a program entitled “Natural Calling” presented by Neil Garrison. Garrison worked for 30 years at Martin Park Nature Center, retiring in 2009. He continues his role as a naturalist in the community.
“I’m retired now, so I have the opportunity to fill my time with things that bring me pleasure,” Garrison said.
“I thought “what makes me happy?” God planted a seed in me to be outside in the flora and fauna,” he continued. “I enjoyed nature education for 30 years so I decided I am going to continue doing nature education.”
Garrison volunteers at Martin Park where he leads tours and also demonstrates survival skills. He writes a nature column for the newspaper where he answers questions like “How do you know a raccoon’s been here? Listen! Is that a Mockingbird? Whose scat is that?” Two other long-time hobbies that keep him busy are whittling and flint knapping. Flint Knapping is the art of making tools from stone.
“I really enjoy volunteering at museums and festivals where I get to demonstrate the skill of shaping arrowheads,” he said. “Archeology is another love which gets overshadowed only by my joy of bird watching.”
Upcoming October events for Patio Garden Club are:
Oct. 5 – Invitation to The Dahlia Garden Club of Walters annual appreciation luncheon;
Oct. 13 – South Central District’s Fall Board meeting to be held at Shawnee;
Oct. 18 – State Board Meeting at Midwest City for state officers and chairpersons;
Oct. 20 – Patio has a ‘road trip’ to Myriad Garden and lunch in Oklahoma City. Despite the Crystal Bridge area of Myriad Gardens being closed for renovations, the ladies will enjoy the annual Pumpkinville Festival which is the biggest annual event at the Gardens and a favorite fall tradition for thousands. Pumpkinville won Best Pumpkin Patch in USA today 10 best poll. (Note: The Crystal Bridge will reopen in November.)