Garden tour worth waiting for

Broken Arrow’s fifth Hearts and Flowers Garden Tour is proof that good things are worth waiting for.

Originally scheduled for spring 2008, the tour was delayed by the 2007 ice storm that damaged gardens well into last summer. There was some concern weather, in the form of heavy rains and unseasonably cool temperatures, might delay the tour again. Tenacity has prevailed, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., owners of four Broken Arrow homes with unique and distinct landscaping design strategies will welcome guests and their questions.

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Included on the tour is a small but sensually enchanting English cottage garden; a garden located on a two-acre lot that utilizes park-like planning; a home that has a combination of traditional beds and pool landscaping; and a home with visually stunning landscaping that also boasts a vegetable garden and green houses that are sure to keep the neighbors and Broken Arrow’s Farmers’ Market well supplied in produce.

The Sullivan Gardens, at 1329 W. Pittsburg St., tour guests will turn the corner on a hedge leading to the house’s back yard and step into an enchanting and sensuous English cottage garden that, at first inspection, seems as if it just “happened.” Closer inspection of the astounding variety of plant life in the tiny back yard is testimony to careful planning and ongoing maintenance.

For anyone considering beginning or expanding a traditional English cottage garden, this is a must-see.

The Frey gardens, at 1264 E. 127th St., are diametrically opposite to the small cottage garden. The residence, built on more than two acres, has a distinctly southern charm. Just off the back deck is a 12-foot stream complete with a water fall and a limestone koi pond. From the pond, visitors can walk past strategically placed landscaped islands of trees, shrubs and plants that give the grounds the park-like ambience of beautiful formal gardens.


The Englehardt gardens, at 6704 S. Fifth Ave., combine city and country vistas. Visitors walk past beautifully landscaped beds at the front of the house into a large back yard that features greenhouses and a raised vegetable bed that includes newly planted blueberries and strawberries, and a herb garden conveniently located just beyond the back door. The homeowners are hobby gardeners who are busy year round with their horticultural endeavors.

The Tucker gardens, at 704 E. Union St., is both the starting point of the tour and the recommended final destination, since the tour’s gift shop is located in the pool house. The landscaping, which sustained heavy ice storm damage, is testimony to the resilience of nature – and gardeners. The house features traditionally planted beds and pool-area landscaping design.

Home owners and master gardeners will be at each residence to answer questions about landscaping, design and what does and doesn’t grow in Green Country.

The tour is sponsored by Epsilon Sigma Alpha sorority and the Broken Arrow Masonic Lodge. Tickets are $5 per person for all four homes, and can be purchased in advance from any ESA or Masonic Lodge member, or at any of the home the day of the tour. Proceeds will go to the Margaret Hudson Program.