Lia's Garden at CommonWealth

02/03/2025

Share with your teacher and educator friends! Let's gets more gardens in at schools! 🦋🦋

📢 Calling all educators! 📢 The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, in partnership with the Oklahoma Monarch and Pollinator Collaborative and National Wildlife Federation, is helping schools in the OKC metro create monarch gardens. Through the Living Classrooms Grant program, the OKC Zoo offers grants up to $1,500 and training for educators. These gardens feature milkweed and nectar plants, offering food and habitat for monarchs on their migration journey. Applications for the grant are due April 18.

Learn more and apply at: www.okczoo.org/okc-living-classroom-grant-program

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12/11/2024

Leave the leaves this winter!

🍂 Fallen leaves provide essential winter shelter for many insects, as they overwinter in the leaf litter, offering protection from cold weather and predators.

🍁 Forms a natural mulch, contributing to soil health and insulating perennial plants.

🍂 Letting leaves biodegrade naturally prevents the increase of methane gas created when organic material is sent to landfills.

12/11/2024

Wow! This is AMAZING! I'm so proud of what we've ALL accomplished together this year! Thank you! Can't wait for 2025!

12/11/2024

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12/11/2024

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📣 BREAKING NEWS! 📣

In a proposed rule announced today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing listing the monarch butterfly as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

What happens now? There will be a 90-day public comment period, which is an opportunity to share your perspective on the proposed rule. Public comments will be accepted on the proposal starting December 12 until March 12, 2025. You can learn more about how to do so at regulations.gov.

This proposed rule is a call to action for the critical state of monarch populations and the importance of creating and enhancing habitat. We need to share our voices on this proposed rule and do anything we can in the meantime to create and preserve monarch habitats.

You can read the entirety of the USFWS press release at https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-12/monarch-butterfly-proposed-endangered-species-act-protection

Photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS.

11/22/2024

Another good reason to leave the leaves!

11/22/2024

Gotta love fall blooms for their late-season nectar source AND beautiful pop of color. 😍 Blue Mistflower is a beneficial native plant, blooming through late summer and fall. This beautiful perennial likes sun or partial shade and can grow up to 3’ tall.

You can check out more recommended plants for your region in our “What to Plant” guide on our website: okiesformonarchs.org/what-to-plant-where-to-buy/

11/22/2024

Interested in gardening? Need A Free Space to do it?
Gardening plots are available at the Oklahoma County OSU Extension Center Community Garden for the 2025 year. Located behind the OK County Health Dept, Northeast Regional Health and Wellness Center, 2600 NE 63rd, OKC, in the southeast corner. Rental form is open, just scan the QR code or use the link https://forms.office.com/r/gsNCsj5H1p?origin=lprLink Limited space available.

Questions? Please contact:
Sophia Darrow, Community Garden Coordinator, Oklahoma County OSU Extension Center (405)713-1883

11/22/2024

Collect seeds now for next year's blooms! 🌼 Between our first freeze taking its time to arrive and the much-needed rainfall, seed production among many native plants continues on. Save seeds for next season, or gift to others!

You can learn more about harvesting and saving seeds with the Myriad Botanical Gardens this Saturday, November 23. You'll learn everything you need to know to have a successful seed harvest from your garden and take a walk through the Gardens grounds to harvest seeds! Guests will learn about seed collection and how to properly store them for future seasons. Visit the "Upcoming Events" link in our bio to learn more and register!

11/22/2024

With the colder temperatures on their way, remember that lots of our pollinator pals are looking to stay snug as well! Leaf litter, twigs, and brush are essential for overwintering habitat. Creating a “bug snug” is a great way to create habitat, like this cute example from our friends at Native Plants!

The benefits of a bug snug are numerous, and last well beyond the winter months. As temperatures drop and food sources become more scarce, some insects – like Fritillaries and Luna moths –slow down and shelter in place. Providing space and for this much-needed rest The birds, too, reap the benefits by feeding on insects and their larvae, and the collection of materials for their nests.

These are simple to assemble, and just take three posts, organic matter, and string or twine to hold it together.

Stay warm, and help our pollinator pals do so as well! 💧❄️

10/10/2024

10/10/2024

October 10th, will be my final day to be open for the year.
I'll also be open for a couple more weeks by appointment. I have an excellent selection of native perennials, as well as cover crop seed mix, strawberry plugs, and fall veggie seedlings. It's still prime time for planting.

10/10/2024

I keep forgetting to say that I have cover crop seed available to plant NOW!

Cover crops are a simple, inexpensive and highly effective way to improve the quality of your soil. By planting cover crops, you can increase soil fertility and tilth, prevent soil erosion, suppress weeds and attract pollinating insects. All that, for a few pennies per square foot!

Broadcast seed in October on prepared soil. Lightly cover or rake in, and water well. Seeds will germinate and grow in the fall, and continue to grow more slowly thru the winter. In the spring, before planting vegetable crops, the cover crops can be turned into the soil, or removed and composted or used as mulch.

Our 3 seed mix contains Austrian winter peas, winter rye, and crimson clover. The 5 seed mix also includes mustard greens for its soil-cleansing properties and daikon radish for loosening heavy clay soil. I have seen our heavy clay soil transformed into loose, loamy soil simply by planting and incorporating cover crops every fall over a period of several years - it's made me a true believer!

Small packet for $3, covers 100 sq. ft
Large packet for $6, covers 500 sq. ft.

Give back to your soil, and your soil will give back to you!

10/03/2024

Final Sale Days
This Saturday, October 5th, and Thursday, October 10th, will be my final days to be open for the year.

I'll be open for the following couple weeks by appointment. I have an excellent selection of native perennials, as well as a variety of fall veggie seedlings, and it's still perfect weather for planting.

My heartfelt thanks to every one of you for filling your yards with native plants and for cherishing the living, breathing web of life. And a special thanks for giving me the chance to do what I love most and grow these plants for you.

10/03/2024

I have strawberry plugs available this week, ready to plant immediately. Fall-planted strawberries will produce this spring, whereas spring-planted strawberries won't produce until the following year. Strawberry plants generally overwinter well in our climate, if given some protection (row cover or straw mulch) during cold weather.

I have several kinds! Ruby June and Camino Real varieties available, limited quantity, $2 per plug or 2 plugs for $3. I also have Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) plants for sale. Not to be confused with the cultivated varieties above!!

10/03/2024

It was a great day! Thank you all! It was so good to see everyone!

09/26/2024

If you're seeing them, don't forget to report it to Journeynorth.org Journey North

Migratory monarchs are making their way toward overwintering grounds in Mexico. Have you seen any on the move?

📷 Mike Budd/USFWS

09/26/2024