Tres Fromme facilitated Garden, Staff, Board Members, and Howell Vancuren in a creative group process to design a garden celebrating kids of all ages as they engage, explore, and discover the wonder of plants and Oklahoma’s landscapes. The design focuses on the beauty, science, and stories associated with plants. Highly immersive spaces engage bodies, minds, spirits, and imaginations, including: the water-enlivened Stream Valley and Round Pond; flowering Meadow; Butterfly Walk; Tree Fort; Color Walk; Sensory Garden; Amphitheater; and Musical Terrace. A major goal was to augment TBG’s nascent plant collections so the planting is botanically rich within unified and complexly choreographed compositions.

Fromme designed a holistic art program carefully sited throughout the garden to delight and engage visitors in each specific space and served as art director. The iconic and monumental Spring Giant is the source of the stream and hides a grotto and water curtain within its head. Limestone carvings of children-scaled native animals – raccoon, map turtles, and leopard frogs – hide along and spit into the watercourse where people may play with them. Visitors set the larger-than-life insect Whirligigs (native butterflies, bees, and dragonflies) into motion through hand cranks. The Oak Thrones are a majestic place to relax in the Tree Fort. Sculptures are of traditional materials so as to achieve a patina with age: stone, bronze, and wood.

The garden offers a vibrant participatory experience and destination in all seasons. Features, programs and events provide opportunities for challenges and adventures resulting from free play while encouraging multi-generational interaction and memory making. The Children’s Discovery Garden opened in 2016.