Tulsa Botanic Garden | Garden Design Projects
Tulsa Botanic Garden Liberty Garden
Extending into the property’s central lake, the peninsular Liberty Garden is the civic and celebratory heart of the Tulsa Botanic Garden. 3. Fromme Design, Howell Vancuren (Tulsa, OK), and Staff collaborated with the donors to establish a sequence of processional garden spaces: The Entry Grove, Civic Lawn, Flag Terrace, and Waterside Stairs.
Small canopy and flowering trees shade a small terrace and ornamental gateway through which people enter the sunlit openness of the Civic Lawn. This turf panel is a choice venue for tented events, garden programs, casual picnicking, and cloud gazing. A pair of long narrow hedge-backed perennial borders adorns the space with white blossoms and delightful fragrance from spring to fall. Exuberant combinations of flowering shrubs form a complement backdrop for the perennials.
Visitors discover welcome shade beneath two vine-bedecked arbors flanking the central axis and flagpole. Ornamental railings echo the entry gate and create balconies overlooking the lake. A series of generous seating terraces step gently down the Peninsula’s terminus, encouraging people to linger and enjoy the panoramic vista of water, sky, and gardens surrounding the lake. The Liberty Garden opened in 2023.
Tulsa Botanic Garden All Seasons Garden and Lotus Pool
Two new garden destinations complete the Master Plan’s first phase while greatly expanding visitor experience, horticultural displays/collections, and types of designed outdoor spaces. The Garden selected the team of 3. Fromme Design and Szafranski Landscape Architecture (Tulsa, OK) to give form to their project goals and vision.
The All Seasons Garden wraps around the large central liquid “mirror” of the Lotus Pool, creating a loop beginning and concluding with the existing and future Visitor Center. People follow the shaded route beneath a vine-covered arbor along the Great Wall. This sculptural composition of stone, concrete, and glass holds back the hillside against which both gardens nestle. “Floating” lath house ceilings cover three Grottos set into the Wall, each showcasing a unique water feature and plantings thriving in the shade and frost protection.
All Seasons’ plantings showcase large-scale combinations of strategically-selected species highlighting the month in which they are showiest. Winding through the beds, the Serpentine Path leads people close to the Lotus Pool edge and through the drifts of perennials, bulbs, shrubs, and small trees.
Emergent species festoon three sculptural peninsula planters and extend the All Seasons Garden into the Pool, weaving together land, water, sky, and reflections. Three shaded Overlooks on axis with the Grottos emerge from aquatic species bejeweling the Pool’s surfaces. Completing the perimeter walk circuit, the iconic Deco Bridge returns people to the Visitor Center.
The Lotus Pool opened in 2023; the All Seasons Garden is still in the fundraising stage.
Tulsa Botanic Garden Entry Gardens
The Garden hired 3. Fromme Design and Howell Vancuren Landscape Architects to develop a compelling series of choreographed spaces for the entire visitor entry sequence – from vehicular entry to visitor center. Iconic landscape structures, landscape-scale garden plantings, and striking views create an immediate and compelling impression of arriving at a unique and memorable showcase of garden design and horticulture. The project included siting and establishing connections among the Entry Gardens; future buildings; Chapel/Event Garden; Amphitheater Lawn; and the Lotus Pool and All Seasons Gardens. Confirming grading and utility feasibility were also critical.
Five new gardens delight visitors and build plant collections: the Gateway Gardens, the Upper Pond and Pinetum, the Redbud Forest, the Creekside Garden, and the Parking Gardens. The team developed the Gateway Gardens through full construction documents, including road alignment, grading, utilities, and detailed design for plantings and sculptural metal entry screen. The other areas included design development level documentation.
Tulsa Botanic Garden Tandy Floral Terraces
The Tulsa Botanic Garden has completed the first of the compelling projects from the 2012 Master Plan for which Tres Fromme led the planning process. As the first built garden, the Floral Terraces generates immediate visitor interest; contains grand scale ever-changing seasonal color; displays artful compositions of plant collections; and offers rental venues and visitor amenities.
The colorful and fragrant plantings of the four Terraces - Lawn, Rose, Perennial, and Mediterranean - cascade down an existing hillside overlooking a lake. Paths, ornamental water channels, and pergolas weave through the exuberant garden spaces inviting exploration and delight throughout the year. Art Deco inspired details echo the architectural heritage of Tulsa.
3. Fromme Design collaborated closely through all phases with Garden staff, Howell Vancuren Landscape Architects with a particular focus on planting design, decorative elements, and visitor experience. Fromme has collaborated with Staff on the grand-scale seasonal displays along the Terraces’ central axis during the first year.
All Photos Credit Brandi Simons
