Oklahoma Planting Season
The best time for planting in Oklahoma is spring, typically from mid-March through the end of May. Depending on the plant, however, it may be better to plant in the fall, around mid-November, to ensure a beautiful spring season.
Reasons to Add Landscaping to Your Backyard
Landscaping can add so much beauty to a backyard space, especially for pool owners. Not only is it useful, but it also creates a lush and relaxing environment for you to kick back and enjoy your backyard.
Privacy – With the right combination of trees or shrubbery, landscaping can provide privacy to allow you and your family to enjoy your pool without the annoyance of onlookers or noisy traffic. Because Oklahoma weather offers warmer days well into fall and winter, it’s best to incorporate evergreen plants to provide year-round privacy, even in the winter months.
Food – Farm to table is a growing trend in fine dining, but what if you could have farm to grill to table, without ever leaving your backyard? Adding fruits, vegetables, and herbs to your backyard allows you to save money on groceries throughout the harvest season, grill with the freshest ingredients, and can your own produce for winter. A few vegetables that grow particularly well in Oklahoma include lettuce, radishes, peas, tomatoes, squash, peppers, potatoes, and cucumbers.
Aesthetic – Apart from practical reasons, landscaping simply brings your yard together with a mix of vibrant colors. Flowers bring splashes of red, pink, yellow, and purple to your yard in the spring and summer, while deciduous trees change to warm hues of orange, red, and yellow in the fall.
Best Poolside Plants to Grow in Tulsa, Oklahoma
In 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which standardized a list of plants that are most likely to thrive in designated regions based on average minimum winter temperatures and climate. Tulsa is in Zone 6b, which means that the average annual minimum winter temperature is around -10 degrees Fahrenheit.
The good news is that Zone 6 is great for gardening. There are so many plants that do well in Oklahoma’s climate. Whether you’re interested in adding a small garden to your backyard or hiring an expert landscaper to transform your space, we’ve listed a few of our favorite plants that thrive in Tulsa. Knowing what plants you like will help your landscaper to create a backyard oasis that brings your vision to life.
Perennials are plants that live more than two years, typically going into a period of dormancy over the winter before coming up again to bloom in the spring.
Coneflower – purple flowers that thrive in dry summers; attract bees and butterflies
Salvia – colors include blue, purple, pink, red, white, and yellow
Daisy – low maintenance, flowering shrub that blooms in summer
Daylily – very low maintenance, each bud lasts only one day but collectively can bloom throughout the month
Hosta – provides greenery in a variety of shades, rich soil with slightly acidic pH
Trees are a kind of perennial plant that offer shade and privacy in the spring and summer.
Cedar – large coniferous evergreen trees, great for lining a large property
Columnar spruce – tall coniferous evergreen trees, ideal for creating a perimeter around a yard
Butterfly magnolia – flowering tree with bright yellow blossoms in the spring
Shrubs are medium-sized woody plants. They can grow quite tall, but are typically shorter than trees and characterized by multiple short stems.
Hydrangea – flowers come in blue, purple, and white; can be trimmed back in the fall and dried for interior décor
Rhododendron – an evergreen or deciduous shrub that thrives in acidic high ground; blooms from late winter to early spring
Forsythia – produce bright yellow flowers, needs at least 6 hours of sun daily, and thrives in well-drained soil with rich organic matter
Butterfly bush – flowers in spring and summer but maintains attractive foliage all year long; can grow up to 12 feet tall
Helpful Tips for Maintaining Your Garden
Pests – Certain insects, like bees and butterflies, are good for your garden. However, if you are allergic to bees or bothered by them, you may not want as many flowering plants that attract pollinators. Mosquitos can also pose a problem in your backyard. To avoid a mosquito problem, keep an eye out for any stagnant water collecting in gutters, bird baths, and swimming pool covers. Although Oklahoma is typically dry in the summer months, you can also use pesticides and citronella candles to keep mosquitos at bay.
Chemicals – Chlorine and bromine can be harmful to plants surrounding your pool. Try to minimize the amount of splashing water on your garden or lower the levels of harmful chemicals in your pool.
Plant Disease – Plants can attract fungi that absorb energy from the plant causing severe damage typically characterized by wilting, scabs, moldy coatings, rust, blotches, and rot. Check your plants regularly for signs of disease. Most plant diseases can be treated with fungicides.
How to Choose the Right Landscaper
If you are installing a pool and choose to fully landscape your backyard, it’s important to choose the right landscape designer to give your backyard the finished look you want. At Blue Haven Tulsa, we recommend our landscape partners at Havenscapes. All of their designers have bachelor’s degrees in landscape architecture from the Oklahoma State University, in addition to a high-quality portfolio of landscape projects that will blow you away.
If you would like to schedule a consultation to achieve the backyard of your dreams, give our friends at Havenscapes a call today.