30,000 tulips – each planted by hand. Horticulturist Bradley Fowler was getting his hands dirty along with the rest of the Myriad Botanical Gardens’ horticulture team when planting each individual bulb last November.
“We have little hand soil knives that we use and we will individually dig a hole, place the bulb upright about 6 inches in, and move on to the next till we are done with a row,” Fowler, the children’s garden manager, said.
All of this diligent groundwork was in preparation for the Myriad Botanical Gardens’ first-annual Tulip Festival , coming up April 8 and 9. This event has been in the works since last summer, when the bulbs were purchased from A.D.R. Bulbs, a provider of wholesale flowers from the Netherlands.
“We purchase a bulk of bulbs and then they come to us in large crates packed full of them,” Fowler said. “Each crate comes with about 200 bulbs each, so we’ve got a lot of crates to go through.”
The Myriad Botanical Gardens team plants tulips every spring. Six years ago, about 24,000 bulbs were planted. They have increased the amount every year, now planting up to 30,000-34,000 flowers this season.
Once the bulbs are delivered, planting begins in November.
“The whole horticulture staff is involved in planting them, so I’ve planted a lot of bulbs over the years,” he said.
The bulbs are planted in the fall because they don’t come pre-chilled. According to Fowler, the bulbs have to go underground to be chilled for a few months during the winter so that they will have a good flower come the spring.
“It will just be weeks of just planting bulbs, but we can finish planting everything in about a month,” he said.
Fowler played an important role in making the festival come to life – but his green thumb has been put to use at the Myriad Botanical Gardens the past seven years.
In 2016, he started out as an intern while taking horticulture classes at OSU-OKC. Eventually, the garden had a position they were looking to fill, so Fowler started working as a full-time horticulturist. In his current position as the children’s garden manager, he helps with children’s event planning and class field trips. He also puts together special displays and educational activities for the garden.
However, after an enjoyable time at the garden, Fowler is “growing” in new places. He is taking on a new position at the City of Oklahoma City’s Airport Department as a horticulturist next month. While he is sad to leave, he is excited for new growth.
Although Fowler planted the event, Eric Himan and Kristen Milburn on the Myriad Botanical Gardens event committee planned it.
“As I was meeting with my amazing team, we were discussing what things we should focus on that are distinctive to the garden. What can we do better than what maybe other people couldn’t?” Himan, the director of events, said. “Not everyone plants 30,000 tulips on site, so we thought we could just lean into that spectacle.”
This is where all the fun is added: food trucks, vendors, music, artists, classes and crafts. And all of it is tulip-related.
“Whether you’re looking at paintings that have tulips in them or statues that have tulips as a part of them, or vendors who make tulip earrings – just anything and all things tulips. Playing into that is what is going to make this successful, along with creative displays and painting classes where you can paint tulips. We’ll also have live music throughout the whole thing, so it’s just a place you would want to enjoy at your own steady pace,” he said.
Himan found his passion for event planning after his career as a touring musician for 15 years. He traveled around the world while putting out his own award-winning albums.
“I fulfilled my dreams of doing that, and then that lead me into wanting to do more of the behind-the-scenes stuff,” Himan said.
After his musical career, he began working as a lighting coordinator for a lighting company. That job then led him to work for Gathering Place and Guthrie Green in Tulsa for 14 years. Then, over the pandemic, he transitioned to his current role at the Myriad Botanical Gardens and Scissortail Park.
“I was constantly working and trying to fulfill what I knew my passion was, which was either playing in the event or putting on the event,” he said.
The colorful tulips stand tall in the spring sunlight after growing for 5 months. Photo provided by the Myriad Botanical Gardens.
Along with him, Milburn, the events manager, has also worked tirelessly to make the event happen. From getting the city permit, to ordering porta potties and barricades, she has helped with the “nitty gritty” work that goes on with festivals. Milburn was also in charge of securing food trucks and coordinating with the other teams to make sure they were doing complimentary programming.
“You have to be very detail-oriented. You have to think it through from start to finish and anticipate any possible need that could come up,” she said.
Milburn learned a lot of her event planning skills from her former position at the environmental nonprofit, OKC Beautiful. In her seven years there, she worked on all things programming, marketing and event-related.
“I really found a lot of value in volunteering and being involved in community organizations,” she said. “So that is what led me to the Myriad Botanical Gardens. We really pride ourselves on throwing high-quality events and education that engages the public and gives people the opportunity to get outside, find community and connect all while doing that outside and moving their bodies.”
With having an outdoor event, however, comes unpredictable weather and flowers. Executing this event despite these potential challenges requires lots of pre-planning. Himan explained the garden’s plan for if the weather or flowers do not cooperate on the festival weekend.
“There are other events that are happening soon, so we can’t just move events around because there are other things that are taking up those spaces. Also, weather wise, you just don’t know. People could come out, we have tents and we make sure everyone is aware,” he said. “You just do your best and hope that it all works out.”
He also said that they planned the event to be two days long so there are more opportunities to catch the festival on a good day.
“I think we have thought about everything that could happen, but then again, we work in an outdoor space, so things can’t always be predicted down to the wire. We try to mitigate as much risk as we can,” Milburn said. “We’ve been really lucky. We like to think that because we give to Mother Earth, that she gives back to us in return.”
Rain or shine, the Tulip Festival will take place April 8 and 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Myriad Botanical Gardens (301 W Reno OKC, OK 73102). It is free to the public and will be accepting donations. Also, the newly-renovated Inasmuch Foundation Crystal Bridge Conservatory will be open with their own fun display.
