Mary Eddy Jones Garden

Peak Season: Spring, Summer

Presented by the Fred Jones Family Foundation, this garden is nestled in Oklahoma Trails, showing off wildflowers from across the state. The garden is themed around the different grasslands of Oklahoma with tallgrass prairie transitioning into shortgrass prairie. Here you’ll see the state wildflower (blanket flower) intermixed with black-eyed Susans, lemon beebalms, prickly pears, milkweeds, coneflowers, and sages. The trees in the garden are our state tree the redbud, both the classic pink and white varieties, and desert willows. Alongside the native plantings are some commonly cultivated non-natives that have proven themselves against Oklahoma’s harsh climate. Vitex, or chaste tree, provides color and is a favorite of bumblebees, crape-myrtle provides a pop of color, and the sawtooth oak provides much needed shade for the boardwalk surrounding the garden. Combined these native and non-native plants provide a small look at the landscape of Oklahoma.

Bumblebees utilize many of the plants within this garden and use the rock wall behind it for nesting. In the heat of summer, you can find cicada killers buzzing around alongside a host of butterflies and moths. Blue mealy sage is a host plant for the southern pink moth, milkweed is a host plant for monarch and queen butterflies, and little bluestem is a host plant for skippers. The nearby Oklahoma trails valley provides a wide variety of other host plants, so expect to see many butterflies and moths stopping for nectar in the garden after utilizing the trees next door.