S26S-112 What Is the Deal with Native Plants?
Stillwater | Registration opens 1/6/2026 12:00 AM CST
In this class, we are going to learn about native plants and their value to the ecosystem. When choosing plants for your garden or landscape, understanding that some plants may be pretty and flower but others provide food and habitat for caterpillars that feed birds is key. Some plants provide food and habitat for many species; Doug Tallamy calls these keystone plants. His research is changing the way we see our yards and landscaping. Each person will go home with a native plant for their yard.
Optional Materials (student purchases books if desired): Bringing Nature Home, Nature's Best Hope, and How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard all by Douglas W. Tallamy
Materials Fee (for materials provided for use in class): TBD (Available prior to enrollment opening)
Sara Wallace
Sara Wallace is a gardener with degrees in horticulture and plant pathology. She works as a Plant Diagnostician helping people with their plant problems. Twenty-some years ago, she was a paramedic in her home state of Virginia. Her grandmother gave her a Park Seed catalog and encouraged her to grow plants, so she started with an herb garden outside the kitchen. She read library books, practiced on many plants and started a Community Supported Agriculture organization. When she moved to Tulsa, she bought fruit plants at the Tulsa Farmers Market and was encouraged to attend the Horticulture Industries Show, where she learned that all the “plant stuff” she was practicing had a name: Horticulture. She went back to school starting at Tulsa Community College, eventually moving to OSU to complete her horticulture degree. She teaches the plant disease portion of the Master Gardener training across the state and has berries and 40 fruit trees in her backyard in Stillwater.