February events at Myriad Botanical Gardens include celebrations for Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day. We will encourage family participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Now is the time to organize your raised beds for spring and early summer crops. Our education team will promote the collection, planting, and distribution of seeds. In Cyanotype prints, art and nature make excellent allies. The VOICES art exhibit, featuring the work of six local Black artists, remains on display in the lobby of the Crystal Bridge Art Gallery until February 21. Register for classes at myriadgardens.org.
Fitness
Myriad in Motion: FREE Yoga
Tuesdays, 6pm and Saturdays, 10am
Bring mat & water
Meet in the Water Plaza Room (subject to change)
Myriad in Motion: FREE Tai Chi
Every other Monday, 4-5pm
February 6 & 20
Meet in the Water Plaza Room (subject to change)
Youth
Reading Wednesdays
Every Wednesday, 10am
Visitor Center Lobby
FREE
Best for Ages 2-5, siblings are welcome
Bring your toddler for story-time every Wednesday. Books are nature-themed and selected based on the season. We’ll begin with an interactive song and some weeks will include a small craft after the story.
Groundhog Day Celebration
Thursday, February 2, 10–11am
Best for Ages 3-5
Conservatory Class Room
Member $8; Nonmember $10
Register by Monday, January 30 at myriadgardens.org
Bring your little explorer to celebrate Groundhog Day in style! Participants will use a flower’s shadow as a guide to make a colorful canvas painting. As we wait for our creations to dry, friends will learn about the changing seasons and spy an “almost real” groundhog hiding in the Children’s Garden. Will it be six more weeks of winter or an early spring? Only the groundhog knows!
Love Bugs: Valentine’s Day Fun
Saturday, February 11, 10-11am
Best for Ages 3-5
Conservatory Class Room
Member $12; Nonmember $15
Register by Wednesday, February 8 at myriadgardens.org
Enjoy some Valentine’s Day fun with your little love bug; you and your child will have the opportunity to work together to create a love bug themed rock garden! Sip on pink lemonade and enjoy learning about bugs as you work!
Pompom Wreaths: Valentine’s Day Fun
Saturday, February 11, 1-2pm
Conservatory Class Room
Member $15; Nonmember $18
Register by Wednesday, February 8 at myriadgardens.org
Best for Ages 6–12
Hearts will flutter for this Valentine’s Day workshop! Create your very own pompom wreath and style it with a variety of botanical accessories. As you work, sip on pink lemonade and enjoy learning about chrysanthemums, a flower resembling a pompom!
Beautiful Beaks: Great Backyard Bird Count
Saturday, February 18, 11am-noon
Conservatory Class Room
Member $6; Nonmember $8
Register by Wednesday, February 15 at myriadgardens.org
Best for Ages 3-10
From a pelican’s pouched beak to a woodpecker’s strong beak, bird beaks come in all shapes and sizes! Join us as we explore beautiful beaks, make a craft and hike the garden grounds to spy birds as we participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count.
Great Backyard Bird Count: Drop-In
Monday, February 20, Drop-ins: 10am-noon
Children’s Garden Porch
Donations Accepted
Best for Ages 4-15
Join us at the Children’s Garden porch to become a Great Backyard Bird Count citizen scientist! Spend 5 to 10 minutes observing birds in the garden and recording what you see. We will provide bird count forms and a pencil.
Adults
Myriad in Motion: FREE Yoga
Tuesdays 6pm and Saturdays, 9am
Bring a mat, water
Location: Water Plaza Room
Instructors from YMCA
Practicing yoga in the Gardens has the added benefit of connecting you with nature. The Gardens offer a space of beauty and tranquility to help relieve stress and quiet your mind. Classes are open to all levels, whether you are a beginner or an experienced yogi. Yoga is FREE thanks to presenting sponsor Fowler Automotive, and sponsors First United Bank, KeepMovingOKC, OU Health, Tinker Federal Credit Union and TSET Oklahoma.
Raised Bed Gardening
Saturday, February 4, 10–11am
Water Terrace Room
Member $8; Nonmember $12
Kaitlin Bacon, Director of Education
Register by Friday, February 3 at myriadgardens.org
From home gardens to schoolyards, raised beds are a great way to grow year-round crops and flowers by providing elevation to lessen compaction, easier weed control, and extended growing seasons. Come learn strategies, benefits, layouts, and more to get a head start on your spring gardening adventures. Pairs well with our Seed Starting class on February 18.
Myriad in Motion: FREE Tai Chi
Every other Monday at 4pm
Mondays, February 6 and 20
Meet in the Water Plaza Room
ALL Levels welcome
Learn basic forms, slow and even movements along with proper breathing techniques. Instructed by Ling Miller. Tai chi is a series of gentle physical exercises and stretches. Each posture flows into the next without pause, ensuring that your body is in constant motion. Wear comfortable clothes to move in and flat shoes for balancing on one foot. Chairs available upon request. Tai Chi is FREE thanks to presenting sponsor Fowler Automotive, and sponsors First United Bank, KeepMovingOKC, OU Health, Tinker Federal Credit Union and TSET Oklahoma.
Guided Gardens Tours
Friday, February 10, 1pm
Saturday, February 25, 10am
FREE
Meet in the Visitor Lobby
Take a Guided Tour of the Gardens with the staff that knows the grounds best, our horticulture department. We’ll look at everything fall going into winter. You’ll learn more about the Gardens and get tips and be inspired for your home garden. Tours are every second Friday at 1pm and every last Saturday at 10am. Guided Tours are stroller and wheelchair friendly.
Galentine’s Beaded Earrings with Suzie Loveless
Terrace Room
Sunday, February 12, 1PM-4PM
Member $35; Nonmember $40
Suzie Loveless, Handmade with Love(less)
Register by Thursday, February 9 at myriadgardens.org
Join Suzie Loveless of Handmade with Love(less) for a Galentine’s day of fun creating your own set of beaded earrings to wear with pride and help you shine from the inside out! Whether you bring a friend (or two or three!), a significant other, family, or just want to come hang out on your own, we’ll learn from start to finish how to create our masterpieces while enjoying light snacks and refreshments. Learn about Suzie’s mission in supporting women and girls in Honduras, become accustomed to the art of beading, and make something you’re proud to show off! All supplies included, suitable for beginners to practiced beaders alike.
Seed Starting and Sharing
Saturday, February 18, 10am-noon
Water Terrace Room
Member $14; Nonmember $19
Bradley Fowler, Children’s Garden Manager
Register by Friday, February 17 at myriadgardens.org
Starting your garden from seed provides many benefits from cost savings to extending your growing season. Seed sharing can bring gardeners in the community together and allow you to try new plants for a fraction of the cost of buying individual starter plants. This class provides you with both the knowledge and opportunity to start your own collection of seeds to take home for planting and sharing. Leave with both planted and unplanted seeds. Pairs well with our Raised Bed Gardening class on February 4.
Our Conservatory in Depth: Spices, Fragrances, and Commodities
Saturday, February 25, 11AM – noon
Inasmuch Foundation Crystal Bridge Conservatory Class Room
Member $8; Nonmember $12
Kaitlin Bacon, Director of Education
Register by Wednesday, February 22 at myriadgardens.org
Explore our newly renovated Inasmuch Foundation Crystal Bridge Conservatory in a fun and unique way by joining us in the first of our series, Our Conservatory in Depth! Hybridizing a tour and class, this monthly adventure will provide us an in depth view into the different areas featured in our conservatory and how they provide economic benefit, bring joy to us as humans, and interact within their ecosystems themselves. February’s program features spices, fragrances, and commodities.
Workshop: Botanical Cyanotype Prints
Saturday, February 25, 1-3PM
Water Terrace Room
Member $45; Nonmember $50
Kaitlin Bacon, Director of Education
Register by Wednesday, February 22 at myriadgardens.org
Cyanotype is an old printing process that was popularized for blueprints and has since become a way to create unique art through science. Learn all about the process and the chemistry behind cyanotype before we go out into the Gardens and collect botanical inspiration for our pieces. We will create our own individual artwork on archival paper that can then be taken home, washed, and display ready within 24 hours.
Art
VOICES
On exhibit through February 21, 2023
Crystal Bridge Conservatory Visitor Lobby
VOICES explores the perspectives of six local Black artists and how they use art to communicate and reflect. Participating Artists: Aunj Braggs, Myriah Downs, Ebony Iman Dallas, Verdean Evergarden, Edward Grady and Elizabeth Henley. Free to view during regular hours: Monday-Saturday, 9am-5pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm. Works of art are available for sale.
COMING UP IN MARCH:
ShamROCK the Gardens
Friday, March 17, 11am-2pm
Devon Lawn
Celebrate the annual St. Patrick’s Day ShamROCK the Gardens. Enjoy delicious eats from your favorite Irish food vendors, music, face painters for the kids and Irish clubs will provide instructional dancing to those who are ready to get into the St. Paddy’s Day spirit. Will the Gardens lake be dyed green this year? We’ll have to wait and see!
Performers to date include:
- Oklahoma Scottish Pipe and Drums
- Raven’s Three and Flowers of Edinburgh
- McTeggart Irish Dancers of Oklahoma
- The Flowers of Ediburgh