Blog & Social

Horticulturist, writer, speaker and podcast host Dee Nash, wants plant experts and novice gardeners alike to get started planting right where they are. Much of Nash’s career is dedicated to helping everyone feel empowered to start gardening in any capacity they can. Showing that gardens aren’t only for those with expansive land or thorough knowledge. They’re for apartment dwellers, older folks downsizing their homes and suburban homeowners as well. At the Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show, this January 17-19, Dee will be offering a variety of presentations and discussions to help gardeners at every level.

While Nash’s personal garden spans several acers and has been growing for 31 years, she says not everyone has to do it as big as she does. She loves having a wide variety of plants, but what’s important, she says, is that people do not feel intimidated to get started. You can start today right in the space you’re in. At the Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show, Nash will teach those in small living quarters how to use common plastic containers as “raised beds” to grow veggies, she’ll help people find the right houseplants for their space and offer demonstrations on arranging cut flowers.

An Oklahoma native, Nash says she’s grateful to garden here for two key reasons: the state has wide climate range (zones six through eight to be exact), and it is located along the “pollinator superhighway.” Those two factors make Oklahoma a fascinating place to grow, and Nash has expanded her operation to include the whole ecosystem around her garden. Pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are currently under threat, but growing the right plants in the right places can help these crucial creatures survive their yearly migrations. Nash’s most recent undertaking is beekeeping, and she has created a whole wildflower field at her rural home to help feed them. Come to the show to learn how you can help pollinators, too!

To create more sustainable environments for pollinators, Nash believes that the last best hope is suburban neighborhoods. She encourages people in more densely populated areas to plant wildflowers, in particular milkweed, either in their yards or as potted plants on balconies and patios to provide pollinating insects something to eat as they migrate every fall and spring. From the US coasts, to the Mexican desserts, Oklahoma is tied to a much larger pollinator ecosystem, and Dee Nash is helping Oklahomans learn how to be better stewards of our environment as well as more thoughtful gardeners.

Learn more about Nash’s speaking schedule at the Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show website. 

You can find Dee on Instagram @reddirtramblings and on her blog https://reddirtramblings.com/