For example, container plantings and tall plants such as hollyhock around the perimeter of a garden contribute the frame of the enclosure and add to the feeling of intimacy.

Burrell’s talk in Oklahoma City should be as interesting since the topic there is new and underutilized perennials. The focus of the talk will be how to use underrated garden treasures in a way that will give our gardens more interest and beauty all year.

Burrell was a founding member of the Virginia Native Plant Society and literally wrote the book on using native plants in your garden. Called “Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants,” the book identifies and describes an invasive (think Honeysuckle or English Ivy) and suggests hardy American native plants for similar situations (Clematis, Peppervine or American Bittersweet in this example).

In addition to books, Burrell is a regular contributor to “Horticulture,” “Landscape Architecture” and “American Gardener” magazines.

Burrell was curator at the U.S. National Arboretum and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Through his landscape design company, Native Landscape Design and Restoration, Burrell has worked to preserve prairie and wetland areas in parks and on corporate campuses, as well as designing residential gardens.

On his 10-acre Blue Ridge Mountain home site in Free Union, Va., the gardens are being designed and planted with the best native plants available.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Oklahoma’s Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and as many gardens as I can while I’m there,” Burrell said.

Both talks are sponsored by the Oklahoma Horticultural Society (http://www.okhort.org), are free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and book signing.