Tulsa History Depends on its Bones
By Erik Skindrud, LCN Editor
Patrick Bones, APLD, (right) has spent several thousand dollars out of his own pocket to add seasonal color at the Tulsa Historical Society. Posing here are Brighton Landscape Design workers (from left) Lindsay Wagoner, Danny Oliver and Brian Heirich.
With its lawns and manicured gardens, Tulsa, Okla.?????s Woodward Park Complex offers visitors one of the most impressive grounds in the country. The site includes dedicated rose and azalea gardens, an arboretum and the renowned Linnaeus Teaching Garden.
Also on the 40-acre site is the Tulsa Historical Society, which for the last five years has struggled for maintenance funds. Budget realities meant that plantings often fell short of the high standards in neighbor gardens. And that was a state of affairs that site maintenance contractor Patrick Bones wouldn?????t let stand.
???To keep it up to world-class quality we have to go over and above what we get paid,?????(R) he told LCN. ???That?????s the standard we set for us.?????(R)
Donating Fall Color
Bones, who runs the design-build and maintenance firm Brighton Landscape Design, pays employees their full rates when they work at the society?????s grounds. But for the past five years, he?????s gone over and above what the THS is able to pay. (In 2007, he estimates his out-of-pocket at close to $7,000.)
In October, summer blooms were fading as the society planned a luncheon for Oklahoma state legislators. Bones stepped up, lending a team of three to plant 45 flats of purple, yellow and orange pansies that matched the Society?????s flag. He didn?????t get paid a dime extra to do it.
Add up $10 a flat, and at least 12 labor hours, and you get an idea that the man is dedicated.
It turns out that Bones, an APLD certified landscape designer, has served on the THS board for the past five years. He joined to educate his fellow citizens about Oklahoma architecture and landscaping, and volunteered to take care of maintenance at the society?????s launching. Eventually, he totaled up his costs and asked the group for some measure of compensation, but kept at it when available funds turned out to be ???a token amount,?????(R) he said.
The same team works on a sunnier summer day in front of the Tulsa Historical Society?????s home in the renovated Travis mansion, a Tulsa, Okla. landmark.
Career Change
Bones is a fiftysomething veteran of the financial field who switched careers to get back to the land. A passionate designer, he?????s serving as president of the Oklahoma chapter of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, or APLD. He urges his fellow contractors to check out the group web site: www.apld.org
Next year, Bones will retire from the THS board but he?????ll remain a regular presence supervising maintenance. It?????s likely he?????ll continue to dig into his own pocket to add seasonal color plantings. He?????s already planning a project that will add river rock swales to improve drainage.In the end, Bones????? efforts show that there?????s more than tight bookkeeping to developing a reputation as a top landscaper. Placing a stake in the community is an important investment in visibility and good will.
???The point is, it deserves to look good,?????(R) he said. ???It?????s a showcase place. And we take pride in being part of that.?????(R)
