Virtual Programs

Bearing Witness Gaza is an ongoing creative grief-processing practice combining art and elements of nature. Please come share virtual space with us at a challenging time for our joint humanity and hear from a local artist about her practice. To process and cope with the immense emotions that arose as a response to the escalating civilian suffering in Gaza, she turned to nature and the technique of chlorophyll printing. She will share how applying the images of Gaza to fresh leaves has allowed her to process and find her own humanity and resilience amid her grief and sorrow.  Look for a hands-on chlorophyll printing workshop on May 17 led by the same artist. 

Native sedges are garnering attention for their versatility and ecological impact in the landscape. These herbaceous perennials—primarily in the genus Carex—shine as alternatives to mulch, turfgrass, and aggressive groundcovers, especially in shady conditions. They provide food, shelter, and nesting material for wildlife. Learn about the roles they play and the benefits they offer. You’ll come away knowing which species are well-adapted to our region and will help you build beautiful, ecologically sound landscapes.  

Spend your lunch hour getting to know some of the best go-to plants for building ecologically sound landscapes. In the Native Plant Solutions series, we take a deep dive into a handful of specific native plants, focusing on a landscape situation or plant adaptation that makes them particularly helpful. This session addresses the challenge of what to plant on slopes. Most of us garden on sites that aren’t flat. We deal with hills, ditches, banks, ridges, and all the ups and downs that come with them. It’s physically more difficult to work on them, and they’re particularly vulnerable to erosion when rainfall going downhill gathers speed and volume. What plants work best on slopes? In this session, we’ll discuss objectives for managing slopes and connect them to plant attributes that fulfill those objectives. The plants you choose are part of a larger community on which native fauna and flora rely. Learn how to approach slopes as an opportunity to improve function and add ecological benefits without sacrificing aesthetics.   

Join ComMotion for a virtual exploration of spring in Duke Gardens designed to get your body moving.  Music will guide our attention to the sights, sounds, and smells of nature.  We will perform simple movements for all abilities inspired by the Gardens, stretching our bodies and relaxing our minds.   

Join us for a timely webinar about Ukrainian botanical gardens and their critical role during the ongoing war with Russia. Since the Russian invasion in early 2022, Ukraine’s botanical gardens have been serving as centers of respite, recovery, environmental education, and nature healing. Leaders from several Ukrainian gardens will describe their current focus on Therapeutic Horticulture, utilizing US expertise provided primarily by North Carolina Botanical Garden to assist the traumatized population of their country, including veterans and displaced families. Ukrainian botanical garden leaders will provide vivid images of their gardens and their work and will discuss the crucial support from US partners. The webinar will conclude with a question-and-answer session and will explain how you can assist these efforts.  

NEW DATE. Spend your lunch hour getting to know some of the best go-to plants for building ecologically sound landscapes. In the Native Plant Solutions series, we take a deep dive into a handful of specific native plants, focusing on a landscape situation or plant adaptation that makes them particularly helpful. This session explores a group of plants whose survival strategies give them an edge when there’s open space. Uncovered ground in a landscape is an invitation for something to grow there. Often, what grows is a plant we don’t want (i.e., a weed). Gaps show up in new plantings before the plants have matured and in established plantings when they are disturbed. In this session, we’ll focus on dynamic fillers—desirable species that can be used to close those gaps, fill any new ones that arise, and provide seasonal color. Learn how to use these plants to reduce the need for weeding and mulching, and to create beautiful, resilient, lower-maintenance plantings.  

Join Dr. Neeti Bathala, professor, author, gardener, graduate of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Duke Gardens board of advisors member, for an inspiring lecture on transforming your garden into a vibrant, life-sustaining habitat. Explore the ecological benefits of native plants, layered habitats and thoughtful design strategies that support biodiversity, even in small spaces. Learn how to create a resilient landscape with water features, shelter and food sources that attract and sustain a wide range of species. Participants will also discover citizen science projects that connect gardening with meaningful ecological impact.

Looking for strategies to garden smarter and boost your landscape’s ecological impact? Join Shannon Currey, education and outreach at Izel Native Plants, to learn how native grasses can help reduce resource use, add biodiversity and increase resilience. Offering so much more than turfgrasses can, these extraordinary plants help preserve and build the soil, reduce weed competition and lend a host of ecosystem benefits. They’re workhorses that get the job done while adding beauty and aesthetic appeal. We’ll examine what makes grasses special and explore how you can use them in your landscape. And while sedges, grass-like plants with virtues of their own, are wonderful, this session will focus on true grasses. From short to tall, in shade and in sun, learn about using native grasses to build better landscapes.

Spend your lunch hour with Shannon Currey, education and outreach at Izel Native Plants, getting to know some of the best go-to plants for building ecologically sound landscapes. In the ongoing Native Plant Solutions series, we take a deep dive into a handful of specific native plants, focusing on a landscape situation or plant adaptation that makes them particularly helpful. Native trees are powerful plants in cultivated landscapes. They provide a host of benefits, from reducing ambient temperatures to raising property values and creating habitat for wildlife. However, because the sun exposure and soil moisture vary greatly under the tree canopy, figuring out what to plant underneath trees can be challenging. The default is often turfgrass or mulch. But this default misses an opportunity to realize the full potential of the trees and our landscapes. Soft landings is a strategy that uses diverse native plantings to help support wildlife and add ecological function. Many pollinators start their lives in our native trees. Soft landings provide the critical shelter and habitat underneath those trees that many species need to complete their life cycle. This approach also helps support the trees, improve soil health, and manage stormwater. It’s also much more appealing than mulch or turfgrass! Join us to go beyond the default and use herbaceous, native plants to add life, function, and beauty under your trees.

A garden in winter can be just as vibrant as in any other season. Join Dr. Neeti Bathala, professor, author, gardener, graduate of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Duke Gardens board member, to learn how to support local wildlife through thoughtful winter gardening practices. Discover native and select ornamental plants that provide food, shelter and unexpected blooms. Gain tools to deepen your connection to seasonal ecology and become a steward of your local environment by contributing to a mid-winter citizen science project aligning with the rhythms of nature.