Join horticulture staff and volunteers on a walk around the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants to learn about connections between people, plants and place. Each month will feature a different seasonal topic related to gardening with native plants.
Bitters have been used for centuries as aperitifs or digestifs (think Cynar or Campari) and classic bitters such as Angostura are often dashed into our cocktails. Because our bodies co-evolved with wild bitter foods, the bitter flavor is also very important to our health. In this interactive workshop, learn from clinical herbalist Kelly Owensby of West of the Moon about the history of bitters and the fascinating health impact of bitter herbs in our body. Participants will experiment with 29 different herbal flavor profiles, learn the impact of different herbs and take home a custom crafted herbal bitters tincture to spritz into bubbly water as a summer survival strategy.
Join Kavanah Anderson, director of learning and community engagement at Duke Gardens, for a conversational stroll in the garden that deepens your relationship with plants. Swap plant stories, dig into horticultural history, question what you know and practice multisensory observation on a playful amble through the Gardens that delights and disrupts your understanding of what a garden can be. Expect to learn from each other, share what you know and leave with more questions than you started with.
Build your bird observation skills on a slow stroll through Duke Gardens with Liani Yirka, education program coordinator for Duke Gardens and experienced birder. If you have ever found yourself wondering about the birds that are flying or singing around you, join us to learn more together as a group. Bring your own binoculars if you have them (not required) and a sense of curiosity.
Late summer is peak time for beautiful produce in the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden. Join horticulture staff on a walk to delight your senses and boost your gardening skills. Learn how this garden area is maintained by prioritizing sustainability and using different methods for growing edible plants while also supporting native wildlife.
Piedmont prairies are grassland ecosystems that once covered a substantial part of the rolling landscape of the Piedmont region that stretches from New Jersey to central Alabama, covering an area of approximately 80,000 square miles. This ecosystem, maintained through grazing and the controlled use of fire by the many Indigenous groups, began to vanish with the arrival of Europeans. Join Blomquist Garden of Native Plants curator Annabel Renwick to learn how widespread conservation efforts are now recognizing Indigenous wisdom in maintaining this ecosystem and how Annabel has rebuilt this prairie landscape at Duke Gardens with native ecotype wildflowers and grasses.
Join horticulture staff and volunteers on a walk around the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants to learn about connections between people, plants and place. Each month will feature a different seasonal topic related to gardening with native plants.
Join curator Paul Jones on a series of walking tours to learn how the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum has developed over the past 40 years from an overgrown woodland to the enchanting garden it is today. Experience the changing seasons as you hear stories about early landscaping ideas, plant collecting trips to China and Japan and the people and projects that shaped its early years of development. Each date will cover a different aspect of the Arboretum’s history. This first walk will include Dr. Culberson's original vision for the landscape and its early development. Join for one or more walks; register separately for each one: September 5, October 3 and November 7.
Tour the newly reimagined Carnivorous and Coastal Plain Plant Collection that features a variety of carnivorous plants native to North Carolina, including pitcher plants and Venus flytraps. Due to habitat loss, they are imperiled in their biologically rich native range just a few hours away from Duke Gardens. Join Maegan Luckett, horticulturist in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, to meet these and other fascinating plants that grow in moist, nutrient-poor soils, such as pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens), several species of bog orchids and the delightful orange milkwort (Senega lutea), also known as “Bog Cheetos.” Learn about the importance of conservation efforts to preserve these North Carolina treasures.
Built on the grounds of a former cotton plantation, the Tuskegee Institute, founded by Booker T. Washington, offered agricultural and industrial education as a strategy for Black self-determination. In his new book Afterlives of the Plantation: Plotting Agrarian Futures in the Global South, Duke University professor Dr. Jarvis C. McInnis charts a new account of Black modernity by centering Tuskegee’s vision of agrarian worldmaking. He traces the diasporic ties and networks of exchange that linked Black communities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although Washington is often regarded as an accommodationist, McInnis shows how artists, intellectuals and political leaders—including George Washington Carver, Jean Price-Mars, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay and Marcus Garvey—adapted Tuskegee’s methods into dynamic strategies for liberation in places like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Jamaica. A local land and farm advocate will join Dr. McInnis to discuss the contemporary dynamics of this groundbreaking book. Copies will be available for purchase while supplies last, and a book signing will take place following the discussion.
Focus on the shape, color, symmetry and texture of plants as you access a meditative state with your body. Sufia Ikbal-Doucet (they/them), herbalist & sovereignty doula, will guide participants to a state of deeper presence through creating botanical mandalas. Find a place of relaxation, improvisation and creativity as you deepen your practice of being with the potent ephemerality of plant beauty. This is one of three workshops in the series: Cultivating Mindfulness Through Plant Relationships, exploring creativity, deep presence, and deliberate beauty with plants. Register separately for each one. Look for additional programs on October 5 and October 26.
Practice drawing from life in Duke Gardens as you sit or stand at plant height to capture its essence on paper. Botanical artist Julia Einstein will guide you as you make botanical sketches and natural gesture drawings in miniature and on a large scale using a variety of drawing tools. Bring home an artful set of field studies that can transform your walls into a garden. Julia creates a welcoming, inclusive environment for artists of all skill levels. All materials are included in the cost.
Join Kavanah Anderson, director of learning and community engagement at Duke Gardens, for a conversational stroll in the garden that deepens your relationship with plants. Swap plant stories, dig into horticultural history, question what you know and practice multisensory observation on a playful amble through the Gardens that delights and disrupts your understanding of what a garden can be. Expect to learn from each other, share what you know and leave with more questions than you started with.
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.
Spend the morning inspired by the Gardens and express your creativity through watercolor. In this en plein air class, watercolor artist Ryann Carey will begin by demonstrating her approach to this style of painting, focusing on composition, color and value. With thoughtfulness in these three areas, all experience levels, including beginners, can enjoy this form of painting. Bring your own materials or choose the option to purchase basic materials from the instructor to use and take with you at the end of class. Basic materials include a set of beginner brushes, small sample of paints and paper.
Build your bird observation skills on a slow stroll through Duke Gardens with Liani Yirka, education program coordinator for Duke Gardens and experienced birder. If you have ever found yourself wondering about the birds that are flying or singing around you, join us to learn more together as a group. Bring your own binoculars if you have them (not required) and a sense of curiosity.
Join tree expert Matt Archibald from Leaf & Limb for a walk to wonder at the beauty of trees and learn fascinating facts about various species, their ecological importance and their role in our environment. Matt Archibald is a huge nerd for trees and nature. He is an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, Tree Risk Assessment Qualified and a veteran in the industry for 12 years and counting. Coming from a rock-climbing background, Matt discovered his passion and purpose in life when he started learning about trees and their ever-expanding universe of information. The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know!
Learn some concepts and examples from queer ecology with Kati Henderson, Duke Gardens educator, and put them to practical use in finding a personal home within environmental relationships. Build your understanding of the immense diversity and interconnections in the living world while we practice ways to build strong networks with each other, and the plants and environment around us.
Join horticulture staff and volunteers on a walk around the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants to learn about connections between people, plants and place. Each month will feature a different seasonal topic related to gardening with native plants.
Join curator Paul Jones on a series of walking tours to learn how the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum has developed over the past 40 years from an overgrown woodland to the enchanting garden it is today. Experience the changing seasons as you hear stories about early landscaping ideas, plant collecting trips to China and Japan and the people and projects that shaped its early years of development. Each date will cover a different aspect of the Arboretum’s history. This walk will highlight the tremendous expansion of projects in the Arboretum in the 1990's made possible by major gifts, a new advisory board, a new volunteer program and several plant collecting trips to China. Join for one or more walks; register separately for each one: September 5, October 3 and November 7.
Come discover the regenerative power of mindful engagement with nature with certified forest therapy guide Stephanie Campbell. The Japanese tradition of Shinrin-Yoku, forest bathing, is a practice using all your senses to connect with nature. Many studies have found it to be helpful in decreasing stress, increasing immune system functioning and improving concentration, creativity and mood. In a slow-paced two-hour session, Stephanie will offer a sequence of gentle invitations designed to help you immerse yourself in deeper connection with nature, ending with a forest-based tea.
Get to know a plant through plant meditation. Sufia Ikbal-Doucet (they/them), herbalist & sovereignty doula, will guide participants in a meditative process to connect to the energy and essence of a plant, and then express your conversation with the plant through abstract painting. No art or painting experience is necessary, and all materials will be provided. This is the second of three workshops in the series Cultivating Mindfulness through Plant Relationships, exploring creativity, deep presence, and deliberate beauty with plants. Register separately for each one. Look for an additional program on October 26.
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.
Lichens are found in nearly every habitat on Earth. Despite often being overlooked, they are extremely useful indicators of both air pollution and climate change. Embark on a lichen-centric ramble through Duke Gardens with Scott LaGreca, Paul J. Kramer Plant Collections Manager, to explore the fascinating world of these curious organisms. Learn to identify different kinds of lichens and understand their ecological roles.
Celebrate the bounty of autumn with a festival of activities, music, demonstrations and more, led by Duke Gardens and other local groups in the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden. We'll have activities for adults and children together; all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult. No registration required for this free drop-in festival.
Build your bird observation skills on a slow stroll through Duke Gardens with Liani Yirka, education program coordinator for Duke Gardens and experienced birder. If you have ever found yourself wondering about the birds that are flying or singing around you, join us to learn more together as a group. Bring your own binoculars if you have them (not required) and a sense of curiosity.
Participants will explore spices and herbs as a medium to build a practical daily connection with plants. Tapping into intuition, memory and intention, Sufia Ikbal-Doucet (they/them), herbalist & sovereignty doula, will guide participants in creating a Cajun seasoning blend to take home, where you can experience the kitchen as a location of deep plant connection and fundamental mindfulness. This is one of three workshops in the series, Cultivating Mindfulness through Plant Relationships, exploring creativity, deep presence, and deliberate beauty with plants. Register separately for each one.
Join Kavanah Anderson, director of learning and community engagement at Duke Gardens, for a conversational stroll in the garden that deepens your relationship with plants. Swap plant stories, dig into horticultural history, question what you know and practice multisensory observation on a playful amble through the Gardens that delights and disrupts your understanding of what a garden can be. Expect to learn from each other, share what you know and leave with more questions than you started with.
Mums can be carefully cultivated to produce amazingly large blooms in a spectacular range of flower types and colors. Learn the secrets of display mums as Michelle Rawlins, Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden horticulturist, takes you to see the flowers on exhibit in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum.
Enjoy an explosion of color this fall during A Festival of Fabulous Mums at Duke Gardens. Exhibition mums will create a dazzling floral display outdoors at the Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum. Central Carolina Chrysanthemum Society members will be on hand to highlight the 13 classes of mums and answer questions. Registration is not required for this free drop-in event for all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Mums can be carefully cultivated to produce amazingly large blooms in a spectacular range of flower types and colors. Learn the secrets of display mums as Michelle Rawlins, Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden horticulturist, takes you to see the flowers on exhibit in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum.
Mums can be carefully cultivated to produce amazingly large blooms in a spectacular range of flower types and colors. Learn the secrets of display mums as Michelle Rawlins, Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden horticulturist, takes you to see the flowers on exhibit in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum.
Enjoy an explosion of color this fall during A Festival of Fabulous Mums at Duke Gardens. Exhibition mums will create a dazzling floral display outdoors at the Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum. Central Carolina Chrysanthemum Society members will be on hand to highlight the 13 classes of mums and answer questions. Registration is not required for this free drop-in event for all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Join horticulture staff and volunteers on a walk around the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants to learn about connections between people, plants and place. Each month will feature a different seasonal topic related to gardening with native plants.
Join curator Paul Jones on a series of walking tours to learn how the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum has developed over the past 40 years from an overgrown woodland to the enchanting garden it is today. Experience the changing seasons as you hear stories about early landscaping ideas, plant collecting trips to China and Japan and the people and projects that shaped its early years of development. Each date will cover a different aspect of the Arboretum’s history. Topics discussed on this walk include working with Sister Cities International to build the tea pavilion, the magic of moss, the contributions of an incredible horticulturist and the creation of a Japanese garden.
Explore the art of the flower in the Nasher Museum of Art’s collection as well as plants in bloom at Duke Gardens with botanical artist Julia Einstein. Be inspired by botanical still lifes, floral motifs and natural forms in the decorative arts. You will be guided to "paint" with pencil and use techniques to add color. Take home a folio of your discoveries in a set of watercolors. Julia creates a welcoming, inclusive environment for artists of all skill levels. All materials are included in the cost.
Spend an afternoon learning about woody plants with ethnobiologist marc williams. This in-person intensive class begins with a presentation about major tree and shrub families. Then head outside on a plant walk to learn how to identify woody trees and shrubs by their leaves, bark, flowers, fruit and growing conditions, and learn to spot characteristic clues to determine the plant families to which they belong. Discussion will include common and obscure uses for woody plants that can support overall human health, well-being and sustenance, along with relationships between woody plants and fungi.
Come discover the regenerative power of mindful engagement with nature. The Japanese tradition of Shinrin-Yoku, forest bathing, is a practice using all your senses to connect with nature. Many studies have found it to be helpful in decreasing stress, increasing immune system functioning and improving concentration, creativity and mood. In a slow-paced two-hour session, certified forest therapy guide Stephanie Campbell will offer a sequence of gentle invitations designed to help you immerse yourself in deeper connection with nature, ending with a forest-based tea.
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.
Scent tells stories and evokes memory. In celebration of Pauli Murray’s birthday month, use your sense of smell to learn about the legacy of this acclaimed Durham-raised civil rights activist, lawyer, feminist, writer, and the first Black person perceived to be a woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. Guided by the scent storytellers of Bright Black, experience the scent of three flowers—marigold, rose and magnolia. Learn how these three botanicals evoke the essence of the Durham neighborhood Pauli grew up in and symbolize the inner richness and faith, optimism, stability, resilience, hope and strength that Pauli’s commitment to community fully embodied. All participants will receive a 10 oz. Bright Black Pauli candle that contains 7.5 ounces of custom-scented wax with an all-natural cotton wick and 70-80 hours of burn time.
Join Kavanah Anderson, director of learning and community engagement at Duke Gardens, for a conversational stroll in the garden that deepens your relationship with plants. Swap plant stories, dig into horticultural history, question what you know and practice multisensory observation on a playful amble through the Gardens that delights and disrupts your understanding of what a garden can be. Expect to learn from each other, share what you know and leave with more questions than you started with.
Build your bird observation skills on a slow stroll through Duke Gardens with Liani Yirka, education program coordinator for Duke Gardens and experienced birder. If you have ever found yourself wondering about the birds that are flying or singing around you, join us to learn more together as a group. Bring your own binoculars if you have them (not required) and a sense of curiosity.
Join horticulture staff and volunteers on a virtual “walk” through the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants to learn about connections between people, plants and place.
Duke Gardens' Michelle Rawlins, Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden horticulturist, and Megan Brown, horticulturist of the Doris Duke Center Gardens, will demonstrate how to construct a holiday wreath for your front door using fresh-cut greenery from the Gardens. Each participant will learn how to build a wreath using provided greenery and other interesting botanical material. Please bring a pair of hand pruners and any additional adornments you would like to include. All other materials will be provided.
Duke Gardens' Michelle Rawlins, Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden horticulturist, and Megan Brown, horticulturist of the Doris Duke Center Gardens, will demonstrate how to construct a holiday wreath for your front door using fresh-cut greenery from the Gardens. Each participant will learn how to build a wreath using provided greenery and other interesting botanical material. Please bring a pair of hand pruners and any additional adornments you would like to include. All other materials will be provided.
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.
Try your hand at carving a wooden spoon from raw wood collected at Duke Gardens. Vanessa Hernandez of Ask the Trees will introduce you to the tools, safety strategies and techniques of simple carving in this workshop. All materials, tools and instruction are provided so you can begin your own gorgeous, hand-carved wooden spoon. Information on tool purchasing, kitchenware maintenance and wooden blanks for you to choose from are included. All participants must complete a participation waiver when enrolling.
The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Author Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.
Join Kavanah Anderson, director of learning and community engagement at Duke Gardens, for a conversational stroll in the garden that deepens your relationship with plants. Swap plant stories, dig into horticultural history, question what you know and practice multisensory observation on a playful amble through the Gardens that delights and disrupts your understanding of what a garden can be. Expect to learn from each other, share what you know and leave with more questions than you started with.
