Recommended Resources

This national award-winning book was developed especially for Extension Master Gardener℠ Volunteers and home gardeners and is a primary source for research-based information on gardening and landscaping successfully in the southeast. The Extension Gardener handbook is a fundamental reference for any seasoned gardener, but it is written so clearly, it also appeals to beginners just getting their hands dirty. It explains the “why and how” basics for every gardening subject from soils and composting to vegetable gardening and wildlife management. Advice on garden design, preparation, and maintenance for all types of plantings including lawns, ornamentals, fruits, trees, and containers.

We serve as a resource for all Native American/Indigenous students on campus through educational, career, cultural, and social support. Further, we work to advance the awareness of Native American/Indigenous cultures across campus, throughout the state of North Carolina, and beyond.

Nature’s Notebook gathers information on plant and animal phenology across the U.S. to be used for decision-making on local, national and global scales to ensure the continued vitality of our environment. Scientists alone cannot collect enough data: They need your help. Nature’s Notebook is a project of the USA National Phenology Network.

The North Carolina Native American Ethnobotany Project is about maintaining strong, resilient Native American communities through knowledge and environmental stewardship. We work with communities interested in:

• Reaffirming relationships with native wild plant relatives
• Remembering and relearning medicinal and cultural value of native wild plants
• Documenting and disseminating collective cultural knowledge about native wild plants in a meaningful way.

Explore resources from NC State to help you create a fabulous home garden.

Make new discoveries as you observer your way through the Gardens!

Make new discoveries as you observer your way through the Gardens!

Make new discoveries as you observer your way through the Gardens!

Use these observation drawing techniques to see what you can discover about an object you find outside.

The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation—OBSN for short—is a small Indian community located primarily in the old settlement of Little Texas, Pleasant Grove Township, Alamance County, North Carolina. The OBSN community is a lineal descendant of the Saponi and related Indians who occupied the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia in pre-contact times, and specifically of those Saponi and related Indians who formally became tributary to Virginia under the Treaties of Middle Plantation in 1677 and 1680, and, who under the subsequent treaty of 1713 with the Colony of Virginia agreed to join together as a single community.

Outdoor Afro celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature. Our national not-for-profit organization reconnects Black people to our lands, water, and wildlife through outdoor education, recreation, and conservation. Some examples of Outdoor Afro’s year-round activities range from fishing, hiking, biking, kayaking, gardening, skiing, and more.

Be an artist and a scientist by collecting soil samples to create your own paint!

¡Sé un artista y un científico recogiendo muestras de tierra para crear tu propia pintura!

Usually people paint with colorful paints, but you can also paint with just water!

Create your own art-making tools with natural materials!

¡Sé un artista y un científico recogiendo muestras de tierra para crear tu propia pintura
Un video con instrucciones y más información (con subtítulos en español)

There are many types of gardens and reasons to garden. Gardens can grow food for people, create beauty, provide food and habitat for wildlife, prevent flooding from rainwater, attract pollinators, prevent erosion, and more. Gardening can be hard work and it can also be a fun physical activity. Can you think of other kinds of gardens or reasons to garden?

Think about some of the things you eat each day. How many of them come from plants?

Grab your crayons, markers or color pencils and make a Zine with plant heroes – bugs!!

Plants have many different forms. Lawn grass, maple trees, rose bushes, and cactuses all have very different shapes and sizes! But most plants share the same basic parts.

Use this passport to learn from plant stories told by local Black and Indigenous community members, explore the garden, and record your own thoughts. You might not see these plants today, but we hope you build a relationship with the plants you find around you! While completing these activities, remember to leave things as you found them and do not pick or eat the plants. Learn from an expert in foraging and medicinal plants before you try to use plants like this at home. If you have any questions please ask one of Duke Gardens’ staff or volunteers and we would be happy to help you. We’re rooting for you!

Answer the questions in this quiz to find a plant in Duke Gardens that fits your personality.

Experiment with plant pigments as a material to make your own art. Plant pigments are what give plants their color. For example, green leaves get their color from a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll allows plants to absorb energy from sunlight.

Plant Power: The Power of Plants in a Changing Climate, a podcast series brought to you by the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Through interviews with some of North Carolina’s finest naturalists, explore the conversation about native plants and their connection with our changing climate. Each episode is focused on providing resources to listeners to mitigate climate change impacts in their community. Tune in to our 6 episode mini-series for information on topics like land conservation, protecting our pollinators, and turning to nature as a source of healing.

Plant Power: The Power of Plants in a Changing Climate is a new series brought to you by the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Through interviews with some of North Carolina’s finest naturalists, explore the conversation about native plants and their connection with our changing climate. Each episode is focused on providing resources to listeners to mitigate climate change impacts in their community. Tune in to our 6 episode mini-series for information on topics like land conservation, protecting our pollinators, and turning to nature as a source of healing.

PDF resource from the Xerces Society.

Plants tell a story about our changing climate. Phenology is the science of tracking a plant. The timing of a plant leafing, flowering and fruiting is affected by temperature, rainfall and day length. A worldwide network of citizen scientists is being created to track the changes in plant seasons, and you can join through Duke Gardens. The data will go into an international resource, the Plant Phenology Network, to assist scientists studying climate.

The Sappony are one of North Carolina’s eight state-recognized American Indian tribes. Our traditional homelands are in the High Plains Settlement along the North Carolina – Virginia boundary line and we have inhabited the rolling hills of Person County, NC and Halifax County, VA since the early 1700’s. We settled this area before state lines were drawn, and in fact, helped draw the boundary line in 1728 when Sappony Ned Bearskin led William Byrd’s surveying party through the region.

A mosaic is a type of art in which small stones, glass, tiles, or other small pieces of material are put together to make a whole picture. Archeologists have found mosaics dating back more than 5000 years. By putting seeds together to create a pattern or an image, you can use seeds to make a mosaic.

Explore your environment for seeds that can be germinated.

Find something bumpy, something buzzing, something shiny, etc.)