1/22/2020
1:30 PM to 2/19/2020 3:30 PM

Bluets: Preschoolers Exploring Nature - Winter Series
Registration Closed
Wednesdays, Jan 22 – Feb 19, 2020 (no class 2/12; 4 sessions) 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. For ages 4-5. Learning comes naturally during this fun-filled series that fosters a sense of wonder for nature and science. Preschoolers will learn about owls, winter weather, and how plants and animals survive the cold through hands-on activities, nature walks, stories, crafts, and group play. Healthy snack provided. Note: This is a drop-off program. Fee: $80 ($72 Members)

1/25/2020
9:15 AM to 2/15/2020 12:45 PM

Composition
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
This course is a broad study in the elements that formulate a good artistic composition. Students learn how to make visual choices and determine how parts of a plant are arranged on the page to balance botanical accuracy and artistic sensitivity. Composition serves as a prerequisite for Integrating Composition and Color Theory. Note: This class involves homework assignments. The amount of time students need to spend on homework varies and usually ranges from five to 15 hours per week.

1/31/2020
9:15 AM to 2/21/2020 1:15 PM

Plant Taxonomy
This course builds on the fundamentals taught in Botany and prepares students for supplementary material covered in Flowering Plant Families. It is a core course for the certificate in Native Plant Studies, and is offered as an elective in the Botanical Art & Illustration certificate program. Students learn the basic concepts of the taxonomy of vascular plants and how to identify plant families by making observations of selected characteristics. The use of taxonomic keys is introduced. Interesting examples are studied to illustrate current issues in plant taxonomy and nomenclature. This course serves as a prerequisite for Flowering Plant Families.

2/8/2020
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM

FREE Second Saturday Tour
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Did you know that the Garden offers FREE guided tours the second Saturday of every month? Each month offers a glimpse into what’s happening in our unique native plant gardens – from spring wildflowers to fall color – and what makes the NCBG one of the premier conservation gardens in the US. Tours are one (1) hour and led by our skilled volunteer Garden Guides. FREE, but please pre-register. Space is limited! Meet in the Allen Education Center lobby at 10:00 AM.

2/12/2020
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Darwin Day Lecture: The Botanical Adventures of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin is well known for such landmark works as On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man. Far fewer appreciate that that he wrote some 17 books in all, half a dozen of which were botanical in nature: from orchids and carnivorous plants to flower structure, cross-pollination, and movement in plants, Darwin's remarkable botanical works appeared between 1862 and 1880. Easily misunderstood as tangential natural history enthusiasms, Darwin's botanical studies were in fact all of a piece with his life's work: in his decades of observation and incessant, creative 'experimentising' – often with the help of his family, friends, and correspondents – plants became Darwin's go-to group as he sought to counter his critics and marshal evidence for evolution by natural selection. Darwin's botanical adventures hold lessons for us today: exemplifying the essence of scientific inquiry, the multitude of Darwin's home-spun and seemingly odd botanical experiments are easily replicated today in home and school.

2/15/2020
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Morgan Creek Valley Tour
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
The Morgan Creek Valley in Orange County holds a wealth of natural and cultural heritage, from ice-age rhododendron bluffs and rare wildflowers to American Indians and moonshiners. Come prepared for several short hikes as we explore the length of the Morgan Creek valley, journeying by van from its headwaters near Maple View Farm to the Triassic Basin bottomlands of the Mason Farm Biological Reserve, a magnificent birding area where 118 bird species have been documented. $25 ($22 Members)

2/29/2020
1:00 PM to 3/21/2020 4:30 PM

Beginning Watercolor
In this class, students are introduced to watercolor and learn basics techniques such as flat and graded washes. Students learn to paint various simple shapes (spheres and cylinders) and a small botanical subject. Prerequisite: Beginning Drawing.

3/1/2020
1:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Wildflower Gardening for a Bird-Friendly Yard
Are you interested in attracting more birds into your garden? Gardening for birds can establish sustainable landscapes that promote life of all kinds. Lauri will share ways to provide essential habitat elements like food, water, cover, and places to raise young while also creating beautiful, colorful gardens that appeal to various aesthetic preferences. Learn how to use wildflowers to make your garden a mini nature preserve for birds.

3/7/2020
9:15 AM to 4/18/2020 12:45 PM

Intermediate Drawing
In this class, students continue their journey to learn the skills needed to produce a clean, accurate pencil drawing. Specifics of the course include: measuring, ellipses in perspective, and tonal gradation. Prerequisite: Beginning Drawing.

3/7/2020
1:30 PM to 3:30 PM

Vernal Pool Wonders - FOR FAMILIES!
For ages 6 & up with accompanying adult. Chorus frogs, dragonfly larvae, and spotted salamanders…oh my! Nature is waking up in the garden’s vernal pools. These spring nurseries are swimming with life in early spring. Peek into the ponds with dip nets, meet live critters, and learn about the wonders and mysteries of life in a vernal pool. Fee: $12 ($10 Members) per child; no fee for accompanying adult

3/12/2020
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

LUNCHBOX Talk: Trillium: A Natural History and Life Cycle Through Botanical Art
It is an extra special thrill hiking through North Carolina’s piedmont or mountain woodlands in the spring and suddenly encountering a Trillium or better yet, a colony of them. This exquisite ephemeral wildflower emerges in March or April and is all but camouflaged among the leaf mulch of our deciduous trees until its striking single flower announces its presence. It’s seen briefly before it disappears underground again by the end of June. The local circle of the American Society of Botanical Artists have teamed up with an instructor from the Garden’s Native Plants Studies Certificate Program to tell the complex and beautiful story of Trilliums using original artwork in a presentation portraying the species of the Piedmont and their natural history. The over twenty original drawings, paintings and illustrations will also be on display during the presentation.

3/14/2020
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Hike: Spring Ephemerals on the Piedmont Nature Trails
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Take a walk through the Piedmont Nature Trails with NCBG’s Battle Park Manager, Nick Adams, in search of trout lilies, sweet Betsy’s, windflowers, and many more of the spring ephemerals that brighten the forest floor this time of year. Please note that the hike is moderate to strenuous, depending on your abilities. The Piedmont Nature Trails traverse uneven and/or steep terrain at times. You are encouraged to bring a hiking stick! For the safety of our guests, dogs are not allowed on tours. Meeting spot: The breezeway at the front of the James & Delight Allen Education Center.

3/21/2020
1:30 PM to 5/16/2020 4:30 PM

Spring Flora
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
This course is intended for a broad audience as well as for students who are enrolled in either of the NCBG certificate programs. Field trips and exercises provide experience in the use of identification keys and recognition of plants in a natural setting. Upon completion of this course, students will have an understanding of basic plant morphology, naming conventions for plants and the history of scientific naming, how to identify the prominent plants of the season using a dichotomous key and field characteristics, all through a season-specific lens.

3/26/2020
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

LUNCHBOX Talk: Do Venus Flytraps Eat their Pollinators for Lunch?
Did you know that Venus Flytraps do not “eat” the insects that pollinate them? What are these special insect pollinators, and why do they not succumb to this carnivorous plants’ predation? Bring your lunch and come learn more about this fascinating North Carolina longleaf pine savannas research from Dr. Clyde Sorenson, entomologist from NC State University.

4/1/2020
1:00 PM to 4/22/2020 4:30 PM

Mixed Media: Botanicals in Watercolor, Colored Pencil, and Pen & Ink
This class is designed to increase your skills and confidence in the use of the various art media taught at the Garden. The instructor demonstrates techniques to combine watercolor, ink and colored pencils to create vibrant botanical paintings. Students receive one-on-one instruction to evolve their own unique drawing and painting. Prerequisites: Pen & Ink, Beginning Colored Pencil, Intermediate Watercolor

4/9/2020
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

LUNCHBOX Talk: Piedmont Prairies in a Changing Climate
North Carolina’s Piedmont Prairies host rare wildflowers and a great diversity of pollinators and other species. Misty will review Piedmont Prairie plants, present some of the latest predictions from the North Carolina Climate Office, and discuss how climate changes may affect Piedmont Prairies and the plants that make them so special. She’ll leave us with ideas of small hopeful actions we can all take.

4/18/2020
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Spring Wildflowers at Mason Farm
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Take a turn around the Mason Farm Biological Reserve’s Old Farm Trail, which travels through some 260 years of cultural and natural history. Naturalist Ed Harrison will point out wildflowers and discuss how the Garden’s intense management of both field and forest benefits local biological diversity conservation. About 2.5 miles in length, the hike includes a short off-trail foray into the old-growth Shagbark Hickory forest. Wear sturdy hiking footwear and bring insect repellent, water, and a walking stick, if you ever use one.

4/19/2020
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Spring Ephemerals at Battle Park
Learn about the history and preservation of the property now known as Battle Park on the UNC campus. We'll walk through the park in the peak of its autumn glory, covering hotspots visited and named by Kemp Plummer Battle himself as well as the philosophies behind the preservation and conservation of our natural areas. Free; preregistration required.

4/25/2020
1:00 PM to 5/30/2020 4:30 PM

Integrating Composition and Color Theory
In this class students learn the basics of color and the techniques for properly mixing pigments to match a specific color. Concepts of the color wheel and analogous/complementary colors are explored through instruction and numerous exercises. The three attributes of color – hue, value and intensity are also covered. This class was formerly known simply as Color Theory. It serves as a prerequisite for the Advanced Watercolor classes and for Intermediate and Advanced Colored Pencil. Prerequisites: Composition, Intermediate Watercolor

4/29/2020
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Hike: A Meadow Full of Lilies
Enjoy a leisurely walk with Ken Moore along trails of the Triangle Land Conservancy’s Johnson Mill Nature Preserve where late spring wildflowers welcome the full flush of ferns beneath an impressive canopy of giant specimen trees. Following the forest walk-about, the group will visit a near-by open meadow filled with atamasco lilies (Zephyranthes atamasca), one of the very few such wet meadows surviving the destructive footprints of human urban development and large-scale farming. Plan for a morning of about 2 ½ hours, beginning at 9:00am, and be prepared for wet walking along the meadow edge. Water, a snack, binoculars and walking sticks are recommended. Upon completed registration, participants will be provided instructions for assembling at a public parking area to car-pool to the walk sites.- Zephyranthes atamasca

5/16/2020
10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Blue Wild Indigo at Penny's Bend
This hike will provide a wonderful opportunity to see rare flora at Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve, owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, and managed by the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Baptisia aberrans is an imperiled species at the state level and survives in only a small number of remnant Piedmont prairie or savanna patches. The Garden’s management practices at Penny’s Bend has favored a variety of prairie and savanna flora. About 2 miles in length, much of this hike is on primitive trails over uneven terrain, with one short, steep climb up from the river. Wear sturdy hiking footwear and bring insect repellent, water, and a walking stick, if you ever use one.

5/30/2020
1:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Native Southeastern Medicinal Plants
Explore the beauty of native southeastern medicinal plants through field identification. Using the expansive resources of the NCBG display gardens and the Piedmont Nature Trails behind the Garden, students take in the abundant medicine that our local flora has to offer. Topics include field identification, ethical gathering and harvesting, history and lore of each plant, therapeutic and medicinal uses as well as preparations. No prerequisites. $32 ($29 Members)

6/4/2020
1:00 PM to 6/25/2020 4:30 PM

Advanced Colored Pencil
This course builds on Beginning and Intermediate Colored Pencil techniques. Using a live plant and/or reference photographs of their choice, students will create a small series of colored pencil pieces of native North Carolina plant(s). Prerequisite: Intermediate Colored Pencil.

6/6/2020
1:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Native Plant Propagation
This workshop is intended for a broad audience. Students learn fundamentals of vegetative propagation and techniques for propagating southeastern native plants by means of stem and root cuttings. Class includes hands-on propagation and a tour of the vegetative propagation facilities of NCBG.