10/3/2020
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM

iNaturalists in Action: Wildflower Workshop: Virtual
Join us for this online, interactive introduction to recording wildflower (and other plant and wildlife) observations with the iNaturalist mobile citizen science app and website (inaturalist.org). We’ll meet virtually by Zoom for this workshop. First, we'll provide an overview of the application, and we'll discuss tips for photographing flora and fauna for identification. We’ll then provide a live, outdoor video demonstration of how to use iNaturalist to make wildflower and other plant observations. Next, we'll allow time for you to step outside to make your own initial observation. We'll discuss the results and provide suggestions for recording observations on your own and, if desired, contributing them to citizen science projects. To participate, you will need to have a digital camera, smartphone, or tablet available during the workshop, and you will need internet video and audio access so that you can join the workshop. Before the workshop, we will send participants an email invitation with a link to join by Zoom, and we will send a link to instructions for installing the iNaturalist app on your smartphone or tablet.

10/3/2020
1:00 PM to 11/7/2020 4:00 PM

CANCELLED - Carolina Xeriscapes: Cultivating Future Landscapes Workshop
Registration Closed
In this workshop, participants will create their own full-sun Carolina Xeriscape and expand their imaginations about future landscapes. Participants should have a specific full-sun site in mind for their Carolina Xeriscape garden and plan to establish it over the course of the workshop. We will start with a 3-hour zoom workshop in which participants meet each other virtually, learn the basics of no-water Carolina Xeriscape gardening, and begin to develop a site plan.

10/6/2020
11:00 AM to 12:15 PM

Outdoor Yoga in the Garden
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Join us for 75 minutes of rejuvenating outdoor yoga. The class will be held outside in our Children’s Wonder Garden. You will be immersed in the sounds and sights of nature as Sam leads you through a series of seated, standing and lying poses in the meadow with views of native flowers, trees, and butterflies. The class is gentle and invigorating. Variations of poses will be offered. Sign-up and plan to join us as part of your lunch break.

10/8/2020
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Virtual LUNCHBOX Talk: Losing Venus - The perils of the Carolinas' most charismatic plant
Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is the most widely recognized carnivorous plant, and endemic to only 100 km landward radius around Wilmington, North Carolina. Although a few large populations occur on protected lands, the number of individuals is declining, entire populations are being lost, a seemingly secure species is now vulnerable to local extinction and loss of wild genetic variation, and a proposal for federal endangered species listing is under consideration. Johnny Randall will share about NCBG efforts to learn more about and conserve the Venus flytrap through DNA sequencing and seed collection and storage.

10/12/2020
5:00 PM to 11/23/2020 4:00 PM

Conservation Gardening 101: Landscaping with Native Plants (Hybrid Fall Edition)
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Conservation Gardening 101: Landscaping with Native Plants is a certificate series designed to provide home gardeners and emerging landscape professionals with foundational concepts of landscape design, species selection, implementation and maintenance of compellingly beautiful and ecologically productive native plant gardens based on conservation principles.

10/14/2020
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM

Fall Garden Walk
Join us for a leisurely guided walk through our unique native plant gardens and learn about some seasonal highlights – from what’s in bloom to fall color – as well as what makes the NCBG a conservation garden. Walks led by our trained Garden Guides. Please dress for the weather and in comfortable shoes for walking outdoor pathways. Meet in Entry Breezeway. Best suited for adults and children age 10 & up Space is limited. Pre-registration required. *All participants must wear a mask during the walk.

10/17/2020
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Fall Wildflowers: Sketching with Watercolor in the Garden
Celebrate the changing season! Learn about native plants that flower as summer ends and fall begins. We will seek to capture the essence of our subjects with watercolor sketching. Receive instructions and demonstrations to complete a small en plein air painting of wildflowers. No prerequisites. This course will be held outdoors in the Garden and in the classroom with the majority of the time being spent outdoors.

10/22/2020
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Virtual LUNCHBOX Talk: Rare Wildflowers of North Carolina
Join us for a virtual tour across North Carolina to see some of our most rare, beautiful and sometimes overlooked wildflowers. We will explore from the mountains to the coast and learn what makes a plant rare and what is being done to protect them through stories of both woe and conservation success.

10/23/2020
1:00 PM to 11/20/2020 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

11/1/2020
2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

Virtual Annual Jenny Elder Fitch Memorial Lecture: Heirloom Seeds - Saving Stories, Preserving Biodiversity
Interest in growing organic and sustainable gardens has skyrocketed during the pandemic, evidenced by shortages of seeds and vegetable starts. Join us as visionary seed saver, storyteller, and former NCBG volunteer Ira Wallace explores how tradition, taste, place, and storytelling work to preserve biodiversity, regional food traditions, and seed saving. She will share stories of seeds and the gardeners who save them for great heirloom varieties like Greasy beans, Cherokee Purple, and Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter tomatoes.

11/4/2020
1:00 PM to 12/9/2020 4:30 PM

Intermediate Expressive Watercolor
This class introduces students to fluid watercolor techniques such as wet-on-wet. Students will learn to work with more water in the beginning and middle of the painting process and then rely on the skills learned in Beginning Watercolor to refine and add detail towards the end of the process. Students will create textures for backgrounds, work on color mixing using a limited palette, and learn to use glazing and masking fluid. Techniques for correcting mistakes in watercolor will also be covered. Upon completion of this course, students will have knowledge/skill of the following: • Working with various amounts of water and watercolor paint; • Working wet-on-wet; • Working with masking fluid; • Making a variety of watercolor textures such as salt, plastic wrap, etc.; • Glazing; • Working with a limited palette; and • Color mixing

11/7/2020
9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

Lichens
This class is intended for a broad audience. Lichens (lichenized fungi) are symbiotic organisms that consist of fungal, algal and/or bacterial partners. Among the first life-forms to live on land, lichens have occupied nearly every habitat on Earth and grow on many of the surfaces of our environment. This class introduces students to the fascinating world of lichen biology, the dazzling diversity of the local lichen flora, and their importance as indicators of environmental health. Includes lecture, demonstrations, and a foray out into the Garden.

12/10/2020
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Virtual LUNCHBOX Talk: Survival by Degrees - 389 Bird Species on the Brink
National Audubon Society scientists crunched the latest data on climate change and the state of birds, and the results paint a picture that is both troubling and hopeful. The report — released in October — shows that two-thirds of North American bird species are at risk of extinction because of rapid changes to our climate. The good news is that Audubon’s science also shows that if we take action now we can help improve the chances for the vast majority of species at risk. Join us to learn what Audubon’s latest research tells us about the future of North Carolina’s most beloved birds, from songbirds to shorebirds, and how our fate is linked to birds when it comes to climate change.