Coming Soon: Sculpture in the Garden

This autumn marks the 35th annual Sculpture in the Garden exhibit, uniting the work of local artists with the curated landscapes of the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Together, they invite you to experience art, the natural world, and the relationship between the two in a new way.

35th Annual Sculpture in the Garden
Sunday, September 17 – Sunday, December 3
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 1-5 p.m. Sundays (normal Garden hours)
Learn more about Sculpture in the Garden >

Preview Party
Saturday, September 16; 4:30-6:30 p.m. Get tickets >

Pictured: Great Blue Heron by Hamidou Sissoko (front) and Midnight Moonlight by Michael Waller

Fall Plant Sale September 29 & 30

Did you know fall is the best time to plant North Carolina’s wonderful native perennials, shrubs, trees, ferns, and grasses in your home garden? Planting in the fall gives time for plants to establish their root systems prior to the growing season. Join us for our Fall Plant Sale to find new beauties for your landscape!

Volunteers are needed! If you are interested in helping out, email Dan Stern.

MEMBERS' SALE

Friday, September 29

FALL PLANT SALE

Saturday, September 30; 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Choose from a wide variety of southeastern native wildflowers, shrubs, trees, vines, ferns, and native wildflower seeds at our annual sale. Local conservation organizations and corporate partners will be on hand to answer questions. No timed entry or advance registration is necessary for this portion of the sale.

BOOK SALE DURING THE FALL PLANT SALE

Drop by the Ritchie Bell Seminar Room during the Fall Plant Sale to find a wide selection of books on horticulture, plant identification, native plants, herbs, garden history, landscaping, gardening ideas, and design, all at bargain prices. Donated by members and kind supporters of the Garden, many of these books are duplicates of our library’s collection. Sales of this wonderful array of books will support our library fund.

In the DeBerry Gallery

THROUGH OCTOBER 22

Botanicals: Beyond the Bloom
Works by Kathy Schermer-Gramm

Botanical art does not always include flowers, at least in this artist’s vision. Instead, focus shifts to those closely observed details of plants often ignored, as well as their fruits, and objects created with plants by insects and birds. Kathy Schermer-Gramm’s images embrace elegant movement, calming colors, and intricate textures. View these finely detailed depictions of edibles and Piedmont natives over the past decade from this NCBG Botanical Art and Illustration Certification Program instructor.

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

Grounded and Growing: Tales of our lives through wild pigments
Works by The Durham Palette

The Durham Palette is a growing collective of artists that contextualize locally sourced pigments within a Queer, decolonial, ecological framework. By doing so they seek to not only connect with ancestral art practices but also to deepen their understanding of how ongoing cultural events, including marronage, gentrification, and climate change, have materialized into the Earth's ecology and can be harvested as color.

The places they gather from include changing neighborhoods, graveyards, landfills, riverbeds, plantations, family homes, and Black-owned land, among others. These foraging practices are slow, rooted in cycles and seasons, and they align with the collective's commitments to center sustainability over capitalist lures of constant consumption and production. The Durham Palette believes that the Earth is an ally, and it is offering us sustainable and abundant tools to create propaganda for our much needed collective liberation in this time of climate collapse.

Staff Updates

WELCOME, KRISTEN!

Kristen Hironimus is our new associate director of development. Kristen earned a bachelor's degree from Stony Brook University in multidisciplinary studies with blended focus in environmental studies and English. She also earned a certificate in nonprofit management from North Carolina State University. Following graduation, Kristen joined AmeriCorps, helping two nonprofits, one dedicated to land trust initiatives and the other dedicated to invasive species education. In her last two positions, Kristen worked with the UNC Health Foundation as a major gifts coordinator and as an assistant director for annual fund & alumni engagement at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Kristen lives in Pittsboro with her husband and three children and enjoys tending to their goats, chickens and fruit trees. Welcome, Kristen!

Certificate Program Graduation

At the end of August, we celebrated our Certificate in Native Plants graduates and bestowed an honorary Certificate in Botanical Art & Illustration. Jen Baker, Stephen Gazda, and Meriel Goodwin earned a Certificate in Native Plants and Jeanne Arnts and Lise Jenkins both earned an Advanced Certificate in Native Plants with high honors. Kathy Schermer-Gramm, a longtime instructor, was given an Honorary Certificate in Botanical Art & Illustration. Find out more about our certificate programs >

As part of the certificate program, graduates complete a capstone project to showcase their expertise. Lise Jenkins wrote an article for Triangle Gardener magazine. Pick up a copy in our exhibit hall, or read the article in the September/October issue online >

Pictured: Stephen Gazda, Meriel Goodwin, Kathy Schermer-Gramm, Jeanne Arnts, and Lise Jenkins.

In the Garden Shop

Have you checked out our exclusive NCBG t-shirts in the Garden Shop? Available in different sizes and a variety of colors, our NCBG logo t-shirts are the perfect item for any season. Stop by the shop and pick out the shirt that fits you best!

Haw River Assembly Sustainability Scholarship

The Haw River Assembly is offering a scholarship for expenses related to training and certification in programs which foster sustainable practices and stewardship of the environment. Educational programs can include certifications from the North Carolina Botanical Garden, community colleges, universities, N.C. Environmental Education and other appropriate organizations. This scholarship is made available by the generosity of George Pauly, a life-long environmental advocate and friend of the Haw River Assembly. Find out more and apply >

Putting Down Roots

In William R. Burk’s new book Putting Down Roots, learn about the history of botany and the academic discipline at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1792 to 1982. The book covers the biographical background of professors in the Department of Botany, their pedagogical styles, scientific instruction, and contributions to science. 

Interwoven within the narrative are important milestones the University witnessed during its formative years. Notably, these include the first woman to teach botany, the early history of the freedman’s school for Black children, and the establishment of the campus’s first chemical teaching laboratory.  

You'll find this book for sale in the Garden Shop!

We’re having a Membership Drive

September is a great time to join or renew your membership in the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation. With a current membership, you receive an invitation to register for the Members’ Plant Sale on Friday, September 29. Members also receive a discount on all plants purchased from the North Carolina Botanical Garden, all year long.

Most important, your membership helps the North Carolina Botanical Garden preserve native plants and habitats, like the Venus flytrap and its surrounding natural areas.
 
Your membership grows our:

• Native plant research and conservation efforts.
   
• Educational opportunities for the next generation of naturalists, such as our Camp Flytrap summer day camp and our many student internships.
   
• Native plant display garden; providing stunningly beautiful examples of a wide variety of species.

YOU can champion native plants. Support the Garden with your Membership.
 

PEOPLE's 100 Companies That Care in 2023: Employers Putting Their Communities First

Our friends at Cisco were included in People's 100 Companies that Care. The article includes a photo of their employees volunteering at our Carolina Community Garden. Read the article >
 

Indigenous communities care for local ecosystems through native gardening

For Indigenous communities across North Carolina and the United States, native plant gardening expands from a simple act of planting local species to an essential practice. Read more >

Tours
 

SECOND SATURDAY NCBG TOUR

Saturday, September 9; 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.

COKER ARBORETUM TOUR

Saturday, September 23; 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Lectures and Special Programs

SKETCHING LANDSCAPES IN THE GARDEN

Thursdays, September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, and 19; 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. •  $195 ($175 Members) More information >
 

BOTANICAL SKETCHBOOK: VIRTUAL

Saturdays, September 16, 23, October 7, 14; 1:15-4:45 p.m. •  $210 ($189 Members) More information >
 

A SOULFUL AUTUMN CREATIVITY AND MINDULNESS SERIES

10 a.m. - 12 p.m. •  $29 ($26 Members)
An Autumn Sanctuary, Saturday, September 23
Our Compassionate Nature, Saturday, October 28
Behold Wonder, Saturday, November 18

DEVELOPING YOUR HABIT OF NATURE - For Caregivers

Sundays, October 1, 8, and 15; 1-4 p.m. •  $135 ($122 Members) More information >

BIOPHILIA IN THE CLASSROOM - Plant Cart Workshop for Educators

Tuesday, October 3; 12:30-4:30 p.m., Friday, October 13; 1-4 p.m., Friday, October 20; 1-4 p.m. •  $20 ($18 Members) More information >

ART AND YOGA RETREAT - HEART OF PEACE: NOURISHMENT FROM THE GARDEN

Saturday, October 14; 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. •  $65 ($59 Members) More information >
 

INTERMEDIATE EXPRESSIVE WATERCOLOR - VIRTUAL

*New class time* Thursdays, October 19, 26, November 2, 9; 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. •  $210 ($189 Members) More information >

Lunchbox Talks

*TODAY* CAREX: THE VERSATILE AND VALUABLE SEDGES FOR YOUR GARDEN - VIRTUAL

Thursday, September 7; 12-1 p.m.  •  Free, preregistration required More information >
 

HOW PIEDMONT PRAIRIES CAN ENHANCE BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Thursday, September 14; 12-1 p.m.  •  Free, preregistration required More information >
 

SAVING SNAKES: SNAKES AND THE EVOLUTION OF A FIELD NATURALIST

Thursday, September 28; 12-1 p.m. followed by book sales and signing in the Pegg Exhibit Hall •  Free, preregistration required More information >
 

OKRA AND COLLARDS: SAVING AND SAVORING TWO SOUTHERN STAPLES

Thursday, October 12; 12-1 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required More information >

2023 Jenny Elder Fitch Memorial Lecture

A WORLD OF DISCOVERY: HOW SCIENCE AND HEART CAN MAKE YOU A MORE ECOLOGICAL GARDENER

With Nancy Lawson, author, master naturalist, and founder of The Humane Gardener, LLC

Sunday, November 5; 5:30-6:30 p.m., followed by reception
Both in-person and virtual options
Much has been written about gardening for human senses, but how do plants and animals perceive the world around them? What do we miss when we landscape for human visual appeal but neglect the sensory experiences of our wild neighbors? Noise, light and odor pollution can have many unintended consequences. Through science, heart, and our powers of observation, we can learn to mitigate these disruptions and create sensory refuges in an increasingly noisy world. More information >

Donations and memberships are more important now than ever. Please consider giving to the Garden or becoming a Member today.
 

Thank you, Corporate Partners