July + August 2011 events at Duke Gardens

Floral Studio with Theo Roddy

We've got lots of activities in store for the Duke Gardens community this summer. Here's our July and August schedule. And stay tuned for a link to our entire July-December schedule.

Unless otherwise noted, please call 919-668-1707 to register or for more information about classes and events.

July 5 & 6, 9:15 p.m.
American Dance Festival presents Eiko & Koma
Known internationally for their exquisitely meditative dances that resonate with strength and intensity, Eiko & Koma have created a theater of movement all their own. The choreographers will celebrate their 40th anniversary with the reconstruction of River (1995) in the pond of Duke Gardens’ Culberson Asiatic Arboretum. Through their journey downstream in serene waters, their small nuances of movement will transcend your previous notions of life and time and challenge the relationship of audience to artist. 684-4444. tickets.duke.edu; americandancefestival.org.

July 6, 7 p.m.
Duke Performances' Music in the Gardens series presents Holy Ghost Tent Revival. $10; $5 Duke students and employees; free for children age 12 and younger. 684-4444 or tickets.duke.edu.

July 7, 11 a.m.-noon Walk on the Wild Side
Explore wild North Carolina in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants. Join curator Stefan Bloodworth on the first Thursday of every month to see which plants are in bloom, learn strategies to design with native plants, and discuss regional ecology and global environmental issues affecting native ecosystems and your role in protecting the health of our home planet. $5; free for Gardens members.
July 13, 7 p.m.
Duke Performances' Music in the Gardens series presents Lost in the Trees. $10; $5 Duke students and employees; free for children age 12 and younger. 684-4444 or tickets.duke.edu.

July 17, time TBA
American Dance Festival choreographer/instructor Rodger Belman presents a free outdoor performance by ADF student dancers, See photos and videos of Belman's 2010 and 2009 Duke Gardens projects. No registration required.

July 19, 6:30-8 p.m. Durham Garden Forum
The Durham Garden Forum is an informal group that meets once a month to enrich members’ gardening knowledge and skill. Local experts speak about topics of interest to the group. The public is invited. July topic: dealing with drought. $10; free for forum members. Durhamgardenforum@gmail.com.

July 20, 7 p.m.
Duke Performances' Music in the Gardens series presents cellist Bonnie Thron with clarinetist Fred Jacobowitz and pianist John Noel in the Kirby Horton Hall of the Doris Duke Center. $10; $5 Duke students and employees; free for children age 12 and younger. 684-4444 or tickets.duke.edu.

July 22, 10 a.m. to noon. Floral Studio
Work with floral designer Theo Roddy to design a stunning display for that special place at your home. Studios will also be offered Aug. 19, Sept. 16 and Oct. 21. Attend one or all four. Please bring your own flowers and container. $30; $25 Gardens members (or take all 4 for $20 per session; $16 for members).

July 27, 7 p.m. Duke Performances' Music in the Gardens series presents the Ciompi Quartet cellist Fred Raimi with violinist Eric Pritchard and pianist Jane Hawkins in the Kirby Horton Hall of the Doris Duke Center. $10; $5 Duke students and employees; free for children age 12 and younger. 684-4444 or tickets.duke.edu.

Aug. 4, 11 a.m.-noon Walk on the Wild Side
Explore wild North Carolina in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants. Join curator Stefan Bloodworth on the first Thursday of every month to see which plants are in bloom, learn strategies to design with native plants, and discuss regional ecology and global environmental issues affecting native ecosystems and your role in protecting the health of our home planet. $5; free for Gardens members.

Aug. 6 & 13, 8-11 a.m. Local Fauna: Butterflies of North Carolina
Expand your enjoyment of these magical creatures as you learn how to recognize specific butterflies and understand their life stages and cycles. Instructor Jeffrey Pippen, of Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, will teach you about butterfly behavior and the adaptations that allow such seemingly delicate beings to survive. Class time is spent indoors introducing topics and outdoors seeing that information come to life. See Jeff's butterfly page online.$75; $60 Gardens members.

Photo by Jeff Pippen

Aug. 19, 10 a.m.-noon Floral Studio
Work with floral designer Theo Roddy to design a wonderful display for that special place at your home. Please bring your own flowers and container. $30; $25 Gardens members.

Aug. 21, 2-4 p.m. Cool-Season Vegetables: Expanding Your Garden Season
Double your garden production this year in the cooler (and hopefully wetter!) growing seasons. Durham County Extension Master Gardener Faye McNaull will share her methods to extend summer harvest by planting fall crops and strategies to jump-start next spring. Free; registration required.

Aug. 25, 9-11 a.m. Waterlily Walk
Enjoy the waterlily display across the late summer season. Each tour with horticulturist and water garden expert Tamara Kilbane highlights the lilies in bloom. Learn how these unique plants live and how you can enjoy them at home. $5; free for Gardens members. Registration required.

Waterlily Walk

Outdoor films update: Movies in the Gardens at Twilight will not feature an animation series, as originally scheduled. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please plan to come to our Sept. 15 free film, "Play Again," a documentary about the consequences of a childhood removed from nature. You can learn more about "Play Again," and read an interview with the filmmaker, on our website. For information on other free or low-cost movies being shown around the Triangle, please see the comprehensive database at WRAL's Go Ask Mom blog.

An inspired new garden

The new Page-Rollins White Garden design
in the Doris Duke Center Gardens

By Crystal Cotton

A garden can have many uses. It can support wildlife, provide food for a family or community or serve as a retreat or a place for inspiration.

The newly redesigned Page-Rollins White Garden in the Doris Duke Center Gardens is a source of inspiration as well as the result of inspiration. The garden design got its first inspiration when its donor, Frances P. Rollins, visited the garden “rooms” at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in England. And when Jason Holmes, curator of the Doris Duke Center Gardens, traveled recently to Sissinghurst, he was able to see its White Garden and be further inspired.

You can see the beginnings of Sissinghurst’s influence on a tour of the Doris Duke Center Gardens this Friday at 10 a.m.

One thing that stuck with Holmes after his Sissinghurst visit was the combinations of plants that were used in its White Garden, from annuals to perennials and shrubs.

By combining these ideas with various grass textures, paying attention to forms, height variations and other factors, Holmes is creating a Southeastern U.S. interpretation of Sissinghurst. It’s beautiful now, but it’ll be a knockout when it’s fully developed.

“The combinations aren’t up to par yet because we’re starting with such little, tiny little plants, so they haven’t grown in fully,” Holmes says. “I would say the peak for this garden should be within the next three years, just because the perennials and shrubs have a maturation period. That’s what we’re waiting for now.”

To address the climate differences between England and North Carolina, Holmes is incorporating ornamental grasses.

“They have such a great drought resistance,” he says. “They’re also resistant to many insects and diseases, and grasses are just overall great group of plants to incorporate into the garden.”
Among the annuals and perennials Holmes is planting are white coneflower, liatris, lily of the Nile and daylilies.

Home gardeners can get inspiration and ideas from a walk around the White Garden – both now and over the coming months and years, as the plantings increase in size and variety. On Friday’s tour, you’ll learn more about the designs and plant combinations of the White Garden and other gardens surrounding the Doris Duke Center, and how you might incorporate them in your gardens at home.

As with his own trip to Sissinghurst, Holmes hopes visitors will be invigorated by the beauty of the Page-Rollins White Garden and leave with ideas they can take home.

“I want them to be inspired,” he says.

TOUR INFO: For more information about Friday’s tour, or to register, please call 668-1707 or email slsmith@duke.edu. The Gardens will also offer Doris Duke Center Gardens tours in fall.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens creates and nurtures an environment in the heart of Duke University for learning, inspiration and enjoyment through excellence in horticulture. The Gardens is at 420 Anderson St.

Crystal Cotton is a junior at N.C. Central University and a communications intern at Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

Big koi in the Fish Pool--finally!

Photos by Rick Fisher and Orla Swift

Fans of the recently refurbished Fish Pool at the foot of the Terrace Gardens have been asking when we'll have koi again. Well, thanks to a phone call yesterday morning from a generous donor, we suddenly have 10 beautiful koi fish joining the goldfish in the pool. They're about 18 inches long and range in color from silver to orange, as well as cream with orange spots.

Our staff members transported the koi in large garbage cans full of water in the back of a truck. To get the koi used to the Fish Pool water, Jason Holmes poured some of the pool water into each can.

Then they waited for the fish to acclimate, while curious onlookers came for a closer look.

Staff members took turns placing the fish into their new home. Here's water plants specialist Tamara Kilbane carrying one of the mega-fish...

...while Megan Morr, of Duke Photography, awaited her underwater portrait opportunities. (Please note that this was a rare, controlled occasion in which someone was permitted to climb into the pool; this is not normally allowed, as it presents a danger to people, plants and fish alike.)

James Jenkins released a spotted koi.


Here's another, from Paul Jones.

And here are a couple of the koi (bottom right) enjoying their scenic new surroundings.
We hope you'll come and see the fish soon. The new filtration system keeps the water quite clear, so you'll be able to see them well. Enjoy!

Class preview: Herbs from the Garden

Learn about tansy and other herbs
in Duke Gardens' Herbs from the Garden class

By Crystal Cotton

A thriving herb garden that produces sugar, spice and everything nice needs some basic planning and care. Horticulturist Jan Watson has some sage advice for beginners, as well as those seeking to expand their herb palette.

The dirt

The best way to have prosperous herbs is by cultivating rich soil, says Jan Watson, a horticulturist at Duke Gardens.

“Work your soil up a little bit, get some nice soil in there, and the herbs will reward you a hundred-fold,” says Watson.

Tilling your soil or adding compost to it will help your herbs tremendously.

What to plant?

“The herbs that are the best are the ones that you find uses for,” says Watson. You may want herbs because of their scent, their taste or even for dyes. But you can also get creative with garden design by picking shapes, colors and textures that go together interestingly.

“You can use tansy, and a specific kind called Tanacetum ‘Isla Gold’ would be gorgeous,” says Watson. “Allium fistulosum, fennel and dill would be awesome. Fennel and dill have a really furry texture. If you mix that with the Allium fistulosum, which is very rigid and onion-like, it’d be a good combination because the textures are so different.”

When to plant & water?

Most people plant their herbs in early spring. But it’s not too late to plant them now, Watson says.

“June is a perfect time to plant,” she says. “You’ve just got to remember to water because they’re not established yet. So even though they’ll be drought-tolerant later, when you first put them in, you obviously have to water them.”

But avoid over-watering, she notes, particularly with rosemary and lavender, which are sensitive to too much water.

Sun or shade?

Most herbs want full sun, though some prefer a little bit of shade.
“Parsleys, basils, cilantro, dill—that’s all going to want some afternoon shade,” says Watson. “Otherwise, it’s going to ‘bolt’—it goes to seed too fast.”

When and how much to cut?

Try to avoid over-cutting, Watson says. And if they’re perennial herbs, don’t cut them back too late in the season. A good rule of thumb is to never cut off more than a third of an herb at a time, and only a little bit more as winter approaches. Cutting them too severely before winter will expose the stems to cold temperatures and may cause dieback.

Think outside of the pot

If you want to grow something different, try Stevia rebaudiana, which has become popular as a sugar substitute. You can add it most recipes that would otherwise call for sugar. But use less, because it’s more concentrated.

You can also try Cryptotaenia japonica, commonly known as Japanese parsley. This is a great substitute for regular flat-leaf parsley and it can be used in any dish that normally calls for parsley, such as soup and spaghetti. Since it’s a little stronger than flat-leaf parsley, you don’t have to use as much.

If you’re more interested in benefiting wildlife, fennel –which comes in black or the traditional green—would be a perfect herb to plant.

“It attracts swallowtail caterpillars. They eat the foliage and they actually lay their eggs on it. So there’s a benefit right there,” says Watson. “Right now in my fennel at home, there are baby praying mantises hiding amongst the foliage of the fennel. So for the wildlife aspect, it’s just so beneficial to the insects.”

Don’t like bugs? Why not plant one fennel for the caterpillars and one for yourself? The same with parsley. And remember, caterpillars become butterflies. So if you like butterflies, this is a way to bring more of them into your garden.

Herbal inspiration

For more ideas about what to plant, you can always visit Duke Gardens. There are several herbs growing at the bottom of the Terraces on the café side, and even in the Perennial Border that leads from the Rose Garden to the pergola. These include flat-leaf parsley, curly leaf parsley, Japanese parsley, chives, fennel, dill, marjoram, oregano, thyme and many others.

If you’d like to learn more, consider taking Watson’s class “Herbs from the Garden” on June 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. For information, call Duke Gardens’ registrar at 919-668-1707, email slsmith@duke.edu or go to gardens.duke.edu to read more.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens creates and nurtures an environment in the heart of Duke University for learning, inspiration and enjoyment through excellence in horticulture. The Gardens is at 420 Anderson St.

Crystal Cotton is a junior at N.C. Central University and a communications intern at Duke Gardens.

Q&A: Summer Plants for N.C. Gardens

Banana is one of the plants you'll learn how to grow in
Duke Gardens' Landscape Plants for N.C. Gardens class.

If this week’s heat has got your brain in “summer” mode, why not take that thought a step further and think about summer gardening? Bobby Mottern, a landscape architect and Duke Gardens’ director of horticulture, spoke to Gardens intern Crystal Cotton about the summer session of his “Landscape Plants for North Carolina Gardens,” which begins this Thursday.

What are some of the struggles N.C. gardeners might face?
A lot of people who take the class have moved down here from other areas, usually from up north, and the first thing that they realize is how difficult the soil is for gardening, because it’s mostly red clay.

The first thing they learn is how to deal with the soils. Then they learn how to use plants that do better in this area, because it’s hot. And it’s not necessarily the heat during the day that’s the problem, it’s the heat at night. Sometimes we just don’t get cool at night and that tends to be the deciding factor for plant material, where they can and can’t live.

Pests are another concern, with deer being the biggest pest. Insects and diseases are different things we have to deal with. But overall, the Southeast is a great environment for gardening; we usually get decent rainfall and temperatures are not too extreme. Because of the climate, the plant palette here is more developed than in other areas. We are able to grow many plants that require chilling during the winter, such as peonies and lilacs, but we can also grow salvia and agapanthus that are cold-tender.

What are some common mistakes people make in gardening here?
There are frequent mistakes that people make. Soil condition is number one. People dig a hole and they put the plant in it. They think it’s going to thrive and then they don’t understand why the plant begins to suffer. You’ve got to have quality amended soil with plenty of organic matter. As they say, “You don’t want to put a $10 plant in a 10-cent hole.” You want to make sure your soil is of equal value to the plant you’re buying.
Other issues: I think people water too much, especially their lawns. They also fertilize too much. They let the TV commercials guide them, instead of really understanding what kind of plant trouble they have, what kind of lawn they have, and understanding what it really needs. So we try to talk a little about irrigation and water practices, because we really have to be smart with how we use our water. And deer—unless you live in downtown Durham or Raleigh, you’re going to have deer, almost no matter where you are. We usually talk about what deer do not eat.

What are some of the some of the plants that will be featured in this class?
We’ll focus on perennials; herbaceous plants that go dormant during the winter and come back every year. Some specific plants we’ll discuss are purple coneflower, rudbeckia, veronica, phlox, herbs, hostas and daylilies, tropical plants like hardy banana trees and elephant ears, ornamental grasses, and many more.

What makes those plants so ideal?
They’re tried and true plants. They do very well. They’re easy to grow. They give us a nice flower or interest level throughout the summertime. Some people think it’s all about color, but it can also be a lot about texture, meaning the size or look of a plant’s foliage when it is not in bloom. Some plants have large leaves with really bold textures, such as banana plants. But then you put things like that beside ornamental grass, which is really loose, airy and light in texture, so that creates a lot of interest from combined textures. So that’s another way to generate interest when you’re not gardening just for color.

What does garden design involve?
How you would use plants, how you would group them, how you combine them with other plant material, how you would use the plant to benefit you. Let’s say something has a really nice flower and is very fragrant—you want to make sure to plant that by your patio or beside the back doorstep, someplace you’re going to be walking or sitting and enjoying that space to appreciate that fragrance. Maybe something attracts butterflies or hummingbirds—you want to plant those things where you can see those animals come into your yard.

By the end of the class, what do you what participants to have learned?
I want them to comfortable with the amount of plant material we’ve discussed in the course and for them to go to nurseries and recognize plant material and know those plants are going to do well in their yards. They’ll also be able to envision their own yard as we’re talking about plants in class, and when I say, “This plant has to be in the full sun and well-drained soil, it can’t sit in a wet location,” they’ll start to think about these areas in their yard.

Where are the best places to find these plants?
I try to recommend plants you’ll find at small nurseries and also plants you’ll find at the big box stores.

There are still a couple of spaces left in this course, which runs for four Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information or to register, please call 668-1707 or email slsmith@duke.edu. The course is part of Duke Gardens’ Home Horticulture Certificate program, though anyone may take the class.