Plant Sale Preview: Why Plant in Fall?

By Sheon Wilson

Publications coordinator

Fall is the best time to plant a garden, whether you have a vegetable garden, perennial garden, shrubs or trees. It’s prime time to improve your landscape, and Duke Gardens Fall Plant Sale this Saturday will help you meet that goal.

From herbs to shrubs, we'll have a wide variety of plants
that are ideal for this region. Photo by Cecilia Xie

The sale will include plants propagated by Duke Gardens staff and volunteers, along with bulbs, trees, vegetables, shrubs and other delights from local suppliers. Our well-received “Herb Garden in a Box” discount deal is back by popular demand, as well as dorm-friendly succulents and other plants perfect for students. Duke Gardens members will receive 10 percent off every purchase.

Getting your plants into the ground now will give them a strong head start to a healthy spring and summer.

“We are getting into the cooler season, when plants go dormant and put more energy into their root systems,” says Jason Holmes, curator of the Doris Duke Center Gardens. “The root systems are easier to establish during the fall and winter months.”

A complex underground network, roots go into resting mode in the winter, minimizing the basic processes that sustain a plant. The falling temperatures and reduced daylight cause the upper part of a plant to stop growing and enter a state of suspended animation. Without leaves to photosynthesize and make food, the plant’s roots live off of stored sugars.

Plant your tulip bulbs in fall for a spring spectacle.
Photo by Bobby Mottern.

The roots’ ability to sustain life year-round benefits the entire plant. In fall, the soil is warm from summer sun, so the roots can expand with ease until the soil freezes, and thereafter grow more slowly.  In springtime, the plant is prepared to send energy back out to the extremities so blooming can begin. And the roots will have more strength to withstand  often harsh summer soil conditions.

In the Terrace Gardens, horticulturists usually maintain the summer beds through mid-October, and then pull weaker plants and fill the beds with fall color, said Mike Owens, curator of the Historic Gardens.

Use that tip to improve your garden. Remove annuals that have been ravaged by the summer sun and replace them with a splash of color, perhaps some showy and resilient chrysanthemums.

Plant in fall to get a healthy start on a strong
root  system, like that our dawn redwood.

We’ll have gorgeous plants for a variety of garden styles and conditions, and our expert horticulturists and volunteers will be happy to advise you on the best fit for your garden conditions and for the time and energy you have (or don’t have!) to spend caring for your plants. We look forward to seeing you at the sale, and to giving your plants the healthy head start they need. 

Fall Plant Sale details:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017
Time: 8 a.m.-noon
Membership benefit: Duke Gardens members get 10% off! Join now or on site.
Parking: Free.
Pets not permitted
Wagons + boxes: Our supply is limited; please bring your own if possible, and you'll have more time to spend gathering beautiful plants.
Please see our event page for more information, and we'd love for you to spread the word on Facebook. Thank you!

Class Preview: A Potted Herb Garden

Chives in the Discovery Garden. Photo by Karen Webbink

By Annie Yang

Pineapple sage adds sweetness to desserts and drinks.
Photo by A. Yang.

Duke Gardens in the springtime is bursting with thousands of stunning, eye-catching blooms and plants. But some of the plants here can do more than just brighten up a garden—they can spice up your recipes!

The herb garden in the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden is a perfect place to visit to familiarize yourself with a great variety of culinary herbs, as well as herbs with other uses. And you can create your own container herb garden, and learn how to help it thrive, in "A Potted Herb Garden," a 3-hour hands-on class on Saturday, April 22, with horticulturist and garden designer Lauri Lawson (more info below).

You’ll find some of the most frequently used herbs right in the Discovery Garden, including sage, thyme and sorrel. These and other herbs are quite versatile and can be found in drinks, salads, sauces, and dishes both savory and sweet.

Red-veined sorrel has a tart flavor. Photo: Yang.

Sage is often paired with rich, fatty meats and other savory dishes for its pungent taste, but in the Discovery Garden, you may stumble across another variety of this plant. Pineapple sage makes a wonderful addition to sweet desserts and beverages. It can be incorporated into batter to make pineapple sage pound cake, or it can be crushed and added to cool drinks perfect for the rising temperatures. There are many possibilities to be explored with this herb, and it is not frequently found in grocery stores, so growing pineapple sage in your garden is a great decision. Your palate and stomach will thank you.

The herb garden is also home to many different varieties of thyme, including silver common thyme and lemon thyme. Thyme is a savory herb, somewhat spicier than oregano and sweeter than sage, and it works well in sauces, soups and marinades. Lemon thyme, however, is a sweeter variety and not as bitter as its cousins such as silver common thyme. As you might have guessed, lemon thyme has a lemony flavor and is great in salads, teas and meats. Thyme is another versatile herb that makes a fantastic addition to a number of different dishes and to any herb garden.

Lemon thyme is great in salads, teas & meats.
Photo: Yang.

The bloody dock or red-veined sorrel is another herb that can be found in the Discovery Garden. Its blood red veins stand out against its green leaves and make this plant a real attention grabber. But this sorrel has both form and function. Its leaves are best eaten raw or cooked when they are young and haven’t become too tough or bitter to consume. This sorrel’s somewhat tart and spinach-like taste, as well as its striking colors, can make a salad a little more exciting.

These herbs and their uses are just a small sample of the variety of herbs you can learn about in the Discovery Garden and grown in your home garden.

We hope you'll join us for Lauri's "Potted Herb Garden" class, where participants can broaden their horticultural and culinary horizons with growing information and recipes, and create a 6-plant potted herb garden in a 10-inch nursery container to bring home and grow with confidence. The potted garden options for class may include the following: rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, basil, chives or mint.

CLASS INFORMATION:

A POTTED HERB GARDEN
April 22, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Location: greenhouse classroom
Fee: $55 Gardens members; $65 general public.
To register: 919-668-1707.

Blogger Annie Yang is a Duke freshman and a work-study marketing assistant at Duke Gardens.

Duke Gardens Gifts for the Holidays

An embellished lizard pin is among the Garden Guild's
intriguing crafts. Photo by Orla Swift.

By Annie Yang T'20

As nature lovers, we are always on the lookout for fun gifts and decorations for the holiday season. Fortunately, the Terrace Shop and the volunteer Garden Guild make it easy to find fun and festive items.

Origami boxes, some from recycled paper,
make a unique presentation. Photo: Yang.

From origami gift boxes to note cards, ornaments and jewelry, the Garden Guild’s crafty members always have an intriguing selection of gifts related to nature or Duke Gardens.

The guild’s most item popular item is an origami box made of recycled decorative paper, including Duke Gardens’ calendars and other publications, as well as gift wrap and scrapbook paper. The boxes’ design is by origami artist Tomoko Fuse. The guild’s boxes are available all year, but the decorative paper gives the winter boxes a distinctly festive look.

If your friend sews, an acorn
pincushion makes a
whimsical gift. Photo: Swift.

Ornaments are another guild best-seller—in fact, the okra Santa ornaments have already sold out.  Grown in the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden, the okra is painted to resemble Santa Claus with a very long beard.

As nature lovers, we are always on the lookout for fun gifts and decorations for the holiday season. Fortunately, the Terrace Shop and the volunteer Garden Guild make it easy to find fun and festive items.

Hang tiny Duke Gardens
photos in a window or
on a tree. Photo: Swift.

From origami gift boxes to note cards, fabric Kindle cases, ornaments and jewelry, the Garden Guild’s crafty members always have an intriguing selection of gifts related to nature or Duke Gardens.

The guild’s most item popular item is an origami box made of recycled decorative paper, including Duke Gardens’ calendars and other publications, as well as gift wrap and scrapbook paper. The boxes’ design is by origami artist Tomoko Fuse. The guild’s boxes are available all year, but the decorative paper gives the winter boxes a distinctly festive look.

Ornaments are another guild best-seller—in fact, the okra Santa ornaments have already sold out.  Grown in the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden, the okra is painted to resemble Santa Claus with a very long beard.

The guild's cork angel ornaments will sing their way into
your heart. Photo: Swift.

Other Garden Guild ornaments range from whimsical cork angels to tiny framed Duke Gardens photos. There are also more standard looking spherical ornaments with unique colors and patterns.

If you want to wish friends and family well this holiday season, the Guild’s seasonal cards add a personal touch to your messages. Some designs are more timeless and boast unique features like wearable pins and tea bags.

Plant pot Santas and elves
add joy to a Christmas tree.
Photo: Swift.

The Guild has quite a few other wearable creations, including blingy lizard and dragonfly pins and Louis Vuitton-style fabric bead necklaces. The craftsmanship and attention to detail make all of the Garden Guild’s creations truly special.

Dress up your Kindle for the holidays with this
handmade fabric case. Photo: Swift.

This is only a small sample of the Garden Guild’s intriguing creations. Visit the Terrace Shop to see all they have to offer and the skill and care put into their work. You'll also want to remember Duke Gardens all year long with a 2017 wall calendar and 56-page souvenir photo book. Visit the store or call 919-684-9037 to purchase your favorite items. There’s something for everyone to bring a piece of Duke Gardens and Duke back home!

Class Preview: Learn to Weave a Round Basket

Cherokee wheel detail.

By Rose James

As fall weather grows cooler and the holiday gift-giving season approaches, many of us seek new creative sparks to fuel us through chilly nights and leave us with one-of-a-kind gifts for ourselves and others. A handmade basket is a perfect fall project, and Duke Gardens instructor Lu Howard can guide you through the whole process in her 6-hour class on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The style of basket you’ll make has a Cherokee-wheel design and veneer cherry wood strip inserts. It’s a perfect basket for beginners, Lu says, because it’s simple to make. The basket is hand-shaped, meaning that you don’t use a mold, so each basket is unique.

Lu will prepare all the materials you’ll need, cutting and marking the staves and reeds in advance. But she will also teach you these preparatory steps, so that after your first basket on Saturday, you can confidently go forth and make many more.

You’ll make your basket with rattan reeds, and you will work with them wet, so be sure to come dressed in clothing that you don’t mind getting damp. Working with wet reeds makes them pliable, and when they dry they will hold their desired shape. You should be able to finish your basket by the end of class. But if you’re a more leisurely weaver, you’ll be well on your way to confidently finish your basket on your own thereafter.

Anyone can learn to make this kind of basket, and the class is open to people as young as 16. You do not need to have any skills or special artistic talent for this class, only a bit of patience. It’s actually quite a therapeutic activity, Lu says. And you’ll have plenty of time to bond with fellow weavers as your baskets take shape.

Lu uses her baskets for a variety of purposes, from storing fruit and spices in the kitchen to providing a pretty display for flower pots on the porch. We hope you’ll join us for this fun and empowering class, and we look forward to seeing the variety of baskets that everyone makes.

Class details: "Round Basket with Cherokee Wheel Embellishment" will meet Saturday, Nov. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The class fee is $50, or $40 for Gardens members. To register, or for more information, please email or call 919-668-1707.

About the Instructor: 

Lu Howard is a member of the North Carolina Basketmakers Association and Durham’s basket-weavers’ guild. She has won many awards for her baskets. She can make a small pine needle basket in as few as two hours, and she wove a bassinet for her grandson this summer over two to three weeks.

Basket-weaving is in Lu’s blood. Her grandfather was a farmer, and he would make baskets each winter from hickory. He used the baskets to harvest and store produce, as well as to hold toys and other household items.

Lu made her first basket in 1983, in a beginner class in Northern Illinois. She was immediately hooked, and she has been weaving baskets ever since.

With Lu’s enthusiasm, artistry and teaching skills, we’re sure that you will be hooked, too!

Blogger Rose James is a Duke freshman and work-study marketing assistant at Duke Gardens.  

“I Need a Plan: Envisioning Your Garden”

Do you envision a garden full of dramatic shapes and colors like
 those found in the Terrace Gardens? Duke Gardens'"I Need a Plan"
series can help you make it happen (photo by K. Webbink).

By Sarah Leach Smith
Duke Gardens photos by Karen Webbink
Additional photos courtesy of Suzanne Edney

Are you intimidated by the term “landscape design?” You don’t have to be! Our upcoming “Envisioning Your Garden” class, part of the “I Need a Plan: Garden Fundamentals” program, will boost your confidence and inspire the DIY-er in you to start designing!

We are excited to introduce to you the teacher of this great class, landscape designer Suzanne Edney. Suzanne has been teaching since 1969 and has incorporated her passion for teaching into her business, Custom Landscapes: Landscape Design for Do-It-Yourselfers.

Landscape designer & instructor Suzanne Edney

“My mission is to design for homeowners’ needs and desires and to present opportunities for them to incorporate practical and easy techniques into their gardening practices,” Edney says.

Edney’s business mission makes her the perfect person to teach this class and help YOU envision your own garden design plan, whether your hope is to attract butterflies, create sculptural borders, grow food to eat, or tackle a challenging topography.

Would waves of pink muhly grass look great
in your landscape?

Perhaps your dream is to design a garden
to serve creatures great and small, like in the
Blomquist's Wildlife Garden.

Or maybe you aspire to grow vegetables....

...or build a dreamscape for butterflies. 

We recently talked with Edney about landscape planning and her goals for this class.

Q: What are the benefits of having a landscape design?

A: Landscape planning is very much like creating a floor plan for building a home. Most homeowners now realize the endless choices and potentials for use of their entire properties beyond the four walls of their houses, but they may feel unqualified to put the pieces of the puzzle together to allow them to make informed and cost effective decisions. Luckily, they have been exposed to the previously mysterious world of designers through TV and the Internet and realize the value of design plans.

Q: What can we expect from your “Envisioning Your Garden” class?

A: I will be explaining the design process from beginning to end to allow people to move forward with a viable landscape design for their property. Students can choose to elect designing ideas for either a front or back and will learn how to evaluate their space and begin the design process.

Below are some examples of Edney's garden designs.

An inspiring after & before comparison

Dry streambed drainage

A front courtyard

An attractive approach to a gravel driveway

A mountain slope garden

There are still spots available in this class, which is sure to be informative and inspiring. For more information, visit our website. If you would like to register for this class, please call our registrar at 919-668-1707. Embrace your inner DIY!

Messages in a Bouquet: Make Your Own Tussie Mussie

Example of a tussie mussie

by Dawn's Vintage Decor (esty shop)

Used with permission

By Kaitlin Henderson

Bring the beauty of nature indoors to warm up your winter. Duke Gardens is offering two plant craft classes that will introduce you to fun new ways to decorate your home for the season.  Coming up first is a workshop on Nov. 19 titled Tussie Mussie: The Victorian Language of Flowers.

Can you resist something as fun sounding as a tussie mussie?

It becomes even better when you find out what they are: bouquets used to impart a symbolic message. Tussie mussies began in the Victorian era and were used to communicate a wide range of messages:  friendship, romance, or even disdain. Think of them as prettier and better smelling Victorian emoticons!

In the 2-hour workshop, taught by Virginia Zoo landscape coordinator Marie Butler, you'll learn a little of the tussie mussie's history before putting together your own bouquet.

As with any bouquet, they make beautiful accents in your home, but they're even more fun for having a secret meaning. One fun tussie mussie Marie has put together was a wedding arrangement that included sedum, which she explains "meant 'tranquility' at the church but 'welcome home, husband, however drunk ye be' at the reception."

Butler says she likes all kinds of flower arrangements, but she especially loves how the symbolism in tussie mussies can provide a great starting point for original bouquets. In this workshop, Marie will show participants "the beauty of the plant world from a new, old-fashioned perspective." This is a new workshop at Duke Gardens, so be sure to check it out!

Information/registration: Tussie Mussie: The Victorian Language of Flowers will be held Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. More information here.

Want to create more holiday decorations for your home? In our Holiday Greenery class on Dec. 6  we'll help you make your own hanging evergreen displays. You can find more information here, and keep an eye out for a blog preview.

Call 919-668-1707 or email gardenseducation@duke.edugardenseducation@duke.edu to register for a class at the Duke Gardens. You can find all of our upcoming classes, including Tussie Mussie and Holiday Greenery, on our calendar of events. 

Kaitlin Henderson is a graduate student in Duke's Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program.