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.  

Spotlight on: The Garden Guild

By Sarah Leach Smith

This holiday season, it’s all about local, handmade gifts. Shopping locally can seem daunting, especially when big-box stores are so easily accessible. But you don't need to look further than the Terrace Shop at Duke Gardens – here, you’ll find awesome gift ideas created with care by the Duke Gardens Garden Guild.

The Garden Guild started in the summer of 1999 to create garden-related crafts to sell at the fall plant sale to benefit Duke  Gardens. Their efforts were a great success, netting approximately $2,000 from their first sale! Since then, the Guild has become a popular fixture here at Duke Gardens.

Today, the Guild has 20 active members who meet Monday afternoons at the Gardens for crafting sessions. Each member has different experiences and talents, and they teach each other new skills to create beautiful, practical and one-of-a-kind items while having a great time socializing together.

This year, in lieu of the annual craft fair, you can find their unique offerings in the Terrace Shop year round. They are presently getting ready for the holiday season with tree ornaments, note cards (sold individually and in boxed sets), ceramic angel figurines and more. 

I recently had the opportunity to spend time with the Guild during one of their crafting sessions and was floored by the creativity and originality I saw. Come out and see their wares in the Terrace Shop. You are sure to impress a friend or loved one with a thoughtful, handmade gift. The Garden Guild brings out new items often, so be sure to check back regularly.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Garden Guild, we’d love to have you. Learn more about volunteering at Duke Gardens on our website. Happy Holidays!

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.