A Garden for Today and Tomorrow

Work with your natural environment to shape a garden
that will thrive. Photo by Robert Ayers.

It is very satisfying to step back at the end of a day spent gardening and admire all that you have accomplished. You’ve enriched your soil, pruned existing plants and helped your new plants settle in so they can delight you with their flowers.

Now it’s time to consider tomorrow and beyond.  Ask yourself: How can I build a garden that works with the forces of nature and not struggle against it? Gardening becomes so much easier when you consider nature a partner.

Begin by considering your garden from various viewpoints:
     - How is the soil—is it healthy, with microbes and organic material?
     - How does water move through your garden? Does it travel rapidly, with little chance to soak in? Or does it stay in place for days at a time?
     - What is the history of your garden area? Was it built upon long ago, or recently? Was it farmed?
Are there a number of existing plants, and what types are they?

Whether you grow vegetables or flowers, you can learn how
to work more harmoniously with your garden. Photo: R. Ayers.

The answers to these questions provide a starting point so you can create a garden that is unique to your site and takes advantage of the natural forces already at work.

“Easy Steps to a Resilient Garden” is the perfect Duke Gardens class to address these questions and more, for gardeners at all levels. The class will meet for two Tuesday sessions, Nov. 1 and 15, from 6:30-9 p.m. Instructed by Jan Little, landscape architect and director of education at Duke Gardens, the class will focus on harnessing nature to make your life easier.

We will discuss water harvesting and how you can minimize the amount of supplemental water used (and paid for) in your garden. You will learn simple methods to assess your existing soil and determine how best to improve it for plants.

Lastly, we will consider your garden dreams and how they match up with the existing situation. This will help you match your garden to the site and have a garden that is healthy and thriving without a lot of toil.

Spend more time admiring your garden and less time maintaining it!

For more information about "Easy Steps to a Resilient Garden," or to register, please email or call 919-668-1707.

Spotlight on: Bryce Lane & the Importance of Soil

The key to a gorgeous planting is soil. Photo by Brian Wells.

By Sarah Leach Smith
Visitor Services Coordinator

If you love plants and have never experienced a class taught by Bryce Lane, then you have no idea what you are missing!

In just a couple of weeks, Bryce Lane will teach "Soil," a 3-hour workshop focusing on the most important part of your garden. Bryce will take you through the process of understanding soils, learning how to build and improve your soil and how to prepare a bed for planting. The workshop will include hands-on activities and soil tests that you can use over and over again in your home garden.

Not long ago, I was a student of Bryce's in the Department of Horticulture Science at North Carolina State University. I can tell you that he is the most charismatic and engaging teacher I have ever had. Soil may not sound like the most interesting topic, but I must admit that I have signed up for this class myself, to have a useful refresher about soils, of course, but also to have the opportunity to experience another class taught by Bryce Lane.

I reached out to Bryce recently to find out more about what he has been up to and what he hopes to cover in this course. Our Q&A is below.

Will you tell potential students a little more about your background and your experience? 

Bryce Lane with one of his 3 Emmy awards.
Photo courtesy of Bryce Lane. 

I grew up in Western Massachusetts, where I first discovered my passion for plants and telling others about them while working at a local garden center through high school and college. I earned my B.S. in plant science from the University of Massachusetts in 1979 and an M.S. in horticulture from The Ohio State University in 1981. I came to the Department of Horticultural Science at N.C. StateUniversity as a lecturer, teaching in both the two-year and four-year programs. In 1987, I became the undergraduate coordinator, serving the department in that capacity for 26 years. In the past 30+ years, I have taught more than 20,000 students! I also hosted and produced a three-time Emmy winning UNC-TV public television show called “In the Garden with Bryce Lane”, which was on the air for 11 seasons.

Though I retired from N.C. State in January of 2014, I have enjoyed pursuing public speaking opportunities and teaching part time. I have actually been teaching soils workshops now for three years, and it's a regular winter workshop at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh every year

What can we expect from your class? What do you hope participants will gain from it?
Expect a dynamic, entertaining, yet scientifically packed presentation about soil, soil profiles, soil chemistry, soil structure, pH, organic matter, soil and bed preparation and soil building. I’ll also talk about container media and how it needs to be different, and treated differently from outdoor soil. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of soil, and how to apply the science they learn to create better garden soil for all their gardening endeavors. They will learn how to build soil and make it better for the environment, their gardens and their plants.

Bed preparation in the Discovery Garden. Photo by Lindsey Fleetwood.

What are you most excited about with regard to this class? 

I am most excited about how this workshop enables gardeners to be more successful growing plants in their gardens. By learning some soil science and committing to using that knowledge to improve soil, gardeners will be equipped to improve all their gardening practices.

 

Plant Sale & Fall Planting Tips

Our Fall Plant Sale will enhance
your garden year-round

By Kate Blakely

For all kinds of gardens, from vegetable to trees and shrubs, fall is best for planting. And the key in successful planting is in the roots. As plants go dormant in colder weather, they focus on their roots systems. Even planting in winter can work well, so long as the ground isn’t frozen and the plants receive proper care. Then, come spring, fall plantings will be already in the ground, ready to go.

We’ll have a wide range of plants available at our Fall Plant Sale Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at Duke Gardens. Our horticulturists will also be on hand with expert advice. To start you on your way, horticulturist Michelle Rawlins offers a few fall planting tips below.

Soil Preparation: “Soil prep is your first task that you want to focus on when you’re starting a new bed,” says Rawlins. First, dig a hole a bit larger than the pot the plant came in. Make sure to break up any clay or compacted soil to allow proper drainage for your new plant. Add two to three shovel scoops of composted material to the soil you have removed from the hole. Blend all of this soil well. Remember, the key is in the roots, and having good soil is important.

“Compost does improve the quality of your soil and will produce a healthier specimen in your garden,” says Rawlins.

Planting: If the plant has been sitting in the pot for a while, it’s probably “root-bound.” Plants are usually initially grown in a soilless material along with PermaTill or vermiculite. These types of media make it really easy for the roots to grow. Inside a pot, fast-growing roots circle each other, forming a “root-ball.”

“If you don’t break the roots up, they’ll just continue to circle as if they’re still in the pot instead of in the ground,” Rawlins said. You need to break apart the root-ball gently before you plant.

“The hole should be no deeper than the root-ball,” Rawlins says. “If anything, you want to plant it about an inch or so higher than ground level, because the newly worked soil will settle, and if the plant’s too low, it has little success of thriving or even surviving.”

Cover any exposed root-ball with mulch. Rawlins recommends triple-shredded hardwood.

Watering and Fertilizing: Water the plant in well. Keep an eye on the plants for signs of thirst, like flagging or drooping. “They’ll let you know,” Rawlins says.

Be careful not to over-fertilize. “You don’t want to promote too much root growth in the fall,” Rawlins says. “You don’t want to push your plants too hard because of the threat of freezing.”

“Fall is a nice time to plant because you don’t have to water them every day,” Rawlins concluded. “The cool nights will be optimum for keeping your plant from too much stress or transplant shock.”

We’re happy to offer more advice at our Fall Plant Sale Saturday. And if you want first dibs, consider joining Friends of Duke Gardens to attend the 8 a.m. pre-sale (Friends info: 668-1711); you can join on site. Parking is free. The sale will feature bulbs best planted in (you guessed it!) the fall, as well as flowers, trees, vines and shrubs found throughout Duke Gardens all year. Read a more detailed preview in our previous post.

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. Visit online at gardens.duke.edu, or call 684-3698. For more information on Duke Gardens events, please see our education & events page, or read our quick blog roundup.

Kate Blakely is a graduate student at Duke Divinity School and a work-study assistant at Duke Gardens.

Annuals or Perennials?

The echinacea coneflower is among perennials
that live for a long time.

By Lauren Sims
Photo by Alice Le Duc

As we prepare to flip to the next page on the calendar, we are reminded that spring is inching ever closer. That means it’s time to start thinking about our spring gardens, and one of our initial planting questions may be, “Annuals or perennials?”

Bill Cullina, author of Understanding Perennials: A New Look at an Old Favorite and other plant books, and director of horticulture at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, would have us ask an even more fundamental question first: "What does it mean for a plant to be perennial, anyway?"

Often, says Cullina, people operate under the assumption that “perennial” indicates a plant that continues to grow and bloom for many years. While some perennials do last for generations, many of them only live for a few years. Perennial plants must store away enough energy to survive months of dormancy every year and regenerate the following season. This is a costly process, and many of the plant’s resources are invested in preparing for and living through this dormant period.

Annuals, on the other hand, have no need to store energy or conserve resources. They give everything they have for a short period of time, burning brightly but extinguishing quickly. The biological strategy for annuals is to produce the most seed possible.

“So it’s hard to find perennials that bloom the way an annual plant does or a tropical plant does, that doesn’t have to worry about stocking things away for the dormant season,” says Cullina, whom local gardeners may recall from his days as nursery manager at Chapel Hill's Niche Gardens.

“The idea of the non-stop blooming perennial, while there are a few things that might fall under that category, is sort of a pipe dream because when it’s blooming it’s using up its resources.”

To learn more about perennial plants and the design opportunities they offer, join Bill Cullina on Feb. 12 from 3-5 p.m. for “The Botany of Design” presentation at Duke Gardens. Cullina will also do a 9 a.m.-noon workshop for a small group titled “Beyond the Surface: Soil Demystified.”

The fee for “The Botany of Design” is $35; $30 for Gardens members. The soils workshop is $70; $55 for members. For more information or to register, please call 668-1707 or e-mail registrar Sara Smith. Please also see our online education booklet (PDF) for other discovery programs for adults and children.

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.

Lauren Sims is a graduate student at Duke Divinity School and a work-study assistant at Duke Gardens.

Duke Gardens February Events

Curator Stefan Bloodworth leads the Walk on the Wild Side tours.

Following is our February schedule of classes and special events. Please call 668-1707 or e-mail Alice LeDuc for more information. We hope to see you at Duke Gardens soon!

Thursday, Feb. 2, 1-4 p.m.
Chinese Brush Painting
Visiting artist Alice Zhao, from Hubei Province in China, will teach technical skills and help you explore basic strokes and complete a painting of bamboo, orchids, animals or other Chinese-inspired images. $50; $40 Gardens Friends. See blog post about Chinese Brush Painting here.

Thursday, Feb. 4, 11 a.m.-noon
Tour: Walk on the Wild Side
Join curator Stefan Bloodworth in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants 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 our home planet. $5; free for Gardens Friends. Registration required. Details on all Gardens tours here.

Saturday, Feb. 6, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Soils
Learn to assess soil using simple field tests and then how to remediate the soil deficiencies you find. Instructor Daniel D. Richter Jr., professor of soils and forest ecology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, will introduce you to texture and ribbon tests to determine just what is in your soil. Then he will help you devise a plan to improve your soil structure, water retention capacity and nutritional value for your garden plants. All lab materials included. $75; $60 Gardens Friends.

Sunday, Feb. 7, 2-4 p.m.
The Soil Food Web: It’s Alive
*CANCELED* Soil is an intricate web of plants, animals and rock that reflects the plant community it supports. Join instructor Daniel D. Richter Jr., professor of soils and forest ecology at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, for specific information about sustainably managing your garden soil. $15; $10 Gardens Friends.

Tuesdays, Feb. 9, 16, 23, 7-9 p.m.
History of Nature Photography
Become acquainted with some of the great names and works in nature photography as you learn the powerful influence nature photography has had in our country. Work with profession photographer Jennifer Weinberg to develop your ideas and practice techniques first used by the masters. $75; $60 Gardens Friends.

Tuesday, Feb. 9, 6:30-8 p.m.
Durham Garden Forum
Forum meets monthly to learn from expert speakers and to troubleshoot. This month: Landscape design strategies with Jan Little, director of education and public programs. $10/ free for members. Information: 237-3376; Durhamgardenforum@gmail.com. See more on the Garden Forum here.

Friday, Feb. 12 to Sunday, Feb. 14
Workshops & free lecture with author Toby Hemenway
Hemenway is a frequent teacher, consultant and lecturer on permaculture and ecological design throughout the U.S. and other countries. These special events are co-presented with Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. All events full. Details here.

Friday, Feb. 12 10:45 a.m.-noon.
Traditional Japanese Tea Gathering
As a guest to Tea, you will experience the patterns and poetry of Chado, or the Japanese “way of tea,” while enjoying an enticing bowl of whisked tea and a seasonal treat. Meet at the Doris Duke Center, then head to the Japanese Pavilion. $30; $20 Gardens Friends. Additional tea gatherings will be April 10 and May 7, and there'll be a family Japanese Tea Gathering March 6 and May 8 for families with children age 6 and older.

Monday & Tuesday, Feb. 15-16, 3-5 p.m.
Geology of the Piedmont
Duncan Heron, professor emeritus of geology at Duke University, will discuss the forces that have acted on our land and the rock formations that underlie the various soils that are the basis for the different plant communities in the Piedmont and especially the Triangle. Class also includes a 4-hour field trip Feb. 19. $75; $60 Gardens Friends.

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1-4 p.m.
Rose Care and Pruning
Roses are unique, in their history and in the inspiration people find in them. Join David Pike, of Durham’s Witherspoon Rose Culture, to learn how to work with roses and create the most vigorous growth and flowering for your enjoyment. $20; $15 Gardens Friends.

Saturday, Feb 20, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
2010 Spring Gardening Symposium: Your Natural Garden
Your garden is essential to the health of our world. Learn how to extend that environmental contribution. Includes an optional garden dinner and Sunday workshop. See a brochure here. Register online here or call 684-4444.

Friday, Feb. 26, 10 a.m.
Tour: Spring Flower Walk in the Arboretum
Join Culberson Asiatic Arboretum curator Paul Jones as he guides you to some of the little-known garden spaces and unique plants. $5; free for Gardens Friends. Pre-registration required. Additional Flower Walks March 19, April 9 and May 14. Details on all Gardens tours here.

Sunday, Feb. 28, 2-4 p.m.
Free class: Smart Water Management in the Home Landscape
County consumer horticulture agent Michelle Wallace will teach several methods of managing water in the home landscape, including irrigation approaches, water harvesting, water-wise gardening and creating rain gardens. (Registration required.)