Lecture & workshop preview: Planting in a Post-Wild World

Take inspiration from the Piedmont Prairie in the
Blomquist Garden of Native Plants.
Photo by Annabel Renwick.

By Katherine Hale

Native plant gardening is all the rage these days, and rightly so, but so often the reality falls short of its true potential.

The problem isn’t with the plants themselves. North Carolina native species are robust, colorful and charming, and they provide food and shelter for a wide range of birds, bees and other creatures. It’s really an organizational problem.

Effective design is what separates a beautiful meadow or functioning rain garden from a high-maintenance nightmare. Traditional garden placement, in which plants are treated as individual units separated by wide swathes of grass or mulch, just doesn’t measure up to the organic vitality and sustainability of landscapes organized by Mother Nature. But letting things run wild doesn’t always produce aesthetically pleasing results, bring in the species you’d prefer, or keep the homeowners’ association off your back.

What’s a busy, conscientious, nature-loving gardener to do?

In two upcoming events at Duke Gardens, landscape architect Claudia West will illustrate that it is possible to have a garden that is ornamental, functional and ecological all at the same time. The secret is to mimic the way plants layer and space themselves in the wild. It’s unorthodox but highly effective, and it’s not an exaggeration to say this will revolutionize the way you see the world.

West’s lecture on Thursday, March 30, will be based on the groundbreaking book she co-wrote with colleague Thomas Rainer, “Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes.” Duke Gardens is pleased to host this event as part of the annual Taimi Anderson Lecture Series.

Drawing on key archetypal landscapes—grassland, woodland and forest—West will explain how to find the one that best suits your project or property, and how to find specific species from that landscape that will work in your eco-region. She’ll also detail how to lay out the plants in functional groups based on their roles in the landscape, and how to space plants to avoid any pesky weeding after installation. The Piedmont Prairie in the Blomquist Garden, for instance, could be the perfect inspiration for a backyard meadow featuring native wildflowers and drought-tolerant grasses, or perhaps a border around a more traditionally mowed lawn. Aside from a few basic ground rules and concepts, the limits are only determined by your imagination and creativity in applying them.

Haven’t read the book? Don’t worry—copies will be available for purchase on site with a book signing reception following the lecture. The lecture is free for garden members and Duke students, and $10 for the general public.

For those who prefer a more informal approach, West will also offer a small group workshop on Friday, March 31. Capped at 25 people, this is the perfect opportunity to ask West specific questions about plant selection or home or garden projects and get personalized feedback. The workshop is $80 for Gardens members, and $99 for the general public. Lunch will be provided for participants.

Finally, if you’re inspired by West’s enthusiasm for native plants and eager to try out these principles for yourself, don’t forget our Spring Plant Sale on April 1, and the Preview Sale for members the evening before. Here you can purchase grasses, shrubs and other native perennials selected for their premier ornamental qualities, with unique colors and textures you can’t find in the landscaping section of the average big box retailer—and use them to create a beautiful, ecologically-designed and resilient native garden of your own.

EVENT DETAILS:

“Planting in a Post-Wild World” lecture: Thursday, March 30, 7 p.m.

“Planting in a Post-Wild World” workshop: March 31, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Location: Doris Duke Center, Duke Gardens, 420 Anderson Street, Duke University, Durham.

Information/registration: gardenseducation@duke.edu or 919-668-1707.

Spring Plant Sale: Saturday, April 1, 8 a.m. to noon.

Preview Sale for Members: March 31, 4-6 p.m.

Blogger Katherine Hale is an intern in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants at Duke Gardens and a graduate student in the Field Naturalist program at the University of Vermont. 

Spring Plant Sale Preview: Little Bluestem

Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues', also known as little bluestem.

By Katherine Hale
Photos by Jason Holmes

Call it by its Latin name, Schizachyrium scoparium, or by the common name little bluestem – either way, this plant is a winner.

Native to the wide Midwestern prairies, little bluestem is right at home in sunny urban landscapes of North Carolina. In Duke Gardens, you can find this species growing in the Piedmont Prairie in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants. We’ll be selling several cultivars at our Spring Plant Sale.

One cultivar, 'Prairie Blues', has blue-green spring foliage that turns reddish-purple by mid-summer, sporting tall stalks bedecked with tiny florets that dry into attractive curls. Another selection, ‘Smoke Signals’, has striking dark coloration that makes it stand out at a distance. Leave the frost-killed stalks up for wildlife shelter and winter interest, or cut it back to the base and use in dried flower arrangements—it will look great either way.

Schizachyrium scoparium

The design possibilities with little bluestem are endless. Beautiful in formal mass plantings and perennial borders, adding visual interest to parking strip buffers and rain gardens, or scattered among wildflowers in a meadow—you can’t go wrong. Upright and tidy, little bluestem thrives in heat and humidity as the ultimate low maintenance perennial. Rip out your lawn, never have to mow again and enjoy a continuous show year-round.

Formerly known as Andropogon scoparium, this species has been reclassified as the genus Schizachyrium. Whatever you opt to call it, look for it at our Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 1, from 8 a.m. to noon, or at the Gardens Member Preview Sale on March 31 from 4 to 6 p.m. See you there!

Blogger Katherine Hale is an intern in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants at Duke Gardens and a graduate student in the Field Naturalist program at the University of Vermont. 

A Sculpture Emerges on the South Lawn

Scaffolding helps to keep the foundational
elements in place during creation. Photo by Bill LeFevre.

By Katherine Hale

A bird’s nest. A treehouse. An alien spaceship.  A new sculpture, constructed entirely out of locally harvested saplings, is taking shape on the South Lawn of Duke Gardens. Starting this week and for the next two weeks, Triangle sculptor Patrick Dougherty will construct his latest creation with the help of a rotating crew of Gardens staff and volunteers. Even in its unfinished state, the sculpture is already drawing a great deal of talk and opinions. And that’s just how Dougherty likes it.

Dougherty and a volunteer add
more sticks to the mix.
Photo by Orla Swift.

“It is clear that a good sculpture causes many different personal associations with those who see it,” he wrote in his 2010 career retrospective Stickwork. Throughout the process of construction, he enjoys flipping the questions of curious passers-by right back at them:  “What do you think it is? And what should I call it?”

Beloved for picnicking and sunbathing, strolling and (ostensibly) studying, the South Lawn now takes a turn as host to a public art installation. Already this sculpture has undergone several transformations. On Friday morning, the third day on site, a small forest of red maple and sweetgum saplings harvested in Duke Forest earlier in the week had sprung up on the center of the lawn, complete with a luxurious carpet of mulch and surrounded by a halo of temporary scaffolding. More saplings, piled in thick bundles, lay nearby. By lunchtime, Dougherty had begun to pull the tops of the branches into graceful, looping curves and lash them into place, while three volunteers gracefully wove smaller branches in between the trunks at their base.

Weaving sturdy walls.
Photo by Orla Swift.

Everyone moves carefully but efficiently, as if they were all born to this work—and perhaps they were.  “When we were young, the ubiquitous stick was an everyday part of childhood play. It was a tool, a weapon, a rafter,” Dougherty writes in Stickwork. “I point out my belief that we inherit stick know-how from our first ancestors. So any volunteer can quickly find that knack, that basic urge to build.” Trees are natural architects, too, and much of the charm of Dougherty’s designs comes from letting them drive the development of the work as it unfolds. The end results are organic, undulating, clearly fabricated yet oddly natural--and intimately reflected of the surrounding landscape.

Duke Gardens executive director Bill LeFevre approached Dougherty several years ago with a proposal to bring his artistry to the Gardens. As the project date drew closer, they agreed upon an ideal location. When the work began, LeFevre and Gardens staff members enthusiastically signed up for opportunities to play a hands-on role.

“We are thrilled and thankful to have the opportunity to work with Patrick Dougherty and his team to create this site-specific work of art in Duke Gardens,” said LeFevre, whose shifts with Dougherty left him somewhat scratched up but also energized and inspired.

“We collected thousands of saplings from Duke Forest, and now we all get to play a role in bending them into Patrick’s emerging vision for the piece,” he said. “I hope visitors will enjoy witnessing this process of creation.”

Dougherty explains his techniques to
staff members who will assist.
Photo by Orla Swift.

Like the forests that spawned them, these sculptures cannot be built in one day—three weeks from start to finish is typical for Dougherty’s constructions. The ongoing process of installation is both an opportunity for the community to interact and participate and a piece of performance art in itself. Once the sculpture is complete, time and the elements will help dictate how long it will remain, but Dougherty’s sculptures typically stay standing for a couple of years.

So, what is it exactly taking shape on the South Lawn? It’s a castle. It’s a forest. It’s a home for elves. It’s a photo opportunity. It’s a chance to get in touch with nature again or an inspiration to build a tree fort of your own at home. Or perhaps it’s none of those things at all for you.  But one thing is for certain: whether you’re involved with the construction or just passing through, Dougherty’s work is likely to intrigue and engage you.

Katherine Hale is an intern in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants at Duke Gardens and a graduate student in the Field Naturalist program at the University of Vermont. 

Read more about Patrick Dougherty and his work in the latest issue of Garden & Gun magazine.

Update: Below is the finished sculpture, in a photo by Rick Fisher.  You can read more about it in our 2017 Flora Magazine.

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.  

A Festival of Fabulous Mums

By Sarah Leach Smith, Visitor Services Coordinator
Photos by Michelle Rawlins, Horticulturist

Note: This is a 2016 blog post. We hope to see you at the 2018 festival (Nov. 4-6). More info here.

Celebrate the season of chrysanthemums at the first Festival of Fabulous Mums at Duke Gardens. The mums in this display are very different from typical garden mums. You will discover an amazing array of shapes and sizes, including spectacularly large flowers with spidery petals, quill petals, pompon shapes and exotic forms, all grown for this exhibit sponsored by the Central Carolina Chrysanthemum Society (CCCS) and Duke Gardens.

This free, drop-in event will begin Sunday, Nov. 6, and run through Wednesday, Nov. 9. Festival plants will show the tremendous array of mum flower shapes, as well as the impact of different growing techniques to encourage extra-large flowers in all the autumn hues of yellow, gold, plum, rust and red.

Members of the CCCS have grown these plants just for the festival. The blooms will not be judged, as they would in a national flower show. Instead, you can vote on your favorite flowers in the display area. You will also want to tour the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum to see the exhibit-style mums throughout the landscape.

Festival activities will be in the Kirby Horton Hall in the Doris Duke Center. In addition to admiring the mums on display, you’ll be able to chat with members of the CCCS about cultivating mums in your own garden. On Sunday, Nov. 6, from 1 to 2 p.m., enjoy a floral design demonstration by Pat McCracken of McCracken’s Nursery in Zebulon, N.C., a commercial grower with a love of floral design and pottery. Pat’s completed design, which will incorporate mums and use one of his original pottery pieces, will be on display for the remainder of the festival and raffled off on the last day. There will be additional raffles as well, including a “Magic Mum Pot” that will contain everything you will need to get started in growing exhibition mums, and a beautiful chrysanthemum printed scarf from Talbots.

Children of all ages will enjoy word searches, scavenger hunts and a mum festival booklet that you can rubber stamp when you’ve seen examples of the different kinds of blooms. You will also see various forms of growing mums, such as bonsai, and displays of historical mum artifacts. Don’t miss the selfie station—you’ll be the envy of your friends on social media!

Duke Gardens horticulturist Michelle Rawlins, a CCCS member, has grown quite a number of these show mums for Duke Gardens, and those will be on display in the Asiatic Arboretum throughout November.

Michelle began growing mums for display in Duke Gardens a few years ago, and it has become a passion for her. She’s excited to host this festival with the CCCS so that we can all enjoy the demonstration of beautiful flowers trained by careful horticulturists.

You may also become captivated by the exhibit mums and want to find out even more about these amazing flowers. The CCCS is always open to new members or visitors at its monthly meetings, held on the third Monday of every month at noon at JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. The society was founded in 2015 and now has more than 40 members. Michelle enjoys meeting with the group to discuss chrysanthemums and is happy to see younger generations getting more involved. “It’s like a book club, but you get to talk about your plants, how they’re growing and what challenges you might be running into."

Michelle starts her mums like this every February.

Please join us for “A Festival of Fabulous Mums” and find out what all the excitement is about. Admission is free, though parking fees apply.

The hours of this drop-in festival are as follows:
                Sunday, Nov. 6, noon – 6 p.m.
                Monday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
                Tuesday, Nov. 8, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
                Wednesday, Nov. 9, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

For more information, please call 919-668-1707 or email gardenseducation@duke.edu.

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.