4/2/2023
5:30 PM to 6:45 PM

Annual Evelyn McNeill Sims Native Plant Lecture - Architects of Abundance: Indigenous Regenerative Land Management and the Excavation of Hidden History
Dr. Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her research focuses on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations gardened large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans. Contrary to popular belief, Indigenous Peoples leveraged immense influence on their surrounding lands, fires, and waters in ways that could heal our planet today. Whether it's periodically burning grassland ecosystems with low severity fires to maintain habitat for deer, buffalo, antelope, etc, or building intertidal rock walls that catch sediment and warmer waters to expand clam habitat, native people have a number of innovative strategies for scaling habitat for edible plants and animals whom they often view as relatives. Her work translates this poorly understood history to the Western world and highlights the connection between Indigenous land ethics, decolonial narratives, carbon sequestration, biodiversity augmentation, anthropogenic habitat expansion, and regional ecosystems connectivity. The success of the systems is believed to be due to their underlying value system of respect, reverence, responsibility and reciprocity.

4/6/2023
9:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Identifying and Controlling Invasive Plants
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
This course is intended for a broad audience. Through classroom and field demonstrations, students learn the tools and methods needed to identify invasive species and effectively remove them. We'll discuss the most prominent invasive plants in North Carolina and how to identify them by habit and growth form. Then, we'll cover integrated methods for controlling invasive plants on multiple scales.

4/13/2023
1:15 PM to 5/4/2023 4:15 PM

Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes
This course is intended for a broad audience and explores many aspects of the evolutionary history, economic and ecological dominance, current distribution, biology, and identification of the “graminoids.” Through lectures, lab work, and short field trips, students learn to appreciate the subtle and detailed beauty of these plants with inconspicuous flowers. Students also learn materials and methods for identifying these distinctive and important members of our flora.

4/15/2023
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Penny's Bend: A Half Day Field Trip
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve is an 84-acre site that protects numerous rare plant species. It is surrounded on three sides by the Eno River in eastern Durham County, North Carolina. This half day field trip will include a visit to distinct plant communities including a remnant Piedmont prairie, rich mesic and alluvial forests, and dry shortleaf pine-dominated bluffs. Rare species found on the Preserve include the smooth purple coneflower (Echinacea laevigata), eastern prairie blue wild indigo (Baptisia minor var. aberrans), hoary puccoon (Lithospermum canescens), and Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria). Much of this hike is on primitive trails over uneven terrain, with one short, steep climb up from the river. Wear sturdy hiking footwear and bring insect repellent, water, and a walking stick, if you ever use one.

4/22/2023
9:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Native Southeastern Medicinal Plants
Explore the beauty of native southeastern medicinal plants through field identification. Using the expansive resources of the NCBG display gardens and the Piedmont Nature Trails behind the Garden, students take in the abundant medicine that our local flora has to offer. Topics include field identification, ethical gathering and harvesting, history and lore of each plant, therapeutic and medicinal uses as well as preparations. No prerequisites.

4/25/2023
12:30 PM to 5/18/2023 4:00 PM

Local Trees - Hybrid
This short course is perfect for those just beginning their study of trees or for recent transplants to the NC Piedmont who want to identify the common deciduous trees in their backyard gardens and neighborhoods. Students spend time outdoors, walking in the Garden or on the Piedmont Nature Trails, learning about common trees, how to identify them, and understanding why they grow where they do.

4/29/2023
10:00 AM to 1:30 PM

Spring at Mason Farm
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Take a turn around the Mason Farm Biological Reserve’s Old Farm Trail, which travels through some 260 years of cultural and natural history. Naturalist Ed Harrison will point out wildflowers and discuss how the Garden’s intense management of both field and forest benefits local biological diversity conservation. About 2.5 miles in length, the hike includes a short off-trail foray into the old-growth Shagbark Hickory forest. Wear sturdy hiking footwear and bring insect repellent, water, and a walking stick, if you ever use one.

5/20/2023
1:30 PM to 2:30 PM

Honeybee Hive Tour at the CCG
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
Come learn about one of the world’s most fascinating insects. Bees are responsible for pollinating one third of the world’s food and produce one of the sweetest treats around. Participants explore a real live hive with certified beekeeper, Anne Glauber. Free, preregistration required.

6/3/2023
9:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Native Plant Propagation
This course is intended for a broad audience. Students learn fundamentals of vegetative propagation and techniques for propagating southeastern native plants by means of stem and root cuttings. Class includes hands-on propagation and a tour of the vegetative propagation facilities of NCBG.

6/10/2023
9:30 AM to 6/24/2023 12:30 PM

Entomology
This course is designed for a broad audience. Students learn insect family recognition and common species identification, insect ecology and conservation, basic life cycle biology, and how to improve insect habitat and conservation in the urban environment. No prerequisites.

8/10/2023
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: NC Certified Master Naturalist Volunteer Program
The NC Certified Master Naturalist Volunteer program, a 50-hour classroom and fieldwork education program, offered by NC Cooperative Extension, Chatham and Durham counties, prepares volunteers for stewardship, advocacy, education, and citizen science projects with leading environmental organizations in the Triangle. This new program will begin January 2024, classes will be held on Saturdays once a month at locations in Chatham and Durham counties. A key feature of this program are the Impact Projects participants develop that integrate course concepts and benefit one of the Partner Organizations. These projects challenge the program participants to answer the question, “What impact can I make on our environment?”