February Calendar of Triangle Gardening Programs

North Carolina Botanical Gardens
100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC.
http://reg.abcsignup.com/view/view_month.aspx?as=5&wp=184&aid=NCBG

Darwin Day Presentation with Dr. Rob Dunn, 'The Wild Life of Our Bodies'
Thursday, Feb. 12,  7:30 - 9 p.m.

'Bearing Witness to the Miracle of Monarch Migration'
will be presented Feb. 22, 2:30-4 p.m. at the NCBG.

Celebrate the birthday of Charles Darwin (and Abraham Lincoln!) with a presentation by Dr. Rob Dunn on “The Wild Life of Our Bodies.” Dr. Dunn, biology faculty at NC State University, studies the not particularly well known species that occur in our backyards, bedrooms, and in or on our friends, family, and ourselves. Charles Darwin would have been delighted at how many of these species co-evolved with humans and their importance to our overall wellbeing! This event is free and includes a reception, but advance registration is requested.

Wildlife Garden Design
Feb. 14,  1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Event is Full: Accepting Wait List Registrations
This workshop focuses on the vital components of a garden designed to attract and sustain a diverse cross-section of wildlife species. Special attention will be paid to specific plant families which boast a diverse contingent of wildlife-attracting species. In addition, we’ll discuss how to provide refuge and sustenance for all stages of the insect life cycle, the vital role of water in the wildlife garden, and the important part native grass and sedge species can play in a landscape devoted to wildlife. $20 ($15 Member).

Weeds 101
Feb. 15, 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Every gardener and homeowner can tell you what they consider to be a weed. Too often, one person’s weed is another creature’s critical food source or shelter, while another person’s prized plant might be the next ecological disaster. Discussion will include a brief history of weeds and their impact on ecosystems and our economy. This workshop focuses on ways to identify your weeds and strategies for their management, whether they be friend or foe. Management practices include time-tested approaches and some new techniques we employ here at NCBG, with an emphasis on environmentally responsible gardening. Participants are welcome to bring in their own specimens for identification. $20 ($15 Members).

Winter Backyard Birds - Family Workshop
Feb. 21, 10- 1:30 a.m.
It’s National Bird Feeding Month! From yellow-bellied sapsuckers to Carolina chickadees, learn to identify common winter birds by sight and sound. We’ll visit our bird-feeding station for up-close encounters and then make recycled feeders to take home. Find out how you can attract birds to your backyard and participate as a citizen scientist in Project Feeder Watch. NOTE: One adult per child please. Dress for the outdoors.

Get Ready for Spring: A Vegetable Gardening Workshop
Feb. 22,1:30-3 p.m.
Get ready for spring! We are excited to have the Carolina Campus Community Garden (CCCG) as the learning laboratory for this workshop in our Home Gardening Series. This workshop covers what vegetables to plant for a spring garden, when to start planting, how to grow your own vegetable seedlings, tips on protecting plants from freezing, and how to get a large harvest from a small space. Following the workshop, plan on staying to volunteer with the CCCG volunteer corp! $15 ($10 Members; Free to UNC students.

Bearing Witness to the Miracle of Monarch Migration
Feb. 22, 2:30-4 p.m.
There are few undertakings on earth that amaze and inspire us more than the epic annual migration of the Monarch Butterfly across eastern America. As they begin their journey northward this February, peer into the life cycle of this species including their autumn journey, one that is fraught with peril but buoyed by optimism, and join millions of them at their winter destination in Mexico. $15 ($10 Members).

Climate Change in the Forest: Effects of Urban and Global Warming on Trees and Pests
Feb. 26, 12-1 p.m.

'Winter Backyard Birds' - Family Workshopwill be held
Feb. 21, 10- 1:30 a.m. at the NCBG.
February is National Bird Feeding Month.

Trees are essential to our wild and urban landscapes. They purify the air, cool the environment, provide wildlife habitat, and benefit human health. City trees, however, face serious stresses, including the urban heat island effect. Cities are warmer than the surrounding landscape, and research shows that urban hot spots favor insect pests. This talk will examine how urban warming helps pests and harms trees, and asks whether global warming will cause similar issues in rural forests. Free, but pre-registration required. 

JC Raulston Arboretum

Ruby C. McSwain Education Center, JC Raulston Arboretum
4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh, NC.

http://jcra.ncsu.edu

 

Plantsmen's Tour: "Winter Perennials"
Mark Weathington, Director
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1-2:30 p.m.
The garden doesn't go dormant in our southern gardens, plenty of perennials keep the show going all winter long from ferns to gingers and plenty in-between. Free for members, $5.00 for nonmembers.



Gardening Basics Course: "Using Science to Grow Better Petunias"
Wednesdays, Feb. 4 through March 25, 7–9 p.m.

Bryce Lane, Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Emeritus and Lecturer Emeritus, Department of Horticultural Science, NC State University.
Whether you are new to gardening, a seasoned gardener, or new to this area, this eight week gardening class will help you be more successful in all your gardening endeavors! By understanding plant classification, growth, soils, and reproduction we will learn how to be better at propagation, plant selection, planting, pruning, fertilizing, and pest management.

 
Propagation Workshop
Saturday, Feb. 7, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Mark Weathington, Director, and Lizzi Lathers, Research Technician
Join Mark Weathington and Lizzi Lathers in this hands-on workshop and learn how to asexually propagate some of your favorite plants in the JC Raulston Arboretum's collections via hardwood cuttings. Participants will go home with a greater knowledge of plant propagation and with many freshly propagated plants. Techniques discussed can be done at home. Note: Many of the newly propagated plants will remain in our greenhouse for a few weeks and can be picked up at a later date, but some will go home with the participants. Cost$100.00 for members, $125.00 for nonmembers. The cost includes all materials needed, however, lunch is not provided. Please bring a lunch.

 

Friends of the Arboretum Lecture:  "Magnolias for the Southeast"
Thursday, Feb. 12, 7:30 - 9 p.m.
Cheryl Kearns, JCRA Board of Advisors and Magnolia Society International Member.
Free for Friends of the JC Raulston Arboretum members, NC State University students (with ID), and Department of Horticultural Science faculty and staff, all others $5.00.

North American Rock Garden Society (Piedmont Chapter) Lecture: "Wildflowers of the Croatan National Forest"
Saturday, Feb.14, 10 - 11:30 a.m.

Tim Alderton, JC Raulston Arboretum.



 "Magnolias for the Southeast" will be presented Thursday,
Feb. 12, 7:30 - 9 p.m. at the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

420 Anderson St., Durham, NC.

http://gardens.duke.edu/events.  

Please call 919-668-1707 to register.

 

Mushroom Logs
Saturday, Feb. 7, 10 - noon and  1-3 p.m.
Instructor: Andy Currin, avid vegetable gardener and Duke University campus horticulturist.
Participant limit: 15 each session.

Enjoy fresh shitake mushrooms grown in your own garden! Each participant will be supplied with a 12-inch section of log, pre-drilled and ready to “plant” with mushrooms. Andy Currin will take you through the process of seeding the log, sealing it with wax, and then maintaining it for the six months it will take to grow your first crop of mushrooms. Each log should produce mushrooms for several years. Fee: $35; Gardens members $30.

Walk Through Time at Duke Gardens
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2 p.m. thru Thursday, Feb. 19, 3 p.m.
From the opening of the first iris beds to the latest addition of the Japanese stream gardens, much has changed in 75 years. Learn the history of Duke Gardens’ development. This topic is also available for groups to reserve for their preferred date. Please call 919-668-1707 for details.

Durham Garden Forum - Bulletproof Plants: Tough Nuts for the Landscape
Tuesday, Feb. 17, 6:30 - 8 p.m.
Speaker: Bryce Lane, a two-time Emmy Award winning television personality, retired horticulture instructor at N.C. State University, interim director at the JC Raulston Arboretum and accomplished garden speaker.

 

Landscape Plants for North Carolina Gardens: Winter

Wednesday, Feb.18, 3 - 5:30 p.m.

Course meets for 3 sessions.

Each season this class covers another group of approximately 60 plants suitable for North Carolina gardens. You will learn identification skills and design use, and understand the culture of each plant. Winter introduces plant silhouettes and evergreens. Each student receives a digital portfolio of plant photos.

Plants of Distinction: Hellebores in the Winter Garden
Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2 - 4 p.m.
Learn about spectacular plants that offer both beauty and functionality. Sign up separately for each session to learn a new group of beautiful and useful plants, or take all four sections. Instructor: Jason Holmes, curator of Duke Gardens’ Doris Duke Center Gardens. Fee: $7; Gardens members $5. Fee to register for all four: $24; Gardens members $16

Traditional Japanese Tea Gathering: First Voice of Spring Tea

Saturday, Feb. 28, 10:45 a.m. to noon and 1 - 2:15 p.m.

Take a moment of respite in the Duke Gardens teahouse, where, as a guest to tea, you will experience the warmth of a traditional Japanese tea gathering. Guests will meet at the Doris Duke Center to be escorted to the teahouse for these intimate gatherings. Daytime teas are open for children age 6 and older with an accompanying adult, at the family rate. Participant limit: 10

Pressed Flowers as Sculpture: Madrid Artist Creates 3D Floral Objects

Spanish artist Ignacio Canales Aracil creates vessels reminiscent of upside-down baskets using nothing but pressed flowers.

The art of flower pressing dates back thousands of years; pressed flowers were reportedly discovered in a 3,000-year-old coffin of Tutankhamun’s mother in Egypt, and both Greek and Roman botanists were known to preserve plants using techniques that continue today.

Aracil’s method is a bit different, relying on large cone-shaped molds into which carefully woven patches of hand-picked flower stems are placed. The pieces dry for up to a month without the aid of adhesives and are sprayed with a light varnish to protect the sculpture from moisture. The final pieces, which could be crushed with even the slightest weight, are rigid enough to stand without support.

Aracil currently has work as part of a group show at Lucia Mendoza gallery in Madrid through the end of February. http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/01/delicate-vessels-sculpted-with-pressed-flowers-by-ignacio-canales-aracil/.


Limonium statice flowers work well for dried arrangements. 
Statice bloom in spring and summer.

Medicinal Herb Spotlight: Arnica

Arnica Montana

The flower of the Arnica plant is used to create supplements and medicines, commonly as an anti-inflammatory. 

Topical gel  products of Arnica are applied to the skin for pain and swelling associated with bruises, aches, sprains, and arthritis. It is also applied to the skin for insect bites, muscle and cartilage pain, chapped lips, and acne. It is also taken by mouth for sore mouth and throat, insect bites, painful and swollen veins near the surface of the skin (superficial phlebitis), sore gums after removal of wisdom teeth, and for causing abortions (1).

In foods, Arnica is a flavor ingredient in beverages, frozen dairy desserts, candy, baked goods, gelatins, and puddings.  In manufacturing, Arnica is used in hair tonics and anti-dandruff preparations. The oil is used in perfumes and cosmetics (1).

Arnica belongs to the family of the sunflowers and consists of about 30 different herbaceous species. The Arnica is a genus which is derived from the Latin word ana which means the lamb, this is because of its distinguishing features of the having soft and hairy leaves. The Arnica genus is mostly found in the temperate regions of the western North America and they originate from Eurasia. Arnica is known to be associated with the tribe Senecioneae because of its fine bristles on its surface.  Arnica consists of certain species like the Montana and chamissonis which are known to be helpful in making anti-inflammatory products against the bruises. The Arnica species serve as a source of food for some insect larvae (2). 

Arnica is distinguished by having deep roots and erect stem with no branches. The consist of leathery type ovoid leaves and have large yellow and orange colored flowers which are 6-8cm wide, which have quite a pleasant scent. It is also contains very small seeds like fruits on its branches (2).

 

Precautions to Taking Arnica Supplements(1):

 

Allergy to ragweed and related plants: Arnica may cause an allergic reaction in people who are sensitive to the Asteraceae/Compositae family. Members of this family include ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds, daisies, and many others. If you have allergies, be sure to check with your healthcare provider before applying it to your skin. Do not take arnica by mouth.

Digestion problems: Arnica can irritate the digestive system. Don’t take it if you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcers, Crohn's disease, or other stomach or intestinal conditions.

Fast heart rate: Arnica might increase your heart rate. Don’t take arnica if you have a fast heart rate.

High blood pressure: Arnica might increase blood pressure. Don’t take arnica if you have high blood pressure.

Surgery: Arnica might cause extra bleeding during and after surgery. Stop using it at least 2 weeks before a scheduled surgery.

References:

1. WebMD, http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-721-ARNICA.aspx?activeIngredientId=721&activeIngredientName=ARNICA
2.  HerbsGuide.org, http://herbsguide.org/arnica.html

Witherspoon Rose's Witherspoon University Begins in February

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Why Witherspoon University? With more than 60 years of rose care experience, our Witherspoon team is the source for expert guidance. Classes are informative and relaxed. Questions are welcome and encouraged! Experience real-time demonstrations in the gardens at Witherspoon in Durham and Charlotte! What Happens When I Finish the Course? If you attend all five classes you will receive a Diploma PLUS a Graduation Gift of: Atlas Gloves A Vase Vase Brace $10 Gift Card from Witherspoon Rose Culture  Only made it to 4 classes by December 5th? Don't worry... you will still receive a coupon for 20% off your entire regularly priced order! (Limit of one gift/coupon per family)   How Does Witherspoon University Work? Pick up a course booklet at one of the Witherspoon Garden Shop locations. Attend a total of 5 classes to receive 5 punches in your booklet. Once you reach 5 punches bring in your booklet to receive your Graduation Gift! Joining in Mid-Year? Don't worry! There are 14 opportunities during the year to accumulate 5 punches.   Does Witherspoon University Cost Anything? All Core Classes are FREE! Electives are the workshops, so the cost will be determined by the supplies needed for the finished product.  http://www.witherspoonrose.com/witherspoon-university/