(Image credit: David B. Gleason CC-BY-SA 2.0; Tim Sackton CC-BY-SA 2.0; S. Rae CC-BY-SA 2.)
Learn with Us
Ask A Master Gardener
The Ask a Master Gardener Program is an opportunity for members of the community to ask questions about gardening and learn more about the NC State Extension Master GardenerSM program. Durham County Master Gardener volunteers are available to provide answers using research-based information about plants and plant problems.
Our Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers will be back in 2026 at multiple community events. Stay tuned for more in January.
Durham Garden Forum
The Light Eaters: A Book Talk with Zoë Schlanger
Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm (virtual presentation). Fee: $10; Free for Members of the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation, Sarah P Duke Gardens, JC Raulston Arboretum, Durham Garden Forum and Durham County Master Gardeners. Pre-registration is required for all attendees. Info and registration.
The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Author Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.
Presented in collaboration with Sarah P. Duke Gardens, North Carolina Botanical Garden, JC Raulston Arboretum, and the Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers of Durham County.
Learn with our Community Friends
North Carolina Botanical Garden
Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: “Selecting Corals for Reef Restoration“
Thursday, December 11, 2025, 12 Noon – 1:00 pm (virtual and in-person attendance options). Free. Preregistration required. Info and registration.
Corals are the foundation of complex and biodiverse reef ecosystems often called ‘the rainforests of the sea’. Reef-building corals are engaged in an ancient intracellular symbiosis with photosynthesizing algae which provides the energetic budget driving bio-mineralization and the physical formation of reefs. Explore the efficacy of sexual and asexual propagation approaches in empirical research-scale restoration plots and seek techniques for predicting and promoting heat-tolerance in coral stocks.
(Image credit: Melinda Heigel)
JC Raulston Arboretum
Midweek Presentation “Garden Standouts of 2025”
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm (virtual presentation). Free. Preregistration required. Info and registration.
Join arboretum horticulture professionals as they celebrate the plants that shone this year in the garden.
Sarah P. Duke Gardens
There are important changes for visitors this year due to construction of the Garden Gateway project. Parking is affected. Learn before you go.
Seasonal Stewardship: Gardening for Biodiversity in Winter (virtual program). Free. Preregistration required. Info and registration.
Thursday, December 11, 2025, 12:00 Noon – 1:00 pm.
A garden in winter can be just as vibrant as in any other season. Join Dr. Neeti Bathala, professor, author, gardener, graduate of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Duke Gardens board member, to learn how to support local wildlife through thoughtful winter gardening practices. Discover native and select ornamental plants that provide food, shelter and unexpected blooms. Gain tools to deepen your connection to seasonal ecology and become a steward of your local environment by contributing to a mid-winter citizen science project aligning with the rhythms of nature.
Midday Meander through the Garden (in person). Free. Preregistration required. Info and registration.
Wednesday, December 17, 12:15 pm – 1:00 pm.
Join Kavanah Anderson, director of learning and community engagement at Duke Gardens, for a conversational stroll in the garden that deepens your relationship with plants. Swap plant stories, dig into horticultural history, question what you know and practice multisensory observation on a playful amble through the Gardens that delights and disrupts your understanding of what a garden can be. Expect to learn from each other, share what you know and leave with more questions than you started with.
Durham County Public Library
(Image credit: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz CC BY-SA 4.0)
Durham Grown: The Durham County Library Garden Club presents The Wondrous World of Moss (in person). Free. Preregistration required. Info and registration.
December 6, 2025, 10:00 am – 11:30 pm at Main Library (300 N. Roxboro St, Durham)
Discover the wondrous world of mosses with Blanka Aguero, the Bryophyte Collections Manager at the Duke University Herbarium.
Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-6HX
